| Michael
Carpenter Solo Tour Diary |
| Tuesday, June 17. Cairns Airport ...to be home again? When you do a trip that personally feels so monumental, in the middle of it it feels like it is never going to end, in a good way. In the last week, probably starting from our time in New Jersey, we got a sense that the trip was nearly over, and it did change our perception of things. For one thing, money was becoming ridiculously tight, which limited us in more ways than i was comfortable with. But mainly whereas for the preceeding 7 weeks we were only concerned with what we had to deal with for the 'next week', 'next week' this last week has meant home. Sydney. The life, and all it's 'colour', good and bad, that we left behind. And that has cast a particular cloud over this last week. It's hard to articulate, but i'll try anyway in recapping. Japan was always going to be a big part of the trip. Everywhere we went, when we explained to people where we were going on this tour, they would always be amazed that we were going to Japan. It wasn't until just after i wrote the last diary entry that it hit me that we were really going there. We didn't speak the language. We certainly couldn't read the language. We had good directions of how to meet up with our contact there, Daisuke from Wizzards in Vinyl Records, but really had no idea about anything else, except that the accomodation was going to cost us more than what we had. Yikes. Hope we sell some CDs!! Surprisingly, everything, from immigration to customs to getting on the train to meeting Daisuke went faultlessly. We were REALLY tired.. the plane trip again travelled with the sunlight, and i find it impossible to sleep on those flights, but the 14 hours went quickly. When we arrived in Shinjuku, where everything was centred, we were faced with the most unbelievable, sensory overload you can imagine. There was people everywhere, neon signs everywhere, everything fast paced, the air was thick as it was the humid, rainy season, and we were surrounded by signs we didn't understand. It was scary as hell, but SO exciting. It's like we landed in another world.. a hyper realistic version of our familiar world. The other thing was that people were so nice and kind and patient with us, (although really, i can live without schleping our now numerous bits of luggage, 8 pieces by this point, through Shinjuku station at peak hour ever again.) The first night Daisuke took us to a Japanese restaurant which we enjoyed very much. Though the accomodation was the most expensive i've ever stayed in, the food was really moderately priced, and after the way too big servings in the US, the meal sizes here were perfect. My sidekick retired to the hotel early, but i hung out as long as i could, and even got to check out the next night's venue. The next day was spent just walking around Shinjuku.. i was mainly salivating at the prices of everything.. way cheaper than anywhere else, and the RockInn is the best music store i've ever been to. My show that night was to be a 2 set deal, so we tried to get some sleep in the afternoon, but a free broadband Internet connection in our hotel room thwarted that. Daisuke took me to see a few bands early in the night, and i was amazed at how the Japanese crowd DIDN'T applaud. Double Yikes. Then after a lovely dinner we got to the show. I was sharing the night with a whole bunch of pop DJs, and got to meet up with some old friends who had made the trip to the show. I wasn't sure how the show would go. There was the whole language thing, plus what i'd seen a few hours earlier about the crowd not engaging with the performer. Fortunately, my fears were unfounded. In fact, quite the opposite. In a lot of ways this was my favourite crowd.. a bunch of people who knew my stuff who'd dragged along a bunch of people that didn't know any of my stuff. Let's just say there was a lot of love in the room, and i felt it from the minute i started the set. Basically, you know how i've been saying in the whole diary about how i had a vision in my head of the perfect solo show for me? Friday night in Japan was it. The crowd reacted, the sound was good, my voice was strong, the audience yelled for requests, things were made up on the spot, i jumped up and down a lot and everybody seemed to be 'with me'. I guess the best way to describe it was that there was a lot of fun and laughter in songs like King's Rd and Thinking About You, but then people were quiet and attentive and really listened during the slower stuff like Good Enough and The One For Me. Basically, i felt like the crowd was right there with me, and the 2 sets, (the first 45 minutes, the second an hour and 15 minutes) went by in a flash. I only stopped because i knew i had one more show the next night, and with the final encore of Across The Universe, with the supposedly 'reserved' Japanese crowd singing 'Jai Guru Deva Ohm - nothing's gonna change my world' at the top of their lungs, i felt like i'd hit a perfect moment on a perfect night. Plus, i was knackered... We celebrated a little and then crashed out at the hotel as the sun came up, sleeping long into the middle of the day. We woke and had a great lunch with more looking around shops. Every street we turned down seemed to open up into a whole new world of lights and 6 stories of computer equipment. Was this heaven? My trusty sidekick finally headed back to the hotel about 5.30, but i had a few hours to just walk and think and take it all in. I haven't had much alone time on this trip, which has been good, but at this point it was nice to have a few hours to explore. When i finished looking through the Rock Inn music store.. again.. it was pouring. So i decided to do the walk back to the hotel in the rain. It was fantastic.. a Saturday night in Shinjuku, lights and people everywhere under umbrellas, and me getting delightfully drownded as i walked the streets, head in the clouds. I got a chance to think about how much we've achieved and the things to come and reflect on the personal magnitude of the trip, and especially the night before's show. By the time i got back to the hotel, i could have gone home to Australia right then. My sidekick was asleep, so she deserted me for the night (although i was angry about this, as it was the last show of the tour, i do admire her staying power.. 30 something shows, and she only missed one.) The gig tonight was another event with many pop DJs. The music was good and loud, and i was to play kinda in the middle of it all, which i was a bit worried about, because i know that never works. And by the time i got on, my quiet acoustic sound was underwhelming, even though i started with a bunch of rockier acoustic songs. The setting just felt strange.. the sound was so quiet in comparison to the DJs, and i was lit by one lone light shining straight at my face, which meant that if i moved at all no one could see me, but if i stayed in one place i couldn't see anyone else! Despite me trying every trick in the book, i just didn't feel like i got this crowd. I tried covers (the Beatles 'Rain', Beach Boys 'Wild Honey' were requested and performed). I tried yelling at them to get a reaction. I tried jumping into the crowd. It all kinda worked, but it just didn't reach the heights. In hindsight, it's not surprising after the Friday, but it would have been great if it'd worked.... the dream end. I guess ultimately, most of the crowd was there to rock out to loud pop music, not listen to an acoustic concert. Oh well.. Sunday bought more walking around and more frustration that we didn't have any money to spend here. The meals were great everytime, although i do wonder whether people get tired of rice and noodles. Sunday night we went to a Belgian Bar in a ritsy part of town, but the food was ridiculously over priced, and to be honest, pitiful in it's quantity vs price. I mean 550 yen (about $7 Aus) for a small glass of coke mostly filled with ice? Regadless, the conversation and laughs were good, and that vibe was continued the next day when our good friend Jumpei took us sightseeing once we'd checked out of the hotel. By this time, funds were beyond critical... a bottle of water was a big investment, especially as only one ATM in the whole of Shinjuku seemed to read my ATM cards!! But we had a good time regardless, seeing a different side of Tokyo that just the business district of Shinjuku. It was a wonderful day, and a nice way to round off the Japanese experience. Actually, it reminded us how quickly we'd gotten used to throwing orselves into a new environment and getting aclimatised quickly... the fear and anticipation of coming to Japan was quickly replaced by a feeling of revelling in the adventure and the excitement that it brings. It's quite an amazing experience, and it's a skill any traveller develops on any sort of reasonable length journey i expect. After a trip back to Narita Airport that wasn't without incident... (we really need to pack lighter for next trip... and i'll never forget my sidekick getting the train-ticket stuck to her lip while holding it in her mouth, then ripping off half her lip when removing, only to follow that with losing the train ticket in the ticket machine.. all at peak hour on Monday afternoon in a city of 11.5 million people.. thank God for Jumpei!!), we made it back to Cairns where we've had a 6 hour layover. It's quite a crappy anti-climax to come so far and then to have to kind of dribble your way home this way.. a direct flight would have had us home hours ago. But i did find it humorous that i travelled all the way around the world looking in every music shop for a 6 string banjo, only to find one in Cairns. I didn't buy it though... it just didn't feel right... Essentially though, we're