Darrin James Band LIVE at The Ark, Ann Arbor, Michigan : 2-22-24

[Music] all right are you guys ready for some more before we get started how about another hand for Gregory Stove Top and Scotty karate happying all right let's keep it going and give a very warm welcome to the Darren James [Applause] band [Music] the flowers [Music] grow [Music] I left her there [Music] this real fast real [Music] fast [Music] you don't have to say things you don't mean your me you don't have to say a thing you don't have to play those little games old me you know Ling me is free you can always just be yourself when you're with me you can tell me any dream you are perfect as you are don't change your thing never ask you change your thing don't change your name for me now don't change your thing sunight through the trees Mak pry Shadows on leaves that's Ty of thing that we used to sing now I shine my life to new clear R looking for Laugh In This comedy this comedy of pain Oh Come and find your way in the world along with me maybe we can can see some pretty things you don't have to believe in anything if your heart is open let it sing you don't have to celebrate the past when you're with me nothing last that's a fact you'll see you are perfect as you are don't change your things I never ask you change your thing don't change your name for me now don't change your thing Sail on the sea make the pretty sing that's the type of thing that we used to dream now I shine my light through the nuclear rain looking for a rhy for my his to again disopan [Music] [Music] refra flow the river fls let I Comm to my so last thing we know so long AG go now I fight the dragons with the broken mandoline looking for a laugh way out of distress Mar you have to be on time with me life runs late I wait patiently you you don't have to advertise your life with me we can just enjoy good company privacy you don't have to be time with [Music] me I pa you are perfect as you are you can tell me any dream any dream all right all right thank you uh let's hear one more time for Scotty and Gregory they were a great opening so we're going to do some uh basically starting out this night with uh songs from the new record that was the first song it's called when you're with me this next one is the title track it's called see right through yeah I hope you [Music] like don't tell me your lies I can see right through don't be surprised by my attitude I seen the fallen angels with their blessing way if you had to ask for prayer it won't me can you hear and sing you had it all but just been around you let me fall watch it all come rushing down don't ask for more than you are will to give away when you're in the Echo chamber I can't hear what you say [Music] [Applause] anyway [Music] [Music] a you saw the sign but you ran right through you think it's fine but you can't find the truth I've seen the empty pages written in your hand you dream and let the ages escate into the sand I [Music] understand [Music] don't tell me lies I can see right through your ab is that the best you can do don't tell me Li I can see right through your an I can see right through see right [Applause] [Music] through [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] to I was bound for one [Applause] [Music] love one loves all I'll ever need I won't need another [Music] another one love is all [Music] and wrap yourself up in my love let I give oce set us free we'll have a life time of reward cocktails flowers and roet [Music] [Applause] Tre there is but one love in my heart no chance that I would [Applause] believe through many lifetimes I would stand [Music] in just to wait with you each [Applause] day take my hand and Le way take my time love every [Applause] day shine your light on all my Shadows you'll still love me [Music] anyway you still love [Applause] [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] w [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] oh place your faith in me my love I won need a second chance I li a story We WR together what in a story without [Music] romance I was B for one love I was B for love I love is everywhere I [Applause] [Music] see my children Sparkle I [Music] love WRA yourself up in my love the fire burns yet in my Heart Like Heaven Stars the sky above [Applause] [Music] there is no end it's just the start I was Bor for love I was B for I was for love I was Bor for one thank you that's uh one of the more autobiographical songs that was written for my wife Sarah and uh this next one is a little bit more of like the Outlaw country kind of style it's like uh the regret and the deathbed kind of lament I guess you would call it it's called Uh when you're are weighing on [Music] [Music] [Music] me just do a little quick tuning guys better now than later [Music] right yourself sad story I just told a happy story now we're gonna so this album uh it's it was originally I the my kind of working title cuz I like a literation was like songs of love and loss because I had these kind of sad songs and then I uh I had all of a sudden a couple love songs and that kind of seemed like it rounded it out but I thought that was a little too just I don't know too much so I like this SE right through is the song the second song we did and uh I felt like that was a better title for the album but um there's definitely a theme there's a balance there so this is one of the darker ones let me tune real quick that was a little point of this [Music] break this fragile town I'm leaving here [Music] today I'm sorry too the people I've heard along the way it's been weighing on me all the things I done [Applause] [Music] they say there is forgiveness for me there is none from anyone that I [Applause] [Music] love the old thoughts and memories they fade it's sometimes hard to see in the progress that you made he's been weighing on me all the lives we [Music] lost they say love is cheap they don't measure the real cost you know