James Bay was brought to most people’s attention in 2014 with his hit single Hold Back The River. He has pretty much been a household name for many in the UK since.

An exceptional singer/songwriter, Bay’s debut album Chaos and The Calm went to number one in the UK and 15 in the US. Since then he has held a highly impressive career which has included three albums.

Having never seen James Bay live nor (shamefully) having spent time listening to his music, I felt BST was the perfect opportunity to change that.

Bay may have held back the river but unfortunately he couldn’t hold back the rain during part of his set but thankfully I had bought a poncho from the merch stand so I was all wrapped up and ready to go!

Drawing a very large crowd, Bay started with Best Fake Smile. Just For Tonight followed and from then I was completely captivated!

Bay is such a natural on stage and his songs translate beautifully in a live setting!

If You Ever Want To Be In Love was breathtaking live. The instrumentation is fabulous and that of a timeless sound! Why has it taken me this long to listen to James Bay? His voice, you can feel it in every fibre of your being!

Bay talks of playing at Hyde Park ten years ago supporting The Rolling Stones on a small stage at the back, just him and his guitar!

Speaking with him myself later backstage he said of that moment

“Ten years ago I came to this festival (Hyde Park Live) and I played in a tiny tent in the back corner of a field and ten years later to be on the main stage is a dream come true but it’s really a dream come true, no disrespect to the festival, it’s very important that it happens and I’m very honoured to be invited but to be underneath The Boss, that’s super special”

Telling him how when he told that story on stage it inspired artists playing that festival such as Irish Folk-Trio Kingfishr who played the Birdcage Stage that day and saw Bay’s set – I said they hope that one day it will be them on the main stage.

“It should be, just keep going, there’s every chance”

Bay’s dream of supporting Springsteen was made even greater as Springsteen requested to meet Bay backstage after his performance!

I asked “What was it like meeting him?”

“It was a cloud nine experience! I don’t care if I ever come down, I don’t think I ever will come down! It was unbelievable! He is just a stunning, charming, beautiful human, super hero”

“How do you even address him? Boss? Bruce? Springsteen?”

“I called him boss, I called him Sir, I called him Mr Springsteen, I called him Bruce, I didn’t know which one he wanted so I tried to give him all of them”

Back to the review- Every song that Bay played on his BST set was top class. His music is just so easy to love! Again, I feel ashamed to be on board so late!

Bay showcased two new songs and even those were addictive from first listen. The songs, Goodbye Never Felt So Bad and All My Broken Pieces were made for the live shows. Goodbye Never Felt So Bad was wonderfully anthemic and a real arena/stadium filled tune and All My Broken Pieces had a potential crowd chanting moment.

Speaking about that to Bay he says;

“I’m embracing just sharing the new music live more than I ever have before. It’s a very liberating experience! These are two very different songs but I guess they hang together as songs that more than ever are about me sort of working out how to feel alright about being so far from the people I love so often. It’s no complaint about touring, I absolutely love to do what I do but it doesn’t mean in doing what I do that I’m not going to feel some sadness and heartache! I still want and need to do this as my job but I am trying to tackle those realities of mine and share them! Maybe even try to halve the problem as you should I think”.

Telling him that Goodbye Never Felt So Bad sounded very anthemic I asked if he has live music in mind when he writes;

“More than ever! That’s a perfect example that song.”

On my saying All My Broken Pieces is likely to have that crowd chanting moment at shows he says;

“I hope so! We have just been around Europe this last month and have had some amazing reactions! Completely unprompted, people with their phones in the air, hands in the air for that song, it’s crazy!”

After playing the new songs Bay performed Get Out While You Can and then Let It Go. Let It Go of course went down a storm as one of those mentioned crowd chanting moments and hands in the air!

Nearing the end he played Endless Summer Nights and he of course closed with Hold Back The River! Hold Back The River was phenomenal live and the chorus of voices from the audience could probably be heard for miles.

I would happily see James Bay live over and over again! He and his band were outstanding!!! With his music having a strong, timeless sound, Bay will undoubtedly be gracing the stages for us for years to come!

James was also incredibly down to earth when we spoke! He was sweet and kind and very generous with his time! It was about 6.40pm by the time we managed to talk. What was meant to be a full interview, I voluntarily cut down to questions centred around his set because none of us wanted to miss The Boss. You could hear the adrenaline and excitement in Bay’s voice from having just come back from meeting Springsteen. There was no way I was going to steal time away from seeing him live!

James Bay, you have made a new fan in me!