Jamie T has enjoyed comparisons to Billy Bragg, Joe Strummer and Mike Skinner – but one question remains.
Just when did former boarding school pupil James Treays become Jamie T – a boisterous British MC whose name has become synonymous with 2007? After all, it's no small feat. One doesn't go from receiving pernickety school reports to raving reviews overnight. If you want to be a street punk sensation, you need to drop more than your surname. Gradual transformation But as any chic Camden dweller will tell you, Treays' transformation was a long Darwinian affair. It was in the murky taverns of Camden Town that the boy wonder went from RP to MC, slipping further into his roguish punk persona with each gig that he played. And with that in mind, Norwich is expecting to be treated to the finished product – an eclectic artist at his peak. But it's soon clear that this is not the case – Jamie has a lot more work to do. He greets the crowd with a cluttered and clumsy rendition of album opener Brand New Bass Guitar. The resulting applause sounds more like a welcome than an ovation. A few songs later and a depressing realisation sets in. These aren't teething problems – there’s something dreadfully wrong here. Backing band racing ahead Perhaps it's down to Jamie's new backing band, The Pacemakers. Was it their decision to up the tempo in each song, leaving the motor-mouthed MC lagging behind?
 | | See more photos in the gig gallery |
It’s more likely that the problem is with Jamie. While his rugged romanticism may seem delightful on paper, on stage it’s a different story. On stage his cheeky charm curdles into bare-faced amateurishness. Here his wide boy posturing just seems like jittering silliness. And most disappointingly, his songs lose all punch and poignancy. But could this be a case of lost in translation - perhaps Jamie's booze-sodden ballads just don't have the same appeal outside of the capital? "This next song is about the London Underground," he hollers. "Who here has been on the Northern Line?" The question prompts a rapturous response. The song that follows doesn't. Forget geography: Jamie’s problem, it seems, is something much closer to home. Jamie T played at The Waterfront, Norwich, on Monday, 5 February, 2007. Photo credits: Ben Piper. | 