back home. I have a whole bunch of anxieties about being home. I've been building up to this trip for so long, and i left behind so much bad feeling about my life at home, that it'll be ineteresting to see how it all falls when i get back into the the thick of it. As a great friend did point out though, if i can organise a world tour, i should be able to organise my own life at home.. Stay tuned for one more entry, which will involve some sort of tying up of the whole thing, and maybe an aftermath.. Thursday, June 12. Flying over Anchorage the finish line.. And so now my trusty sidekick and i find ourselves staring blankly at the finish line, and all that it represents. we'll be back home in about 5 days, and the adventure will be done. We're almost out of money, due to admin error, which has made the last few days in New York a little tense, but we've had an intersting last week. I'll pick up where i left off. The show in Chicago was an important one.. i knew there'd be lots of friends out and i was the headline act. The nerves that dashed the show in LA were still fresh in my mind, but i'd had the week of house concerts under my belt which made me feel better. The Beat Kitchen is a great venue, and i was really pleased with the turnout on a Sunday night. I had two strong supports in Gidgets Ga Ga and two of the guys from the Webstirs, but tonight it all felt different. Tonight, probably for the first time ever, i felt like a headline act. The difference is subtle, but i just felt ready, and deserving of being at the head of the bill. I felt like the set was everything i'd been looking for up to this point. The sound on stage was lovely, and my voice felt good and strong despite, and maybe because of having been worked quite heavily this week. I felt like i managed to engage the audience and played a good variety of material, including a nice and unexpected joining of themes in 'Can't Be All You Need' and the new song 'Good Enough'. I've been very lucky on this tour.. i only bought the one guitar with me, but i haven't broken too many strings. And even tonight, i waited until my last song to break one. Fortunately i borrowed an acoustic and managed to finish the set. Anyway, i felt it was a high point for me as a performer.. i really just felt like everything i'd been shooting for, and have talked about so much in this diary, came together. It really proved to me that i CAN do this well. The crowd reaction was wonderful and the whole night was incredibly gratifying, and it wasn lovely to hang out with friends after the show. So a splendid night all 'round. We spent the next few days hanging out with a good friend and her family in Wisconcin. Not much to do on a farm in Wisc, which i think was just what we needed after the hectic weeks before. We came back to Chicago, went to a ball game at Wrigley Field and ended our stay in Chicago with a night of bowling. It was a wonderful few days of being social, and a nice balance to the week before which was hard music work. It was important too, because one of the other things i've realised on this trip is how much i enjoy the social aspects of life.. a meal or drinks with friends. That sounds kinda dumb, but at home i get so swept up in what has to be done that i neglect this aspect of my life constantly. A big lesson is not to do that in the future! The only down side of the week was the news from home of a friend, his wife and newborn child being killed in a car accident a few weeks before. I've never had to deal with death much, but this just upset me incredibly. I felt so far away and so confused about the loss, having terrible images in my head of the incident. I don't know what God's plan is with this, but it just made no sense. So i was very low key and reflective about it.. i still am, and dread that feeling when i see mutual friends. I don't know how it's going to feel... it's just so horrible. This friend has been a great help to me and my career over the last few years, and always available to help out in whatever way he could. He will be sorely missed... and i still find it hard to process it all... Friday had us back at the airport and off to Maryland. After the longest wait ever for a rental car, we found ourselves on the road in Friday afternoon peak hour traffic off to Andy's in Chestertown. Andy's was a lovely venue in a quiet little town. It wasn't long before my good friend Cliff Hillis and the original Groupiegal Beth Lennon joined us, as well as a few friends who had travelled many hours to share the experience. Cliff and i were sharing the night, and as it turned out, for the most part the audience was only the 6 of us, although there was a group of people who did kinda float in and out of the room, and who seemed to enjoy it when they stuck around. Cliff and i alternated sets through the night, with Cliff debuting many new songs, as well as playing many of my favourites from his debut album. We played pretty much continuously for about 3 hours, playing several songs i'd never played before, including 'In On Me' (the first time i tried this though i broke a string) and an unexpected version of 'You're So Alone'. The night culminated in various Beatles, Monkees and Creedence covers. It was great fun, and always wonderful to share a stage with Cliff, one of the real fantastic songwriters out there now. Saturday found us back on the road and off to Rehobeth Beach, in torrential rain. We were scheduled to play at Dogfish Head Brewery at the Beach, and had been told how great the beach was. Unfortunately, it was raining so hard we could barely get out of the car, let alone explore the surrounds.. a big disappointment. For this show i was doing a set supporting the INCREDIBLE Massacoustics. I was basically playing to the dinner/post dinner crossover crowd. The audience was made up mostly of people more interested in a quiet meal, but i perservered with a strong and confident set and won over the majority of the audience. It was very gratifying, as in many ways this was the toughest crowd of the tour.. no one had heard of me and most would have been happy to have had background music while dining.. so i was especially pleased to win over this crowd. We'd just about sold out of CDs, and it was disappointing to have to turn people away.. our only admin screw up of the tour so far. The Massacoustics were two brothers. One brother was playing bass drum with his right foot, tambourine with his left, bass with his left hand and percussion with his right, all while singing backing vocals. Amazing!! Two great voices with fantastic songs.. i mean they even threw in Del Amitri and Crowded House covers!! Unfortunately we had to leave during their break, but they were fantastic. The trip back up to Wilmington was not without incident as we got severely lost. We'd been pretty good with not getting lost on this trip but we made up for it with this journey!! Fortunately, we eventually made it after scouring some of the dodgiest parts of the city... Sunday we headed in for a great early dinner in Baltimore with Cliff and Beth, before making our way to Cafe Tattoo. I was very excited about playing at this club, having read so much about it, and of course it meant i could spend a little time with the owner, Andy Bopp from Myracle Brah. I was scheduled to go on about 7.30 for a short set before making a speedy exit to drive to New Jersey. Of course, as these things always work out, the headline band didn't arrive until 7.15, and by the time they'd setup it was 8.55 before i hit the stage for my last US show. I was very anxious because i knew we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us at least, and friends waiting up for us in Jersey to let us in to their house. This last set was a bit of a blur, but there was some dedicated MC fans there, and i tried my best to quickly get through all the best bits of the tour. I managed to break another string second song.. that's 3 in 4 shows!! But Cliff happened to have a spare guitar in his car and i got through with CH quickly changing my broken string. The set felt a little rushed but the audience seemed to enjoy it. It wasn't the ideal way to finish my US shows, and i would have liked to have hung out with the audience a little, but we made a quick exit and hit the road. The journey to Jersey was going well, until we got to within 4 miles of our destination. Somehow we lost where we were, and found ourselves heading unexpetedly into NYC, almost out of gas at 1.30 am, knowing i had a friend waiting for us who had a 6 am start! After somehow finding a gas station and finding some sense of direction and a phone call to my very patient host, we managed to make it. But it was one of the more forgettable incidents of the tour. We spent the next few days hanging out with my wonderful, patient and tired friends in New Jersey, and walking around New York. It's such an exciting city.. it astounds me the impact it has on me every time i visit. We also started to take stock of the lessons learned on the trip and started to face the reality that we'll be back home in a week. As much as i love being home, there's definitely a feeling of dread in going back. We've had such a wonderful time on this trip, and my time before i left for this trip at home wasn't the happiest. We've got so much that we've experienced out here.. the real challenge is going to be to make sure that i don't sink, or get sucked back into the life i was living before i left. I think that's going to be harder than anything we've had to deal with out here on the road. But we also still have 4 days in Tokyo, and our last 2 shows to get through, and having never been to Japan for more than an airport stop, i'm very excited about the next few days.
