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Venue

Greek Theatre, UC Berkeley

2001 Gayley Rd., 94720, Berkeley, CA, US

thegreekberkeley.com/

Capacity: 8,500

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Additional details

Doors open: 19:00

Concert in your area for Indie & Alt, Pop, R&B, and Electronic.

Find out more about Pop and Electronic.

James Blake biography

Master of ambient electronic soundscapes, James Blake (born 26 September 1988) from London, England has been creating and producing musical masterpieces since 2009.

With passion for music nurtured from an early age, it led Blake to Goldsmith’s University where graduated in Popular Music. Emerging as a promising and exciting dubstep producer in 2006, Blake began as a producer injecting his samples reflecting his love of R&B into his dubstep remixes. In 2009 he released the double A side single “Air & Lack Thereof” recorded in his bedroom which received glowing reviews from Radio 1 DJ Gilles Peterson who picked up the track as a firm favourite. For the next year Blake began lending his vocals to his forthcoming releases the “Klavierwerke” and “CMYK” EP’s. The title track from “CMYK” was named as Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw’s ‘Record of the Week’.

With influences ranging from the likes of: D’Angelo, Joni Mitchell, Bon Iver and Stevie Wonder, Blake’s inherent vocal talent rose to the occasion with the BBC nominating him as Sound of 2011 alongside The Vaccines, Jamie Woon and Clare Maguire. Releasing his debut self-titled album in February 2011 saw him peak at number nine in the UK album charts and featured the singles “Limit to Your Love” and “The Wilhelm Scream”.

Later that year, Blake produced the “Enough Thunder” EP which included a collaboration with Bon Iver on the track “Fall Creek Boys Choir” and a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”. Blake spent much of 2012 touring his material playing a mixture of intimate and medium sized shows nationwide.

In 2013, Blake released his second full length album “Overgrown” featuring collaborations with Brian Eno and RZO which peaked at number eight in the UK album charts and was praised amongst his peers. The album produced the Ivor Novello award winning single “Retrogade” and earned him a string of nominations at the Grammy’s, BRIT’s as he took home the 2013 Mercury Prize for “Overgrown”.

Rapper Kanye West once stated in a radio interview that Blake was one of his favourite artists, hinting at a possible future collaboration. With lavish sounds which take listeners through a rollercoaster of emotions and styles, Blake continues to amaze constantly pushing boundaries and genre confines.

Live reviews

James Blake, Lincoln Theater, 6-12-14
This is what I posted about this show on Facebook as it was happening: "I worshiping at the temple of dub step - a James Blake concert in the very civilized Lincoln Theater. Gorgeous sound, but this show is sleepy! Probably should not have bought this ticket. I thought it would be the amazing dance party I saw him play a couple years ago. At least I got an awesome seat in the front. Sometimes it pays off to go to a show alone."
What I meant is that there was an almost religious quality to the music that night. The first half the the set was haunting, spare, soulful, and yes, slow. By the time I was ready to leave (it was a school night!) the tempo was just starting to change. I stayed for 2 songs that were progressively more dance-able than anything prior. I think if I'd stayed until the very end it would have turned into the dance party I remembered.
One thing that really surprised me about this show was the exceptional diversity of the audience. James Blake appeals to every demographic, apparently. Very cool, but I wouldn't have guessed that.
I arrived late, so I missed the opener entirely. James Blake, 9:30 Club, Oct 9, 2011
OH MY GOD, James Blake is FABULOUS! I was not excited going into that show - I had considered skipping entirely if anyone had wanted to buy both my tickets. SOO glad I stayed. The opener, Chairlift, was fine, but looked frumpy and timid on stage. I like their song Bruises, but apparently nothing else they do. James Blake, though, amazed me. How the hell did he make such minimal music rock the audience? Something I didn't understand before seeing him live: his live music uses ultra-deep sounds that vibrate the entire block. I overheard the guy next to me yelled to his friend "that feels good!" and I agree. It makes the concert into a full-body experience. I swear I could feel my spleen vibrating. There were 3 musicians on stage most of the time. James Blake on keyboards/vocals and pedal repeater (and something that distorts vocals), a guy on an electronic drumset, and a guy on the machine that creates the vibrations who also sometimes played guitar. The arrangements were fuller than his recorded music, and they were excellent. I'm not certain that everyone would love this music, and I'm mostly ignorant of dub-step, but this show is now at the top of my list this year. If you get a chance, see him live. Wow.

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