Before the show, Steve Himber announced James’ schedule for the next day at the convention, as well as a small charity auction to be held after the show, with proceeds benefiting the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

James then came on stage, and introduced his guitar Crystal to us. Malcolm, the guitar he’d used at the concerts in Burbank, CA and Farmingdale, NY got injured while traveling from Germany to Cardiff, he shared, and was still at the shop being repaired. Crystal had also managed to get into trouble, and he was hoping for the best.

He opened the show with “For What I Need,” quickly followed by a song he wrote in Cardiff while shooting “Torchwood,” called “Layabout.” The smoke machine was going a bit bonkers, which caused him to quip, “Who’s smoking a cigarette?” “All That She Wanted”, which he claimed to have written to dig himself out of a deep hole, and “Up On Me” (a self-pity song) followed, as did “Smile”, “Louise”, “Poor Robyn”, and “Civilized Man”, which he prefaced by retelling the story of a mean, sweaty PA on the set of Cool Money whom he later discovered was a coke addict. He reiterated that he always has his guitar with him on set.

The songs kept coming, and it was time for “Not a Millionaire”, “White Hot Girls” (which his niece saved, asking him to “write a verse about good girls” as the unfinished song “offended her”), “Vandals” (the first song he wrote with his friend Gordon Hart, who wants to call it “Button Down Vandals” instead), and three new ones: “Lookin’ at You” (a new favorite), “Don’t Worry, Son” (inspired by the time he fell asleep behind the wheel while driving to visit his son after shooting long hours on Buffy) and “Like a Waterfall” (that I also like very much.)

“Fall of Night” was announced as “the song I had to write to get out of the hole because of the other song earlier”, followed by “The Truth Is (A Heavy Stone).” After that, James addressed us by saying, ‘I’m gonna end with a love song. Please scream, ‘cause I want to come back out.” And it was time for “London City”, and James’ exit.

There was much screaming, stomping, clapping, hooting and cheering, and James came back out. He explained he used to think it was “really lame” to leave the stage and come back when it was just him, but he realized it was actually nice. So, he gave us four more songs, “Katie”, “The Birth of the Blues” (which is his rebuttal to the legend that says Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil to play the blues – “That’s all bullshit, just because he didn’t want to say who’d taught him.”), the new song “Dance Slow”, “Dangerous” (a B-side from the Ghost of the Robot album “Mad Brilliant”) and “Angel” about “dear Helena.”

The show ended on that note, and then Steve came back out for the auction. He announced that James would personalize all the items for the auction winners. The items included the t-shirt James had worn Friday (“unwashed” said Steve, and James grabbed it and dried off his sweat from the show with it), which went for $750, as well as a picture that had been in James’ studio, at his place, a limited edition photograph, tonight’s set list and a copy of the latest issue of the UK magazine “Starburst” featuring John Barrowman and James on the cover. Over $2,000 was raised for the charity and James thanked us for helping save the lives “of at least a couple kids right there.”

Overall, another great show despite minor complaints from Crystal while James was playing, which frustrated him a bit. James had announced at Dragon*Con that he’s in the process of recording his new album, and that he hoped to have it released as soon as October. Here’s hoping it’s out in time for his upcoming show in L.A., at the end of that month.