the grind??? The U.S. is such a different place to be after being in Spain and the U.K. It's so BIG, and while the size isn't that much of a problem when plane tickets are booked, there's just an overwhelming awareness of the size of the place, and how difficult it must be for anything to break through over here. Just an observation. But with that, i'll launch backwards into what's been happening in the last week or so. It's been hard work, but the benefits have far outweighed any sort or difficulties. We arrived in Los Angeles and were so happy to stay with our good friends Anna Borg (of Tall Boy Records) and her husband Mark Turner (they shall now eternally be known as 'A.Bo' and 'Turno') We didn't have a show for a few days, so we got to just hang out and relax. We went walking, ate at some wonderful restaurants, (stay away from the Oreo pancakes.. beautiful but massive!!), went and saw the new Matrix ( i liked it, but my sidekick was ambivalent), watched a few DVDs and basically tried to catch up on things. We did also see The Thorns at the Troubadour, which was good. My first show was at Molly Malone's in LA on Saturday the 24th. There was a realy good turnout, and as i'd been to LA before and made lots of friends, it was good to see so many people out at the show. There was certainly a lot of LA musicians i admire and respect so much there to see the show, which was exciting, yet stressful. The room sounded beautiful, and the vibe was really nice, like people were just there to enjoy a great night of music. Kenny Howes did a short solo set to start with, playing his Rickenbacker electric, and i enjoyed his performance a lot, and wished he was doing a full set. My good friend Robbie Rist then did an INCREDIBLE set. He is just one of the most accomplished singers/songwriters/guitarists/performers i've seen. There's just a genuine love for playing the comes through everytime i've seen Robbie play with anyone, and now that he's doing his own thing, that special thing that makes Robbie ROBBIE is there in spades. I can't wait for him to finally get something out there to buy.. he's just got it all. So let's see... a whole bunch of pop musicians in the room. Robbie and Kenny both do great sets. Was i nervous or intimidated? Well.. it's a funny thing. I've just been through the U.K. and was really excited about the fact that i was developing a 'thing' with these solo shows. By the time i left the U.K. i thought i pretty much had a handle on it all, and was really looking forward to unleashing it in LA. But here's the thing... i just got freaked out by the amount of musicians in the crowd. I mean, my set was good, and i sung ok, and it seems that everyone in the crowd had a good time, but i just felt it was my weakest show of the tour, just because i let too many external things get to me. I guess that was one lesson i hadn't learnt in the UK, but i learned it in LA. Don't get me wrong.. i didn't suck, but eveytime anything went a little wrong, in my head i just panicked a little, and i guess i felt i just didn't show as much brazen confidence as i'd like to. There were some nice things. I debuted my version of Cloud 11's 'Take Control'.. a nice little nod to songwriter Rick Gallego who was in the crowd (first time i've ever played someone else's song while they were in the audience.. forgot the words in the first verse!! D'oh!!). And one of the nicest things was having Wendie Colter and Probyn Gregory join me onstage to sing 'Kailee Anne' with me. (I will eternally have memories of rehearsing it in the car the night before.) I wish i'd had more time to catch up with everyone, but some people had to split right after the show, so to all the friends i missed out on, thanks for coming and i'm sorry we didn't catch up. To make an unhappy show worse, i was so disappointed with my set that i continued to beat myself up about it for the rest of the night.. even to the point where people were coming up to me telling me how much they genuinely enjoyed it, and i was almost trying to talk them out of it. (My sidekick quickly instructed me that that's probably not the smartest tthing to do.) So, certainly not a bad show at all, but i thought my weakest show, and more lessons learned along the way. And so we had the next few days off to organise some details for the remainder of the US dates. The next big hurdle was to get over our fear of driving in the US (other side of the road and car). We hired a car and left LA on Monday to do the long drive up to Oregan. With so much built up anxiety about this, it was a real surprise to find that it was no problem at all driving over here. In fact, in no time at all we were really enjoying the experience. We drove for 10 hours through Northern California, determined to pass where A.Bo and Turno had expected we would stop. The only problem with passing this pre-determined spot was that we found it difficult to find a cheap enough hotel after that spot. So another big lesson.. never ignore local knowledge. Anyway, we finally did find a reasonably priced room, though it's quality was questionable. Although it seemed like it had been cleaned after the last person stayed there, there were 'human hints' that that may not have been so. Let's just leave it at that. We woke up and hit the road early the next day after a nice breakfast, and made it to Eugene, Oregan in the mid afternoon. It's a beautiful city.. spacious, clean with a lovely feel.. unless you are an allergy sufferer, which my sidekick is, resulting in one of the most spectacular allergy attacks i've ever witnessed. I think there were about 15 sneezes in a row. It would have been entertaining if it wasn't so painful to watch. Apparently, there's a lot of grass seads and pollens in the air in Eugene, making it the 'allergy capital of America'. So a quick trip to the pharmacy helped to take care of that. In our travels around the city, i found one of the best music stores i've ever seen. The diversity of instruments in there was incredible.. old snare drums, new guitars, and a back room with more harmoniums, dulcimers, squeeze boxed, harps and auto harps than i've ever seen. I could have spent a fortune in there. Anyway, the show was at a place called the Samurai Duck. It was a nice little indie type bar. I was going to be the opening act of 3, mainly because with only acoustic guitar and voice, i was the 'lightest' of the acts. I hit the stage to a small crowd, only to hit my guitar strings for the opening chord to hear the most overdriven sound ever. I perservered, but everytime i sang, the guitar just disappeared in a mess of overmodulated distortion. Obviously something was not right with the PA, and i didn't know whether to stop and try to fix it or soldier on. As things were already running late, i decided to soldier on, despite it being the absolute worst sound i've ever experienced on stage (the sound did improve moderately, but everytime the problem disappeared, usually about 3 minutes into every song, as soon as i finished a song the distortion returned.). Irony upon irony, i started to actually get into the groove of it, and the audience, that was starting to build a little could hear that there was difficulty and reacted really well to my banter and discussions