Alex James has kicked off his ‘Britpop Classical’ tour, and performed some powerful orchestral covers of Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Radiohead and Stone Roses and more – check out footage and the full setlist below.
The Blur bassist turned cheese and wine expert premiered his orchestral celebration of the ‘90s Britpop scene at his Big Feastival event last summer, before going on to announce plans to take the show on the road for the first time this spring.
Speaking to NME, he explained how the show would feature the biggest names from Britpop, including Pulp, Elastica, Supergrass, Reef, Blur, Radiohead and former rivals Oasis, as well as music by Nirvana and huge UK names who helped inspire the movement – like The Beatles, The Kinks, T-Rex, The Who and David Bowie.
The opening night took place at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Wednesday (March 11), and has since seen shows hit Birmingham, Manchester and Brighton over the past few days.
At each set, the show is split into six parts, each filled with huge hits, and James performs alongside a full live orchestra, rock band and chorus, as well as special guests including ‘Parklife’ icon Phil Daniels, Saffron of Republica and Gary Stringer of Reef.
Part One sees the show open mainly with huge names who helped inspire the artists who helped form the Britpop scene, and songs covered include ‘Help!’ by The Beatles, ‘Rebel Rebel’ by David Bowie, ‘Waterloo Sunset’ by The Kinks and ‘My Generation’ by The Who.
From there, Part Two includes songs by Ocean Colour Scene, Supergrass and Nirvana, while Part Three is formed by songs from Oasis, Joy Division, The Stone Roses and more.
The inclusion of The Stone Roses’ ‘I Wanna Be Adored’ was recently discussed by James, who told NME that she still thinks their 1989 self-titled album is a “masterpiece”.
“They were the ultimate band,” he told us. “An amazing drummer singing backing vocals, brilliant grooves, great guitar and a genius savant singer. They opened the door for everything that happened after.”
Part Four includes three Blur songs, ‘Country House’, ‘Girls & Boys’, and ‘Parklife’, as well as songs by Reef, The Wannadies and Chumbawamba, while Part Five only features The Verve’s ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ and Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ – the latter being one that James recently revealed made him cry because of how “emotive” it was.
Part Six sees the show wrap up with songs by The La’s, Pulp and Oasis, and the encore features a rendition of Blur’s ‘The Universal’.
Check out more footage and the full setlist below.
The ‘Britpop Classical’ setlist is:
Part 1
‘Help!’ (The Beatles cover)
‘Rebel Rebel’ (David Bowie cover)
‘Get It On’ (T. Rex cover)
‘Waterloo Sunset’ (The Kinks cover)
‘My Generation’ (The Who cover)
Part 2
‘The Riverboat Song’ (Ocean Colour Scene cover) (with Simon Fowler)
‘Ready to Go’ (Republica cover) (with Saffron)
‘Alright’ (Supergrass cover)
‘Unbelievable’ (EMF cover) (Mashed up with Connection by Elastica)
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit ‘(Nirvana cover) (Mashed up with Song 2 by Blur)
Part 3
‘Fuckin’ in the Bushes’ (Oasis cover)
‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’ (Oasis cover)
‘He’s Gonna Step on You Again’ (John Kongos cover)
‘The Only One I Know’ (The Charlatans cover)
‘I Wanna Be Adored’ (The Stone Roses cover)
‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ (Joy Division cover)
Part 4
‘Country House’ (Blur cover)
‘Place Your Hands’ (Reef cover) (with Gary Stringer)
‘You and Me Song’ (The Wannadies cover)
‘Girls & Boys’ (Blur cover)
‘Tubthumping’ (Chumbawamba cover)
‘Parklife’ (Blur cover)
Part 5
‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ (The Verve cover)
‘Creep’ (Radiohead cover)
Part 6
‘There She Goes’ (The La’s cover)
‘Disco 2000’ (Pulp cover)
‘Common People’ (Pulp cover)
‘Wonderwall’ (Oasis cover)
‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ (Oasis cover)
Encore:
‘The Universal’ (Blur cover)
When asked by NME last November about what the show and what he thinks defines Britpop, James said: “It’s anything I fucking say it is! The Wannadies are in there and they’re from Sweden.”
He also spoke about the structure of the show and said that it was categorised into “suites”, starting with the music icons who inspired the Britpop giants of the ‘90s.
“There’s not much in there that’s contentious. The show is broken into suites. It opens with just the band waking everybody up with all the heritage stuff where all the influences came from: the classic ‘60s songwriters, a bit of Kinks, a bit of Who, a bit Beatles, a bit of Bowie, a bit of T-Rex. It’s all over in three minutes, BLAM-BLAM-BLAM,” he said.
“Then the lights come on for the orchestra and there’s this real crescendo that builds into *BAM* ‘Riverboat Song’ by Ocean Colour Scene and it’s fucking game over,” he continued. “There’s a high-energy suite, and a Manchester suite, a feel-good suite, then the orchestra get their chance to shine with ‘Creep’ and [The Verve’s] ‘Bittersweet Symphony’. By the time you get to the sing-along suite towards the finale, you could hear 60 per cent audience and 40 per cent band.”
The tour continues tomorrow (Tuesday March 17) with a show in Nottingham, before continuing throughout the month with stops in Newcastle, Glasgow and Sheffield.
There are three shows lined up in June, ahead of four stops planned for July, including a stop at Latitude 2026. Tickets are on sale now and available here.
Alex James’ ‘Britpop Classical’ remaining UK tour dates are:
MARCH
17 – Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
18 – O2 City Hall, Newcastle
19 – Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow
21 – Sheffield City Hall, Sheffield
JUNE
13 – Guildhall Square, Southampton
18 – Lincoln Castle, Lincoln
28 – Llangollen Pavilion, Llangollen
JULY
17 – Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Scarborough
19 – The Piece Hall, Halifax
24 – Dreamland, Margate
26 – Latitude Festival
Also in the recent interview with NME ahead of shows kicking off in London, James explained how the songs from the Britpop era “mean more to people now than they did when they came out.”
“They’ve matured like fine wine. It’s actually been wonderful studying all these songs. They’re songs that everybody knows but when you dig in, they all have this brilliant simplicity, but there’s a cleverness and craft there,” he said.
“Singing any of them in the shower would give you goosebumps, even just singing them with an acoustic guitar is probably enough to make you cry, so when you add all the majesty and and might of a symphony orchestra and a chorus of singers and the special guests, it’s overwhelming,” he added.
Check out the full interview here.
