Alex James kicked off his 'Britpop Classical' tour with a set of strong orchestral covers of Blur, Oasis, Stone Roses, Radiohead and more.
James, who is Blur's bassist, began this tour with a show at London's Royal Albert Hall on March 11, and has since taken to the stage in Birmingham, Brighton, and Manchester over the last few days.
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Each show is split into six parts, including huge hits, with James performing with a live full orchestra, rock band and chorus. The shows also include special guests, Reef's Gary Stringer, Republica's Saffron, and 'Parklife' icon Phil Daniels.
Usually, Part One opens with live covers from tracks by huge names who inspired the beginning of the Britpop scene, including David Bowie's 'Rebel Rebel', The Beatles' classic, 'Help', as well as The Kinks' 'Waterloo Sunset', and The Who's 'My Generation'.
Following on, Part Two features tracks from Supergrass, Ocean Colour Scene, and Nirvana, before Part Three sees James and co play songs from Joy Division, Oasis, The Stone Roses and others.
As for Part Four, the big guns come out with Blur tracks, 'Girls & Boys', 'Country House', and 'Parklife', well as hits from The Wannadies, Reef, and Chumbawamaba, with Part Five seeing the orchestra play The Verve's 'Bittersweet Symphony', and Radiohead's 'Creep'.
Part Six sees the show finish off with tracks from Pulp, Oasis and The La's, before rounding off with Blur's 'The Universal'.
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Check out the set list below.
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)
Earlier this month, Alex James spoke about this tour in a recent interview, offering fans an insight into what they can expect from these shows. Read more about this here.