about it. I even got them singing along. So i was very proud that would could have been an absolute disaster ended up being a GREAT set. My voice felt good and strong, and the way i handled the difficulties and soldiered on while still managing to be moderately entertaining was very satisfying. And i think i sung really well. Go figure. And it was a nice recovery from the LA set. Get back on that horse... After sleeping in at the hotel until 10.55am (11 am check out!! Yikes!) we had a nice brunch and headed up to Portland and met up with our house concert co-host Joanne. After a nice meal and a quick visit to Milleniom Music (great store) we headed off to our first house concert for the tour, at Jodie's house. I was really excited about the house concerts... the opportunity to drop the pretense of 'cool' and just play an intimate set, as i did at the instore in Wolverhampton was really exciting. A nice gathering of about 20-25 people arrived, and after a nice burger barbeque, Jakob Van Auken started playing. His set was a wonderful example of classic singer-songwriter stuff.. perfectly executed with style and class. And he's a great singer and guitar player with awesome material. The difference between the LA show in this context was that his set inspired me, and by the time i got on stage i was excited and ready. There was no PA at this show, which made it all very real. People were very respectful and were quiet, which ended up giving a beautiful natural breadth to the dynamics.. you could get really quiet or really loud and the impact of the dynamics in the room was almost tangible. It was very exciting. I had some people there who were very familiar with my stuff which was really nice.. yelling out requests, singing the odd backing vocal, and the exchanges between the audience was a highlight. In all i played for about 2 and a half hours, and did a few more new things. I did a version of 'You Won't See', which is a song i've never done before. I also debuted a new song called 'Everyday', which went down well. It was a wonderful night, and i really felt like i could have played all night, but by 11pm, it was getting late. After much post show discussion we made our way home, filled with the great vibes of a successful night. But a 6 am flight lie ahead.. and we did the whole 'sleep with one eye on the clock thing', or barely sleep at all as it should be known. We were obviously quite tired by the time we picked up our car in Denver, Colorado. It was about an hours drive out to Ft Collins, home of Not Lame Records, and i will always remember the sight of the incredible Rocky Mountains keeping us company on our left as we headed out. After spending some time checking out NL HQ (very VERY impressive), and meeting the team there, we made our way to the home of label boss Bruce Brodeen and his wife Ruth. After a little nap, we started to prepare for the show. It was going to be an outdoors/backyard affair, and we were hoping that the weather would hold off. We were advised by the locals that it often 'rains heavily for 5 minutes'.. not much consolation. By the time i started, under heavy grey clouds, there was a nice crowd of some 35-40, plus a whole bunch of kids. I knew it was going to be a long night of playing, so i got to play a whole variety of things, including some 'crowd pleaser' covers. After a short break, where i got to eat some of the incredible food laid out, and meet some more of the locals, i returned and did a whole bunch more songs. It was a fun night, and great to play to people who weren't necessarily your regular music crowd. There was a relieving simplicity to it... it's like i could really relax and just say and do whatever i felt like (within reason). I got very comfortable and chatty, and played all 3 of the new songs, all of them going down nicely. As the night wore on, some of the kids grabbed percussion instruments to help out. It was great fun, although definitely a challenge trying to keep in time with a percussion section ranging in age from 3 to 8 years old. The vibe was fantastic, and the genuine enthusiasm for what i was doing from the crowd was quite amazing, especially in such an unusual setting as a backyard in Colorado. After i was done, the conversation and good cheer continued for many hours, and a splendid time was had by all. As i've said before, i have a vision in my head of what i'm shooting for with these solo shows, and with every one of these 'low key' shows, i can feel my confidence growing, in my playing, singing and approach. One other thing is that a lot of the songs seem to be revealing themselves to me more and more with every show. I've grown to understand a lot of my songs in a way that i haven't grasped since the day i wrote them. It's been an interesting side effect. So anyway, the night ended with a long conversation with Bruce Brodeen about many things. He's such an inspiration, and i just love talking to him about anything. There was much talk about the state of the 'pop' scene, and my future releases and the like. It was a very validating discussion which has made me excited about the work that lies ahead for me as an artist. Let's just say there's plenty of work to do when i get home. So again we had to make an early start the next morning to catch our plane to Omaha, Nebraska. We did sleep a little more easily though, and woke feeling moderately rested, for a while at least. This trip was going to be a pain in the butt, as we had to fly to Nebraska, which is East of Colorado, via Texas, which is VERY south. We finally did arrive to meet our host Steve. Immediately we enjoyed the quiet and peaceful nature of Nebraska, and very much enjoyed getting a bit of a 'feel' for it as we drove to Steve and Claudia's house. We had a little nap, then an incredible home cooked meal (smoked pork and sweet potato with black eyed peas sauce.. delicious!!) The night was going to be similar to last night in Ft Collins.. a huge backyard, basically just playing to friends, neighbours and kids. And as good as Ft Collins was, i think there was just a magical thing about tonight. I don't know what it was, but it just felt special, and i felt at the top of my game.. about as good as i can be. I felt so comfortable in such a beautiful, uninhibited setting and enjoyed every second. The adults listened intently to all the chat and the music, the kids danced.. it was wonderful. It appears the audience, most of whom had never heard of me before, enjoyed it, and there was several hours of chatting with new friends after the show, as well as the fact that we sold out of much of our stock! A nice moment was when i noticed that the neighbours were sitting out on their porches and balconies enjoying the show as well!! So a fantastic night for all. I'm starting to wonder how much better this tour can get... every expectation has been not only reached but beaten, and every night just seems to get a little bit more special. I'm hoping the fall doesn't happen in Chicago, at the next show!! So yes, it's been a grind this past week. But i guess we've gotten to see the benefits of all the hard work in the faces of the people that seemed to enjoy what i was doing. And for a songwriter, that has to be the ultimate reward, doesn't it?
