When I walked into the Acadiana Center for the Arts for the James Hunter show, I was amazed at the size of the crowd milling around in the lobby, where they were selling beer and wine. James Hunter being British, I had not expected that there would be all that much familiarity with him in Lafayette, but whether there was or not, the theatre was nearly full, seemingly mixed between people who were die-hard James Hunter fans like myself, and people who routinely support all Acadiana Center for the Arts events regardless of whether they know the artist or not. And as amazing as James Hunter is on records, he is an even more amazing and enthralling performer, as he is friendly and witty and enjoys interacting with his audience. His band is impeccable, with the kind of tightness and precision that James Brown demanded of his performers. Most of the songs were originals, and the one or two covers he did were obscure,including one from the old Five Royales. I was moderately disappointed that he did no songs from the People Gonna Talk album at all, but that album is, after all, eight years old, and there was too much good music to be disappointed for long. After a brief intermission, Hunter did a much-abbreviated second set, and the show had ended by 9:30 PM.