it's much more when you're alone all alone it's a heavy [Music] Lo empty flowers I'm a stone I'm with Show and The Vines have grown and every soul I've ever known lives in F but still and how the dead they [Music] roll my oldest love still hurting me today I'm sorry that I never sent the demons far enough away it's been raining on me and all the things I made [Applause] let's say there is redemption I doubt there is a way way out there's no way to escape unless we made there's no way and I can't see straight help me [Music] [Music] pray [Music] [Music] he [Music] [Music] oh this lome road always leads to the same end hands on here things in my head things that I wish I never said it's been praying on me all the get and shame I tried to run and tried to skate but my f was just too was away wash away no Escape through the mess we made there's no way to escape way and I can't see sh me [Music] pray Ain no way to escape I lost [Applause] away thank you very much it's all from our new record see right through which we have on vinyl and uh CD and um lots of other stuff a little drink here are you no we got uh this next one's called um Slips Away oh love it The Rocker then to do a little bit of stri down [Music] thing [Music] [Music] oh [Applause] [Music] I don't mean to make light of the sorrow and the Fred I know it's no joke I don't want to fight to the left or the right but the world seems [Music] broke someday you'll find you can Escape your mind and the lagging fear and look behind till long you find yourself in tears cuz it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away I mean no offense but it makes no sense I we tell those lies you awake at night you feel all right I'll tell the demons Thrive can you separate the pain so great until you're feel and F did you wish for oh love is the money enough are you out of time before SS away SS away SS away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away FS away it away it FS way I've been defeated so many times I won many battles but I've all more we will pay for all our [Music] crimes do we remember what we're fighting for [Music] anymore SS away another day is gone it Slips Away Slips Away it Slips [Music] Away it Slips Away if I'm right today I'm don't you walk outside in the mountain light something beautiful song in The Emptiness feel kiss from the grave Beyond did you find peace there did you ever care who side you're WR it's a house of the image is clear but is changing fast the flow they rise they glow but they never last know the just slips [Applause] slips it SS away it SS way SS away it SS away it SS [Music] away who knew I lose so many friends by now still World CU blindness been around we close the store we left the town we lock the gates we burn it down there's no wonder [Music] around [Applause] [Music] I [Music] [Applause] a [Applause] I don't want to run from the oceans of the Sun but I see no [Applause] hope when the light is gone and the war is one was it all a joke when the end is near will we disappear will we be rebor from a primal slge who will be the judge Who would wear the F when it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away it Slips Away way w thank you guys am away some sound Slipped Away during that that was lotb guys have a few songs I'm going to do a couple of solo [Applause] [Music] numbers so all that stuff was new songs and this one is an old one that uh still kind my one of my most more popular on the streaming and all that so but uh it's one of the few that I always play piano and um it's kind of written around just the thing I always play piano so um it's called had enough of [Music] me long lost lightless SAU and swinging from a Vine she was a dose of imperfection she de me out of time I sold my disposition for a nigle in a dime and now she's had enough of me I never lied but never tried she never call me on the phone she let me down on one way street I thought we were alone she looked into my eyes but she looked into my soul and now she's had enough of me seduce me reduce me play tricks with my mind use me abuse me the world is unkind for me search me let me know what you find she's had enough of [Music] me [Music] [Music] l [Music] [Music] you stop by pretend and try pretend that is real it's a rebound lost and found get backward you still you took away my pride now tell me how should I feel she's had enough of me I want out thrown out tired of that t she said I was dead wish I was never born but I won't play the m in a crown of thorns she's had enough of me I messed up I fter but my love it was true she made up but we never broke my spirit I'm through I'm glad when I don't see you what else could I do I've had enough of [Music] [Applause] you this all right FY [Music] [Music] time this is one more from the album that I'm going to do and uh then we're going to move on to some of the um one of my older earlier repertoire but uh this one is more of one of the personal love or lost songs I guess I could say um it was written after I had heard the news that I had lost an old friend and um are there any friends from Brighton in the audience so this one is uh was written after I heard news about Julie and um I wasn't really ready to share it then and it kind of some sometimes pass P but it's really about how I felt like reminiscing and feeling like I really wanted to see my old friends again so uh it's called Old [Music] Friends I miss my old friends today we lost touch when I moved away I know the phone hom they work both ways I miss my old friends today I learn we lost an old dear friend Rare Bird precious Jem now there's no flowers or card that I can't send why is it always the best of us leave this emptiness in the rest of [Laughter] [Music] us though many years are passed behind those days are so clear in my mind we all went our separate ways we had our own loves our own dreams to find but some nights down at the [Music] pits I'm fires beard about