Tuesday, May 20. Somewhere over Greenland.. really!! looking back.. Well, how time flies when you're having fun! I can't believe all of the UK shows are done. I've fallen way behind on my tour diary, which is pretty normal for any diary i've ever tried to keep, so here on the airplane is my first opportunity to update things. I'll try to briefly go through all the shows, and give you some of the highlights (and lowlights). The first gig of this run was in Manchester. We LOVED Manchester.. a lovely city with a great vibe. Smaller than i expected, at least in the city centre, but easy to get around and very relaxed. We were playing with Oh Susannah and Stephen Fearing. This was the only 3 artist bill of the tour, and after the slightly awkward 'who's going on first' moment with the promoter (i lost), and everything running a little later than expected, i was told i would have to play a shorter set than what i'd planned. Some slight technical difficulties meant that my set was getting shorter all the time, but when i finally got started, with a bit of a build up of frustration, i launched into playing as many songs and fitting in as much banter as possible. I've been learning how important that sort of communication is when you're doing an acoustic show, as it helps get a real connection with the audience. I managed to cram in about 9 songs and do what i thought was my best set so far. The crowd responded really well. Tonight our bill was up against Lou Reed and Evan Dando, so the crowd was small but were definitely into it. The venue, Tmesis, was very cool by the way.. a really nice bar with a great vibe. A little on the classy side, and Oh Susannah's set (with full band) was perfect in this setting. Unfortunately we missed Stephen Fearing as we went to eat, but caught all of Oh Susannah's set and she was fantastic. Really great songs well performed by an awesome band. So many great feels and there was just a nice feel about the whole set. Plus, she was really nice to us. We had a nice look around Manchester the next day, and left for Wolverhamptom with great vibes about us. Wolverhampton was my first instore, and Highway 61 was the place to be. The crowd was small, but i was really happy with the turnout, and it was a very relaxed informal thing. I'd never really done a show like this. I did 2 sets and LOTS of chat about life and songs and stuff. The crowd were really nice, and i enjoyed talking with people in the breaks and after the show. Martin the store owner was really accomodating and the store was one of the best stores i've ever seen with a great selection of stock. I managed to do a whole bunch of things i haven't played yet, including a new song 'Good Enough', as well as playing 'Can't Be All You Need' for the first time on the tour. It took me a little while to get used to the vibe of it.. it wasn't a gig in the normal sense, which was a bit strange to start with, but i LOVED the informal nature of it and enjoyed being able to drop the pretence of being 'together' and it allowed for an honest, conversational tone to the show. I'm expecting that this is what some of the house concerts will be like in the US, and am really looking forward to it. The accomodation we had booked fell through (we forgive you John!!), but a lovely friend of Martin's, Ian heard us talking about it and offered his spare room. Ian took great care of us, and even packed us a nice 'care package' for the long trip to Edinburgh the next day. We got to know Ian a little, and it's meeting people like him, to name but one amazing individual, that makes the travelling worth every second. We woke early the next day for the long trip to Edinburgh. With the supplies Ian prepared for us we were able to hit the road and power through the longest journey of the tour, getting to our destination in the mid afternoon. What an amazing place!! There's a big bloody castle right in the middle of town!! We made it to our promoter's house and shared a wonderful meal with them before heading off to the show. Tonight we were crashing on Dan Bern's headline show at The Subway in Cowgate... a nice big room with a good sized stage and a great PA and sound guy. The crowd was plentiful by the time i started, and i had to work hard to win over Dan Bern's audience, but they succumbed by the time i got to the chant in 'King's Rd', and responded well to my cries for their attention. In fact i thought this was the most 'gving' crowd so far, and everyone seemed to really get into the spirit of what i was doing. I had my good friend Bob Hutton heckling me from the audience which helped get the banter flowing. I was even feeling confident enough to have a shot at Teenage Fanclub's 'Neil Jung' acoustically for the first time, seeing as i was in Scotland and all. It was all going well until i realised i had no recollection of verse 3. Plus, it's really high to sing, and after a few nights in a row my throat was wilting a little, so rather than trying to bullshit my way through it, i gave up mid song in a fluster of embarrasment that the crowd seemed to enjoy very much! It was going to be my second last song, and i left it open to the crowd whether they wanted me to open the song book with the lyrics after my last song. Thankfully, they allowed me the courtesy of completing the song and applauded my efforts accordingly. I felt like the sprinter that pulls a hamstring in the 100 metres, but insists on finishing, even if it means being assisted over the finish line. That guy always gets a good ovation, and the Scottish crowd treated me with the same respect. I know i keep saying it, but i thought this was my best show up to that point. It's nice that the shows keep improving, and tonight was pretty close to the way i'd like the acoustic shows to be. My voice felt strong, and i played with confidence and purpose, and i felt a real belief in my material, and a great sympathetic crowd that seemed to enjoy what i was trying to do. It wasn't the perfect show, but it gave me an insight into how good it can feel to get things close to right. We had a day off the next day and spent the day wondering around this beautiful city.. our favourite of the new cities we'd never been to. We did get 4 seasons in one day, going from sunshine, to hail, to wild winds, to sunshine and back to rain, only to finish off with the most beautiful evening you can imagine. An exhausting but very special day for us. And we had deep fried Mars bars!! After having some wonderful late night conversation with our great promoters David and Kathy, we slept well and started on the long treck back to Birmingham for the next show. For some reason (maybe because i was driving) it took forever to get there, and by the time we got to Ceol Castle, we were both knackered. We were supporting American guitar/songwriting legend (and now Australian resident) John Beland and spent some time bonding with him and his travellig companion Becky Willis before the show. Unfortunately the crowd was very small, and i found myself onstage, tired and wanting to get it over and done with. But 2 lackadasical songs in i decided that my performance so far wasn't good enough, and pulled my finger out and had a go. I ended up doing a good solid set to the small crowd that i was pleased that i dragged myself up for. I mean, i was playing a show on the other side of the world. There was no excuse for being half assed about it!! I even pulled off some great acoustic rock moves, culminating in me breaking first string of the tour. I'd been belting the crap out of my poor acoustic for a few weeks, so i thought it was about time!! John did a great set to the small but attentive crowd, dipping into 30 years of song-writing and touring experience and telling many great stories. It was great to spend some time with him, and i enjoyed his show very much. After a sleep devoid of rest because of our sleeping conditions, we headed off to my personal holy grail, Liverpool. I had a radio interview with Billy Butler (of the legendary Merseybeats) that went very well. Being the huge Beatles fan i was excited about seeing some of the sights, so we were up and at 'em early the next day, visiting many Beatles landmarks. Being in the Cavern was chillingly exciting.. i know it's not the original, but it gave you a feel for what it would have been like, and it was wonderful to be there. We did a whole bunch of corny Beatlesy touristy things (including going to Penny Lane) and decided to head back to London late in the afternoon. We had a few days off in the city before my last show, but we were surprised how quickly it all went. We had a bit of running around to do, and it was compulsory to spend some time perusing the guitar shops in Denmark St (oh how i wish i had some more money...). We had a wonderful evening with my great friend Bob Kelly and his partner Katy, and