Manchester indie rock band James have cancelled their Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival set just hours before they were due on stage, after frontman Tim Booth lost his voice to a viral infection. Razorlight have stepped in to close the festival instead.
Cancellation announced on Instagram
In a video posted to Instagram, Booth said it was "with deep regret" that the band had to cancel the show. "I've been fighting off a viral infection for a few days and I've finally lost my voice. This deep sexy rasp is not my usual voice, so we hardly ever cancel but we have no choice this time," he said.
"We're here, the band's here, the crew's here and I know many of you have come in from miles around to see this concert and it's awful and I hate letting you down... I'm so sorry and I hope we'll be back..."
The official James account captioned the post: "Truly sorry to inform you that James won't be playing tonight at Belladrum, on medical advice. Sorry to those of you who were really looking forward to seeing us, especially those who have travelled far and wide to come to this great event. We hate to let you down. Hopefully We can arrange to come back within the next year or so to make it up to you."
As reported by the Mirror, Razorlight have been confirmed as the replacement headliners for the festival.
Fans send well wishes
The announcement drew concern in the comments, with many offering support. One fan wrote: "We wish you a speedy recovery," while another added: "Your health has to come first. The fans will wait get well soon Tim xx"
Booth on live shows
Booth recently spoke to the Mirror about his love of performing, saying: "Our live reputation is snowballing. Yeah, and you know we're a nine-piece band, and that's a live event rather than when you see these rappers where they're just playing to backing tracks or musicians playing to backing tracks."
"We believe that watching a really well constructed song with cello, violin, guitar, trumpets, two drummers, keyboards is is entertainment in itself, and our connection to an audience is is in the moment, is in the live moment. It's always been our strongest suit, and always for us, the mark of authenticity."
He added: "I love contact. I love eye contact. It's something that really feeds me, and feeds us as a band. The whole point of a live gig is you get this feedback loop going. That we put out this song, they give us back this response. We therefore have that energy, and then we put that back out, and then it keeps on building like some kind of battery of optimism, of positivism, of ecstasy, and that's what we're looking for."