cigarettes when everything was still ahead we all believed the words we said why is it always the best of us leave these mysteries for the rest of us and yet I clearly see her face I feel your smile your warm embrace I never say it was a waste I miss my old friends today I miss my old friends I miss my old friends [Music] today [Applause] [Music] this next one is uh from my last 2016 album uh strange storm and it it was kind of a more topical uh album that was you know a little political and a lot of too many ideas and thoughts went into that so this album was kind of more of personal Reflections and stuff but uh I this one is is uh was the kind of it was the last song on the record and it was kind of a sort of a last chapter of what my thoughts on it but this album came out in 2016 and it was just a lot of things going on at that time and um so it's called still believe in [Music] love I seen families fleeing from the flood seen children shot down in Cold Blood and soldiers lie dead in the mud but I still believe in love I still believe in love I seen black men murdered for no calls or thrown in jail from racist laws I se got exposed for all his flaws but I still believe in love still believe in [Music] love we're clinging to a spinning ball that once was big but now it's [Music] small soon we won't be here at all if we don't believe in [Music] love and soon we won't be here at all if we don't believe in [Music] love and the Earth is dying from man's blind ways can't find a way out of this maze In This Storm it is no passing phase but I still believe in love still believe in love and when death comes knocking at your door tell them it's all been said before cuz there ain't no magic anymore but I still believe in love yes I still believe in love paranoia they live in fear and claim apocalypse is [Music] near but they must not see what I see right here cuz I still believe in love yes I still believe in love and they must not see what I see right here cuz I still believe in love I still believe in [Music] [Applause] [Applause] love okay play a little slide I always like to uh put put some kind of cover into the show this one is by Bob Dylan one of my favorites and doing a little bit different arrangement with the slly guitar but um this album that this song is off of Blood on the tracks is is also kind of like a midlife sort of love and loss kind of album so this one uh [Music] okay here we [Music] go [Music] bucks of rain bucks of tears I got all these bucks coming out of my ears Moon beams in my hands you all the love baby I can [Music] sing [Music] i' been Meek been hard like an seen pretty people disappear like friends arrive friends will dis if you want me honey I'll be [Music] here [Music] I like your smile like your fingertips I like the way you move your hips I like the cool way you look at me and everything about you bring me misery [Music] Little Red Wagon little red bik I ain't no monkey but I know what I like I like the way you love me strong and slow I'm taking you with me honey baby when I [Music] go oh like said like is a bu do what you can do what you must what you can do and do it well for you baby honey can't you tell I do it for you baby honey can't you [Music] tell I do it for you baby honey can't you [Music] tell all right back [Applause] out and that concludes the plugg but [Applause] unplugged figure out this Sage [Music] [Music] maybe you don't need pedal board anymore rock and roll [Music] my God I'm so thirsty would you like some [Music] water all right this is a this is another one from an old record from 2009 when I wrote this uh that album has kind of a lot of story songs like narrative kind of fictional kind of things so this one is written from the point of view of a immigrant migrant worker type character it's called Green Card [Music] [Applause] [Music] rag why must I leave must I leave why must I leave must I leave my native country leave my family and my home my home my home my home I leave must I leave my girl so lovely L some road behind me so long so long so long so long I will do the trors you'll see s wash the floors oh I must I need must I need what must I need must I need your money the D for that greenh back home back home back home Roy on the key [Applause] why must I S must I need why must I need must I need y money the DI for that green where back home back [Music] [Music] home wow I will cut the grass you'll say I'm no lazy ass oh must need must [Music] need why must I need must I need the with why must I see I see why must I see must I see the devil all around I mean but sometimes living here so hard so hard so hard so hard so hard so hard so hard I got to get aard GRE card Green Card yeah I got to get a green card GRE card [Applause] [Music] this one's a title track off my first album from too many years ago since I've C [Music] [Applause] I'm lost standing on a dark BR side look for my bags in the soft moonight I'm a wasted man I'm a space that [Music] man I'm sick of slurping blood through a straw sick of up for all I'm a straight shot man can't stand some spy the is in my ear on [Music] relationships intellectuals criticize the war and the modernness why don't we worry later wonder where the time has gone from our thr dreaming of a distant land tired of talking into the fan there's a place I know we sometime go I'm sick of slurping blood through a straw sick of someu up for all a straight shot man bu can't stand suddenly the situation changed for [Music] everyone somehow someone start to seek some venance on everyone why don't we sit here and suffer as if we're innocent to the bone from my thr [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] go [Music] [Music] [Applause] la oh I'm going somewhere I never been my life here is at an end of be honest man with a cat hand yeah but I'm know when people don't work so hard no one's going to show me no business card I'm out of here I was head on t so sof