James Blunt Plays at Place des Arts on April 24th
With his new album James Blunt takes his music in a whole other direction
James Blunt is on his way back to Montreal. He’s just announced his tour dates with a stop here in April. But he was just in town on a promo tour, and took time out to talk with me on my radio show on CJAD.
James Blunt is a nice guy. Small, like a leprechaun. Gentlemanly. And quiet.
He hit it big in 2005 with his first record, Back to Bedlam, and songs like You’re Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover. Then came more success with All Lost Souls in 2007. And last November Blunt released Album #3, Some Kind of Trouble, just out 3 months and already gone gold.
The first single, Stay The Night, is a bit of departure from what Blunt fans are used to. He says he’s gone back to his roots for this one, picking his electric guitar over the acoustic on which he composed the romantic tear-jerkers that made him a household name. He says he’s always got a bit of the melancholic inside him, that place where songs like You’re Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover come from. But with this new album Blunt takes his music in a whole other direction. Stay the night is a poppy guitar tune with a fun-in-the-sun surf video to match.
“I think this is just more rounded,” he says. “This album has got groove and rhythm and energy, and the result has been the kind of songs that I’ve always wanted to write.”
It makes him happy when I refer to him as “Captain James Blunt.” He’s very proud of the 6 years he spent in the British army, which included a tour of duty in Kosovo, and as a result he’s very supportive of the troops who are still on the front lines. “I’m still in touch with obviously my close friends I made out there. They’re doing a pretty tough job, and what they do reminds me of how lucky I am to be doing what I do now.” Blunt has been through Canada as a performer, but he also spent some time here as a soldier, training Canadian troops in Alberta. “I spend 6 months sleeping out under the stars with moose and wolves running by, with the northern lights going up, and I pretended to be a Russian for 6 months” in what amounted to a rather true-to-life game of Laser Quest.
Blunt is looking forward to coming back to Montreal. The last time he played here was at the Bell Centre, an arena more conducive to rock concerts and less accommodating to intimate style of Blunt’s performance. This time around, though, he’ll be at Place des Arts, Montreal’s landmark theatre. “And hopefully,” he says, “I’ll be able to see the whites of everybody’s eyes.”
James Blunt, Sunday, April 24, Salle Wilfrid Pelletier, Place des Art. Tickets: $43.62 and $68.62. (514) 842-2112 or 1-866-842-2112.
Dan Laxer and James Blunt
James Blunt in concert
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Patrick Hopf said:
On Jan 24, 2011 - 15:32
Should be a good show ... definitely a good venue to see someone like this.