"Why we distanced ourselves from the Manchester scene" Tim Booth on the longevity of James

"We will be in tears", says James frontman Tim Booth as he talks of his band's homecoming shows in Manchester this week. The band will perform an extraordinary selection of their back catalogue reworked and backed with a full live orchestra over two sold out nights at Manchester's 02 Apollo.

And for the Manchester-formed band, being back on home turf and playing the emotional new takes on the classic songs will indeed be a heart-wrenching one. Not least as this new endeavour marks the 40th anniversary of James releasing their first single, famously with Manchester's Factory Records, back in 1983.

The band's talismanic frontman Tim says fighting back the tears really is a challenge with these new interpretations of their classic hits, as well as rarely played B-sides and fan favourites.

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"The hard bit for me as a singer," Tim confides, "Is that you can cry to some degree and sing, but there's a point where you really can't.

"It's a really powerful feeling having an orchestra enlarge upon a song you wrote when you were 20, or a song where you wrote a self-deprecating or self-hating lyric in your 30s and it's suddenly got this swell behind it and it hits you in a different way.

"The process has been amazing and very emotional. Hopefully we take the audience into a euphoria."

The band will come home to entertain the home town crowds ahead of the release of their new double album, Be Opened by the Wonderful, which was recorded at Salford's Blueprint Studios late last year. They took over fellow Manc band Elbow's studio space in a hush-hush venture which will see the album finally released on June 9.

It means fans heading along will be hearing many of