our housemates Kim and Michael watching an unnamed blues band in a packed pub in the middle of the city. We went and paid a visit to Abbey Rd and Saville Row, and on Sunday evening recorded a radio session for Virgin's Liquid Radio, where i played about 6 songs. That'll be broadcast over the internet on about Thurs May 29. After a lot of last minute running around on Monday (you can't get around London quickly.. ever), we found ourselves up at the Stables in Milton Keynes where i was doing my last UK show as part of the 'Bob Harris Presents' songwriter series. It was great to finally meet Bob, as he's been such a great support to me and the Laughing Outlaw label over the last year, and a real honour to be around such an influential figure in British pop history. The Stables was a wonderful venue.. pure class, and i was opening the night, supporting Peter Bruntnell and Waterson:Cartey. It was a good sized crowd, and to be honest i was pretty nervous. I wasn't particularly happy with my set.. i thought i let the occasion get the better of me, and i think i got a bit freaked by how attentive the crowd was. I also think because i was only doing a 30 minute set i tended to rush things a bit. But others who had seen a few of my shows thought it was by far my best, so what do i know!! The reaction from the audience would intimate that i misread it, because lots of people approached me to talk and buy CDs after the show.. more than at any other show on the tour, and they all had kind words about my set. So i expect i'm being a little too critical of myself. Anyway, the night was very diverse, with me being more pop like, Peter Bruntnell being more alt.country and Waterson:Cartey being a great traditional folk group. Very interesting, and fantastic to be invited to be part of such a great occasion. It was also great to say farewells to some new and old friends, as today found us on our way to California. So that's that for the UK. It's been a great experience for me. I've grown in confidence and therefore my expectations of myself, which is a good, but dangerous thing. I believe i have had a taste of what it is that i'm trying to do out here as a solo acoustic act, but feel i still don't have the confidence yet to make it work all the time. Don't get me wrong, i think i'm doing well, but i guess i'm in search of the perfect show, where the material, the audience and the performance join effortlessly. Maybe i'll be searching for that forever though, so i'm happy with how it's all going. We achieved a lot over here, and met many people and have now got the difficult 'first tour' out of the way, which should make it easier for more touring.. hopefully in the not too distant future! But now it's off to the US, and a whole new world.. The slog... I've finished about 11 shows now in about 20 days. That's easily the most times i've played my music, ever. I was really aware that it was going to be hard work at times, but i'm LOVING it. Since my last entry i've done 2 gigs in London and a show in Leicester. I'll backtrack and give you the run down. Monday night's gig in London was on the Bank Holiday Monday evening. We strolled around London for most of the afternoon with friends, as many of the shops were opened. Finally we found Denmark St, which is like London's rock and roll central. There are a whole bunch of wonderful guitar and music shops, the incredible Helter Skelter book store and the 12 Bar Club, soon to be the scene of my first London performance. There were nice big posters of me up outside, and then the 'fear' hit me. What if no one comes? It was after all my first UK headine show. The venue itself was small and dinghy, which immediately made me more comfortable. If you got 40 people in there it'd be crowded. It had a weird split level thing where if you were on stage you would be looking directly at the feet of people in the gallery, yet the stage was impossibly high so you were looking down at a large angle on the people on the floor. This wound up being very interesting during my set, as i really didn't know where to look, as everywhere i looked i felt like i was ignoring a whole bunch of people. Anyway, people did come, and i think by the time i hit the stage i had a good 35 people in the room. Hardly Wembley stadium, but it was LONDON and people had come to see me!! The night wound up being a real highlight, as the crowd was very vocal, particularly a group of Americans on the top floor who heckled well. The banter actually became the highlight of the night, with the songs just being a break from the to-ing and fro-ing between me and the crowd. I felt really comfortable, and without being too corny, i really did feel a good connection with the audience that was really special. At times the yapping got a bit much, and as soon as i realised it i dived into a song, but the set was good and measured and the crowd were incredibly attentive and seemed to enjoy it very much. I sung well and played a good selection of songs that i think represented me well. In all a splendid time, and again, i got an insight into how good i can be if the planets align. the only disappointment was that i sold absolutely nothing in the merch department. Maybe i didn't connect enough to make people reach into their pockets.. no, that's impossible!! Anyway, Tuesday saw us head off to Leicester, filled to the brim with the goodwill of the 12 Bar Club. The Musician is a wonderful venue and we were supporting Rod Picott, a lovely man who did an incredible set. My set was a little frustrating. My on stage sound wasn't too good, and the crowd was a bit subdued, especially in comparison to the night before. I tried really hard to win them over, and did.. kinda. But some of my efforts fell flat on a crowd who were just happy to listen rather than engage. That's one thing i have to learn.. some times an audience doesn't want to be part of the show, and no matter what you do they'll just be observers rather than paticipants. I learned that the hard way in Leicester. Don't get me wrong.. it was a good set, but in hindsight, i tried to make it an extension of the night before, and i didn't read the night as well as i'd have liked. This was particularly highlighted by Rod Picott who payed the crowd as well as he played his Gibson acoustic, and he had them in the palm of his hand. The analogy would be that i had them at my fingertips, but never quite grabbed them. Having said that, after the show, many, if not most of the crowd came up to talk to me about how much they enjoyed it, so maybe i'm being a little harsh on myself. This was also the first show without a Beatles cover.... After a welcome night off investigating my social side with friends and relatives, we headed to the Bull & Gate in London. I was a bit intimidated by this gig, as there were 3 bands on and me. I was second last on, and the idea of a solo acoustic act before a big rock band was a little scary. Coming up to gig time, i noticed the first band were running late to finish. I wondered if that was a good move, but didnt think about it much. Bob Kelly was accompanied by his drummer Jim to make up Kelly's Heels who were on second. They played an amazing set, filled with great pop tunes filled with passion and fury. There was no letting up for them, and they went full throttle for the whole set. They seemed to be egging each other on to play faster each song, and Bob was breaking G strings faster than i could change them!! It was a great set, and being a fan of Kelly's Heels it was great to finally get a chance to see it. I don't know why, but the guitar, drums, vocals thing just works in this context. Fantastic stuff. So i'm about to go on stage. Everything was running a bit late by then.. i was due to go on at 10, but it 10.15 before i approached the stage, only to be told i had to be off by 10.35!! Damn that first band. A long way to come for a 20 minute set. I made the most of it, enjoying the great sound on stage and having a great time with the crowd being really into it, singing along to 'King's Rd' and yelling out all sorts of stuff. It was going great, and i felt like i was managing to channel the energy of Kelly's Heels into my acoustuc powerpop set. The vibe was great and and just as i was getting into my stride, i was told i could only do one more song. Bummer. I wasn't too happy about it, but that's rock n roll i guess. (For opening bands everywhere, the first lesson you should learn is to stick to your time slot, and have a little bit more respect for the bands following you. That includes getting your stuff off stage quickly and not rolling joints on guitar cases and songbooks. And for God's sake leave other people's property alone!!) And so we're getting ready to head off to the traveling part of the UK leg. We'll be on the road now for 6 days. I'll report when i get a chance...
