“You’ll never know how much this means to me,” beams London’s rabble-rousing indie hero Jamie T near the end of his biggest headline gig to date, performing to a 40,000-strong crowd at the capital’s Finsbury Park (June 30). “We’ve been doing this for nearly 20 years, and we did everything the right way. Pound for pound. That’s why we’re still here.”
Humble and reflective moments like this explain why the 37 year-old has sustained such a dedicated fan base since breaking through as a teenager with 2007’s debut ‘Panic Prevention’. Despite his popularity with fans, he only recently landed his first Number One album with 2022’s ‘The Theory Of Whatever’, which NME called “a liberating return from a star as relaxed as ever”. It’s a career that, amidst long periods of silence, still generates intense devotion.
Few artists remain so keen to appear as grounded as this underdog. His choice of support acts (including tracksuit-sporting east Londoner Hak Baker and Bristol punks Idles) and on-screen visuals depict this: showing everyday people going about their lives, the clips demonstrate the simplistic beauty of life’s mundanity, like walking to the tube, or waiting for a bus to arrive.
Backed by a live band and sporting a buttoned up blue shirt, snapback cap and black Adidas shorts, Jamie’s set quickly conjures the same energy as being down a packed pub in the company of every single one of your mates. Although only released a day prior, slow-burning epic ‘Hippodrome’ proves a fan favourite and, just four songs in, people are already on shoulders with arms outstretched for ‘The Old Style Raiders’. Rattling through his 19-track setlist, Jamie’s rowdy anthems unleash everyone’s inner teenager as the nostalgic hits deliver a throwback to the ’00s.
However, rather than it feeling like a long wait to get to the big hits there are, impressively, no lulls across the 90-minute show, which regularly sees ‘Jamie Fuckin’ T’ foam fingers waved in the air. After a rapturous ‘If You Got The Money’, a four-song encore seals the deal: ‘Sheila’ goes off and elicits screams in London (as required in said lyrics), while The Maccabees’ Hugo White – who produced Jamie’s latest album – joins him to perform ‘Sticks ‘N’ Stones’.
After assisting with a marriage proposal, Jamie goes shirtless for set closer ‘Zombie’, which sees pints fly in the air as a huge firework display lights the sky. All that’s left is for Jamie’s flawless band to join him at the front of the stage to take in the moment together. Exhilarating from start to finish, Jamie T delivered a night that he and his legion of fans will never forget.
Jamie T played:
‘Hippodrome’
‘Limits Lie’
‘Operation’
‘The Old Style Raiders’
’90s Cars’
‘Rabbit Hole’
‘Salvador’
‘St. George Wharf Tower’
‘Emily’s Heart’
‘Spider’s Web’
‘Don’t You Find’
‘The Man’s Machine’
‘Between The Rocks’
‘Dragon Bones’
‘If You Got the Money’
‘Back in the Game’
‘Sheila’
‘Sticks ‘N’ Stones’ (with Hugo White)
‘Zombie’