child singing in my ear sweet and soft [Applause] Melody it's too bad we already know that it ends in [Music] tragedy why don't we run from ourselves out of this spray to our home [Music] go oh why don't always s here and suffer as if an innocent to the bone from our [Music] [Applause] [Music] ago thank [Applause] you so this next one is um it's kind of an inside joke in our household cuz I always say that I was right but this song has kind of an apology it's kind of like what I want to sing when I'm in trouble and um and uh so yeah I kind of wrote the song but it's about like a guy who whose wife has passed on and that's kind of the the reframing of it but the song's called I was [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] wrong [Music] [Music] as I stare at your grave I feel so awful for the way that I behave but it's too late I can never bring you back to [Music] life and I've been haunted by tricker P the sense of Shame will it out last your memor it was no way treat you my wife oh no I was wrong I was wrong I don't blame you for moving on I was wrong trust me I know I was wrong that's right I was wrong and all the promises I broke for guar I spoke you had to P me my all the wealth you did share I was mean I did not care and I never pay you back not to die not to die baby and I was wrong I was wrong I don't blame you for moving on and I was wrong trust me I know I was wrong that's right I was [Music] [Music] wrong it was wrong and I was wrong I don't blame you moving on and I was wrong trust me I know I was wrong I was wrong I was wrong I was wrong I was wrong I you got the he it you got know you know I'm I got to show you I I I I [Applause] thank [Applause] [Music] you this next one is uh one of the older songs it's uh from my first album it's one of the first songs I really wrote and put on demos and stuff because this one kind of wrote itself it was a true story that was told to me by a friend of mine that I met when I was traveling and living abroad in Germany and uh this song is like what he said word for word Bally one those little rhyme but it's called Harry Harry fought in the warf free R he had a dream of a Freer land his family was murdered in front of his eyes but I've never seen him [Music] cry hary Harry Harry my [Applause] friend will you ever love again hey Harry hariry Harry my friend such a gentle man they gave him a machine gun he fired one round the powerful kick threw him to the ground the hatred and rage took over his mind and he could shoot two at a time Harry Harry Harry and my friend will you ever love again hariry hariry harir my friend such a gentle man [Applause] [Music] [Music] put an Andy on [Applause] BAS his family dead no faith in Iran when he saw the chance he deserted he ran as a political refug he gain the sil and CH money now in Munich he lives free he smokes has she in the garden with me Harry Harry Harry and my friend will I ever see you again Harry Harry Harry my friend will you ever love us again Harry Harry Harry in my friend [Applause] such a gentle [Music] [Music] man a great audience we're very excited to be uh celebrating the new record thanks again to Scotty karate and Gregory stoop awesome uh set like to introduce the band again on B Brandon Andes everybody on drums Jonathan Taylor on keyboards ke Royal my name is Darren [Music] James [Music] [Music] yeah sucks is a paradoxes it's not ironic it's not funny or cute facing repercussion psychological discussions there's plenty of time for suffer you need to you need someone to defend on you you need someone to defend on you need someone to on you we got lost we got cross we got toss we watch everything flush away and all along you heard the angel sing a song but that dve you [Music] need you need to the you need to the you need some little by little you take yourself you got your head h on by stram it doesn't take a strong break the cam back you're crying over everything quit your [Music] crying [Music] [Music] oh [Music] [Music] oh [Music] te Roy keep we used to laugh we used to stand a chance we used to empathize with those in pain and now the same lost souls hold my hand reciprocating all the affection gave you need someone to depend you need someone to depend on you you need someone to depend on you need something to depend on him little my you tell yourself a you got your head head off by stre it do take a strong the C back cing little you need someone to theend down you need some someone to depend on you you need someone to depend on you you need someone [Music] to w la [Music] yeah sucks it's a paradox it's not funny it's not ironical cute facing repercussions psychological discussions it's plenty of time for suffering before the days through you need to on you need to on you need to you need you need you [Applause] the [Applause] the thank you you guys been a great audience appreciate [Applause] it we got one more for [Music] you [Music] it all comes back to me now the empty promises the shallow of you I don't see you in any of my future plans please don't run into me now please only messages that I want listen to I hear your voice get skin all my Dre after all this time Tri I don't Liv in this game take what you want what you think you deserve I look around I know what a mess I'm in I don't care who is to blame have no desire to Rel moments of pain I hear your voice it giv a skin all of my all of my take after all time timey settled down I settled for you it was too soon I gave you love maybe not enough I guess that's true Tri baby baby I've been it twice before the emptiness feels the same I don't need you to complicate my life this way I see mistakes that I made I hear the arguments from playing in my brain I hear your voice it giv a skin all my all my dreams after all this time there they are [Applause] [Music] [Applause] woo baby baby thank you records for sale be around out back I and thank you all being a great [Applause] audience nice