Holidays?.. We seem to be haunted by public holidays. We arrived in Madrid on the Easter long weekend. In Castellon and Valencia they had their Easter a week later which kept the crowds low as everyone had gone away. We left Spain on the May day holiday only to arrive in the UK and begin our first shows on the Bank holiday long weekend. And when we arrive in the US in a few weeks our first show is on the Memorial Day holiday (i think). Very strange.. Anyway, i've been away for a few days, so i'll backtrack as quickly as i can. We did one more show in Madrid last Wednesday. It was an instore in the forum of the huge Fnac record store right in the middle of Madrid. We got to play a short 35 minute acoustic set which went well. There were a few good friends there but a lot of people just came in out of curiosity and by about half way through the room was pretty much full. We would have played longer but the room was booked for a seminar on animal cruelty. A somewhat strange footnote to my Spanish experience!! After a celebratory dinner with all the Happy Losers, Santi Campos, Pablo Carrero from Rock Indiana and many of my great Spanish associates, where too much food and alcohol was consumed, we headed home to get ready to move on. There were tears at the airport as we closed the book on the first leg. We were treated so well by everyone in Spain and had such a wonderful time. We could have gone home then and there and been satisfied.. it was such a huge 2 weeks where we crammed so much in, and there was so much genuine feeling towards what we were all doing. It's that sort of excitement and goodwill that sustains you through the tough times, and the experience won't be easily forgotten. And even this sort of explanation doesn't do justice to how great it's actualy been. The best part is that we've put things in place to make it happen more often. And so we arrived in the UK. We'd gotten pretty used to hearing people speaking in a language we didn't understand, so it was a little disarming to hear all the English speaking around us when we arrived. It didn't take us long to adjust though! After a relaxing first night with friends, we went and picked up our hire car early Friday morning. As it was a Bank holiday weekend, we wanted to get on the road as early as possible. The drive up to Barton Upon Humber should have been a 3 and a half hour deal, but due to the incredible traffic, it took us 6 and a half hours!! Crazy, and frustrating for both of us. But having never travelled outside of London in the UK it was great to see the scenery. The rolling hills, the fields of gold, the dichotomy of the tranquility of the surroundings versus the frustration of the M1 motorway!! We finally arrived at our destination, the Carnival Inn in Barton Upon Humber... a quiet peaceful rural town. Out hosts Steve and Gill (and young Kirstie) took great care of us, feeding us and accomodating us. I did managed to fall down the stairs, a bit, and give myself a nasty twisted ankle, which made for some interesting on stage manoevres. The show was good. I will admit to being pretty nervous, and a bit intimidated by the wonderful Bill Mallonee who i was sharing the bill with. Bill was a member of a great band caled the Vigilantes of Love, who have a long a chequered past from which Bill has many wonderful stories. As a songwriter and solo performer he is so comfortable and confident, the years of performing clearly evident in every song in his 2 hour set. And i got intimidated just by the soundcheck!! My set was good. The strange thing is that the crowd was there to listen, which is a new phenomena for an Australian performer, where you spend the first few songs 'winning the crowd over'. There was no time to warm into the set as the crowd was attentive from the first word. I was a little thrown between the balance between my voice and my guitar and held myself back vocally. The set went over well, and by the end of the set i was quite comfortable, and the set went over really well to the appreciative crowd, but i knew this was my first solo show of the tour, and i knew there was room for improvement. Bill's set was wonderful.. a 2 hour walk through his 15 years on the road, and you got a real insight into his life. As a singer/sonwriter/solo performer, i learned many things. The night culminated in me, Bill and Mark Keable from the opening act Missing Time doing a rough and ready 'My Back Pages'. I finally succumbed and took some Nurofen to try to reduce the pain and swelling in my ankle. It seemed to work, as my ankle felt better, but i almost fell asleep straight away. We slept on a friend of the venue owners floor for a few hours and woke early enough to pick Bill Mallonee up and head back to London, where much good conversation and story telling resulted. After a quiet Saturday night, and another curry and a few wines with friends in London, we crashed pretty early as we were knackered and knew we had a big day heading down to Brighton on Sunday. The drive down was easy, and the UK had finally put on a beautiful spring day for us. Until we got to within a few miles of Brighton when traffic came to a standstill. Damn bank holiday! We evenutally found the Greys pub. After popping in for a quick hello we headed down to the legendary Brighton Pier for a stroll. We had a beautiful relaxing afternoon, and it's so amazing how a beautiful sunny day can lift your spirits. We headed back to the show and after a soundcheck and a desperate search for food we were ready for another great night with Bill Mallonee. Mike and Chris from the Greys took great care of us, and the Greys, though small is the PERFECT singer-sonwriter venue. The crowd was good and attentive, and from the stage you could feel the spirit and excitement. My set was much more confident, due mostly to the great vibes coming from the crowd, and the good humoured heckling all added to the magical feeling in the room. The sound was great and i felt really comfortable up there, playing a good variety of my material, as well as throwing in Gene Clarke's 'That's Alright By Me'. The crowd joined in with the chant to my 'King's Rd' which was awesome. But the most exciting and moving part of the night for me was during my encore (which was nice to get in itself). I did 'Across The Universe' and without any goading the crowd sang along with the 'nothing's gonna change my world'. What started as a version of John Lennon's quite prayer to himself, by the song's end was a defiant and moving chant, with everyone feeling the weight of that sentiment in these troubled times. It was a moment where i really believed in the power of a live performance, and it very much caught me by surprise. A beautiful moment and a great highlight for me. Before the start of the show, a little deflated by my performance on Friday, i'd commented to my trusty sidekick that maybe i would never be a good a solo performer. After this show, and seeing how my songs were received, and the encouragement of people like Bill Mallonee and the crowd at the Greys, i'm excited about learning more about how to make this solo thing work. We decided to not risk spending a day in traffic and headed home straight after the gig. We only got lost once and made it home by about 2.30 am. We're looking forward to finally getting to spend some time in London today before tonight's show at the 12 Bar Club. We're then back on the road tomorrow. Tuesday morning, April 29. Back in Madrid. Coming back to earth.. I swear we were on such an upwards trajectory after the first 3 shows, we didn't believe it could go any other way but up. So we headed towards Valencia and Castellon, both places i'd played before with other bands, optimistic of incredible shows ahead. We didn't take into account the fact that it was Easter long weekend in that part of Spain, and that most people had gone away on holidays! So the crowd was small in Valencia, and though at first a little timid, we managed to win them over eventually. We didn't play incredibly well either. It seems we were a little deflated after the madness on Friday. Don't get me wrong.. the show was still pretty great. It was just a little unspectacular, although the crowd seemed to enjoy it, and once again, we were taken care of really well by the people at the Wah Wah club. The set was very much like Burgos, with the first appearance on tour of 'Is This Love I'm Feeling?', and my Beatles cover of the day being 'Norwegian Wood'. Our tour manager, Santi Campos, a great artist in his own right, joined us to play acoustic guitar on our final encore of Teenage Fanclub's 'Neil Jung'. And so we headed off to our last show in Castellon. The Ricamour is a fantastic little club. When i say little though, i'm redefining the word. The stage area is barely more than a drum riser, and fitting 5 people, a drum kit and 4 amps was quite a challenge. Once again the crowd was small due to the Easter thing, and the crowd was a little tougher to win over today. There was no singing along with the chant in 'King's Rd' (for the first time on the tour), and i think i talked too much to people who could barely understand English. Regardless, people seemed to have a good time. My Beatles cover for today was 'I'm Only Sleeping', but after 8 days in a row of hard singing, my voice was wilting a little on the high notes, and it was not a wise choice. Highlights of the show were Oscar, the HL drummer, moving to the front of stage to sing vocals, while i played drums on a 60's Spanish pop classic the HL perform regularly. My voice warmed up well for my set also, and there was no problems, which was a relief. Santi Campos again joined us for 'Neil Jung', but he didn't even bother to try to squeeze on to the stage, instead just standing in the crowd and playing, which all the rest of us ended up doing by the end of the song as well. Good fun indeed. As usual with these tours, the tour bus is where all the fun seems to happen. Between the meals and the tour bus, i swear i've never laughed so much in my life. One of the best things about this short tour has been the great spirit between the travelling troupe. We have all enjoyed each other's company and have helped to cement bonds that we can enjoy more of in the future. The tour was a good success, and a great first solo venture over here for me. I sold out of CDs, and the Happy Losers sold many as well. The reaction to the music of both bands was fantastic, and we really worked hard to win over even the smallest of crowds, and managed to get encores every night which was great. I'm so grateful to the guys from the Happy Losers. They rehearsed my stuff well and played it really well. It's always a strange thing to play with new people, but there was barely a time when i didn't feel comfortable with them playing my music, and some of the songs just came to life with them playing them, particularly 'The One For Me', 'King's Rd' and 'Love Is Like..' which felt particularly great in their hands. Plus i have memories of all four of us stomping our feet in time to the chorus of 'Walk On'. It was corny, but it made me laugh... And so now there's a few days off. I can do a little bit of shopping and i have an instore solo performance at a huge store here in Madrid. We are having a farewell feast tomorrow night, and then my sidekick and i are off to the UK for the next chapter of our adventure. I'm excited and nervous about the idea of the solo acoustic thing. This tour was a big challenge, but i feel that making an acoustic show interesting is going to be even more of a challenge. Guess we'll see how i go in a few days...
