A shy rocker will be stepping out of his comfort zone at Vanier Hall during his Up Close and Personal: An Acoustic Tour Saturday night.
Colin James, best known for his rockin' songs Five Long Years, Voo Doo Thing, Why'd You Lie?, and Just Came Back, said he didn't consider himself anything other than a rocker. Things change.
"I'm a little bit of a shy performer and I don't know how it started but I try to project outside of myself a little bit when I'm playing because if I thought about a bunch of people staring at me it would freak me out. So, I think you learn how to drift off and get out of the room a little bit so there's a little bit of that going on. I think I'm slightly shy so that comes off too."
The idea for the acoustic show came up years ago and he told everyone he was not an acoustic performer, he was a rock player, James said, who's got more than a dozen albums that have reached multi-platinum status many times over. "It was a lot of work and I was nervous about it but I found pretty quickly it puts you in a place where people relate to you. It forced me to be a little bit more forthcoming as far as talking more during the show, which I always had a tendency to avoid at all costs. I don't like talking a whole lot, especially during a show. The extent of it used to be thank you, and thank you, good night."
The acoustic show forced James to sit down and relate, he said.
"Initially I was absolutely petrified about it but when I did the show we got a lot of really good feedback and it put me out of my comfort zone, which is always a good thing because it forces you to try something new and it allows you to do a few more songs that you might not do in a more charged rock setting, you know, a few more ballads and talk a little more. I was surprised that people really enjoyed it."
James is bringing special guest Chris Caddell with him on the tour.
"He grew up listening to me, he's probably a generation behind me and so it's kind of neat that we're now contemporaries later on down the line," said James. "We really enjoy the show and I will still do Just Came Back and Five Long Years and we'll do more quiet acoustic stuff and I even play a little mandolin, of all things."
The show goes by quicker than you could imagine, James said.
"My friend Chris starts out with a couple of songs and then off we go," James said. "The show changes from night to night because I like to keep it fresh and we're open to suggestions."
Recording a new album is in the works for Dec. 1 for James. He said he's got a great band together and really looking forward to that.
James and Caddell perform at Vanier Hall on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are at Studio 2880 or by calling 250-563-2880.
