James Blunt talks ahead of Birmingham show

“Are you coming to the show?” they’ll ask.

We’ll respond in the affirmative, enthusiastically – well, in most cases.

And they’ll say: “Well, come and say hello.”

And we know they never mean it. It’s the equivalent of telling your best mate you’ll be friends forever and nothing will ever come between you. It will. You’ll have a ding dong at some point, it’s the way of life. Or it’s like taking pity on a neighbour and telling them they can stay over for Christmas and not leave for as long as they like . . . which sounds fine, until it gets to December 28 and they’re still there.

James Blunt enjoys his chat with us. He’s happy to plug his forthcoming Birmingham gig – he’s back in the big time, back in the arenas – and is thrilled that we’ve done our research about his wife and family, his work for charities and his blossoming friendship with Ed ‘Mr Success’ Sheeran.

So when he’s answered all of our questions and it’s time to call it a wrap, he walks down the tried-and-tested route of rock stars and interviewers.

“Look, come up to the show and have a drink,” he says.

We will. We will.

“No, really. Give me a knock.”

And for once, it’s believable. It’s easy to imagine that if we went to his Afterlove Tour at Arena Birmingham, got passed security on no more than a ‘James told me to give him a knock’, he’d smile, knowingly, and share a chilled Czech Pilsner while sharing tales of life on the road. “Take a seat,” he’d say. “I’ve only got 10 minutes, but good to see you, thanks for making the effort . . .”

For James is Mr Nice. He’s one of rock‘n’roll’s most pleasant, charming and likeable singers. While Paul Weller famously put him down – and Twitter frequently reacts in much the same way – James is too sanguine and self-deprecating to rise to any of it. Pleasant, humble and so damn funny, his Twitter stream in one of one-line comebacks that put the comics at Edinburgh Festival in the shade.

James is in a good place. The former British soldier who saw action in the Kosovo War before rising to fame with his debut album, Back to Bedlam, and achieving worldwide fame with the singles You’re Beautiful and Goodbye My Lover, has rediscovered his mojo.