EVERYBODY loves James Bay. It’s true. Tickets for this particular tour have been sold out for months and no-one has a bad word to say about the be-hatted boy from Hitchin.

Bristol’s O2 Academy was the final stop for James on his UK tour this week, but he showed no signs of fatigue in front of a capacity crowd who were ready to raise the rafters.

The BRIT award winner still seems quite taken aback by his sudden success, remarking upon the fact that it was only a year ago that he was previously here in the city as support for Kodaline.

Opening his set with ‘Collide’, one of the livelier tracks off his No.1 album Chaos and the Calm, James made sure his fans were well awake for a set which also included tracks from previous EPs.

From rock tracks such as Best Fake Smile to ballads like Let it Go and Scars, there were enough peaks and troughs in his performance to keep the crowd happy and it has to be said, his performance was polished.

An encore which included a brilliant cover version of Alicia Keys' ‘If I Ain't Got You’ and ended with Bay’s most famous track ‘Hold Back the River’ ensured that the fans left the show on a really high note.

Those lucky enough to have seen James Bay’s show this week were fortunate indeed, because his rapidly rising profile in the music industry will ensure that he won’t be playing venues of this size again any time in the near future.

West Country fans do have the opportunity to catch James at Barn in the Farm Festival, near Gloucester, July 3-5.