Friday evening and Saturday morning, April 25/26. Madrid. Can rock and roll save you? I'm not exactly sure about how to answer this question. I don't know whether it can save you, or whether that's just an over-hyped cliche that has been thrown about now for a whole generation. But i do know it can make you feel really, really great... like nothing else in the world in it's own unique way. I'm starting to write this just before we leave for our next gig on the Friday night here in Madrid, but we leave in about 10 minutes, so i know i'll have to finish it after tonight's show. Last night we played in Burgos, about 2 hours out of Madrid. The venue gave the appearance that it was very upmarket, and we'd been warned by everyone that it was a free gig and that people don't come to listen to the band. Great. After being treated incredibly well by everyone from the sound guys to the restaurant people who gave us our beautiful (free) meal, we finally got onstage about 12.30 am. There was a very healthy crowd of about 120 people. Some were up the front but most seemed to be just locals at the back having a drink and the band appeared a distraction. We re-organised the 'show' aspect of the MC & HL travelling show, and i started with a few acoustic songs, was then joined by the HL for a few more of my songs. I then left the HL for a 40 minutes set of their own. I rejoined them and we went through the rest of my set. It was a great way to work things, and made for a great 2 hour concert. Our playing was more confident than the first night and we really managed to reach out and grab the crowd and drag them to the front and MADE them listen. The reaction was fantastic. Basically, we just rocked out and put on a fantastic show that won over everyone in the whole place. Quite incredible. Gotta go to my gig. Will be back soon. Setlist for Thursday.. (MC solo) OK.. it's now Saturday morning, and the good times continue. Last night's show was at quite possibly the smallest bar in the world.. the Rhum-bar in Madrid. This show was added on at the last minute as our promoter pulled out of our show in Bilbao a few weeks back because we knew we couldn't out draw Steve Wynn. A wise move, but i would have loved to have gone to Bilbao again. Anyway, we set up in this tiny corner, and we had just a vocal PA with no foldback. When Santi our tour manager walked in, he had a look on his face that said what we were all thinking.. this will be a disaster. But we were so wrong. We were only given an hour to play, so we did a combined HL and MC set. It was FANTASTIC!! The crowd was right there, in our faces, and they were loving it. Needless to say, because the place was so small, it was packed, and yet during our set more people seemed to be getting crammed in. It was an incredible vibe, and the crowd screaming was loud and right in our faces. It was exciting and exhilirating. Even my slower songs seemed to go over with more impact just because of the physical closeness of the crowd. And when we did what is fast becoming our rock n roll rave up 'King's Rd', the crowd singing along was DEAFENING. This song has evolved from just another song in the set to a mad, all inclusive, jump into the crowd and get amongst the people, scream for people to sing louder, celebration. Every night we get more extravagent with how we liberate ourselves through this tune. It's only been 3 gigs and it has evolved into this celebration for everyone. It's been incredible. We got several encores, even from the bar ownder himself and had a wonderful time.So, needless to say, the show was a resounding success, and goes to prove that you should never judge a gig by it's appearance. So, to go back to my original question.. can rock n roll save you? For me, the first 3 shows have been the most exciting, liberating, illuminating shows of 20 years on stage. Why? Because for the first time, this is my show, and my songs that i'm out there performing to people on the other side of the world. I've been surprised by the way i'm performing, the way i'm singing (including 3 full nights of rehearsal, this was my sixth full on vocal day, and though a little tired before each show, my voice seems to be rising to the occasion, which has been nice.. touch wood), and the way the crowd has been reacting to all of MY songs. It's so liberating to let yourself go like this. It's like you have no reason to hold anything back and you find yourself jumping up and down, or gesturing wildly, or running into the crowd, or soloing on your knees, or barking at the crowd to 'sing louder' with no thought of restraint or common sense. None of these feel like conceived rock moves either.. your body just 'goes there'. In my world of relative order, this has been a revelation. Will it be life changing? I don't know, but i do know that in all my time on stage there has been nothing that has made me feel this good about what it is to be me. I love how it's made me feel to remove the obstacles and just live in the moment of pure performance, without fear of embarrasment, or what is proper. I believe it's bringing out the best in me, and my songs. And that after all is the point of all of this, isn't it? Friday set included.. Love So
Strong, Here It Comes, Summertime, Believes Again, The One For Me, Hopefulness,
King’s Rd, Thursday morning, April 24. Madrid. The morning after the first show.. The first show of the tour was last night at Moby Dick in Madrid. I'd been rehearsing new stuff during the day and spent a long time planning the set meticulously. I didn't realise i had so many songs i wanted to play, so when i did the first draft of my setlist, it was 'Springsteenesque' in proportions. It wasn't until i got to the show that i realised that there was no way i'd be playing that many songs... The Happy Losers did a great sounding, but unusually subdued opening set to a room that was slowly filling up. I was up against Steve Wynn playing up the road, a football match on the TV and Mark Knopfler playing in Madrid on the same night, so i was very pleased with the crowd that did come through the door. I joined the HL on stage for a few songs, then after a very brief break to iron out a few technical difficulties, i launched into a sort solo set. I was very proud that i got the crowd to sing along to the 'jai guru dai vah' in Across The Universe. The HL came back on stage and we proceeded to rock out. Whatever was holding the HL back during their set disappeared as they went crazy for my set. The crowd was really enjoying it, and we managed to get them to sing the chant in 'King's Rd' all by themselves. It took us by surprise so much that we didn't quite know how to stop them!! Unfortunatelt my set was only about 50 minutes.. it went so well that i didn't want it to end! We did an encore of Teenage Fanclub's 'Neil Jung' and then hung around after the show catching up with old friends. We sold good merchandise, with the Spanish quota of the tour EP almost selling out already. So all in all, a great first night! We're getting ready to hit the road now to Burgos. More news in the next few days. For the fans, here's the setlist from the first night. (MC solo) Wednesday
afternoon, April 23. Madrid. We were greeted at the airport by my great friends Tony & Pepe from the Happy Losers. We went to our lodgings and then went out for some food and drink in Madrid. We got ourselves to bed early, but my sidekick had a difficult night as she'd picked up a stomach bug somewhere and had a bout of all things related to a stomach bug, which she's only starting to recover from now 3 days later. We've been taking it easy for the first few days, resting up and not doing much at all.. a welcome break from the hectic times before we left Ozzieland. I've been rehearsing hard with the Happy Losers though and i managed to squeeze in 2 radio shows on Monday, where i got to do a few songs live and acoustic. Tonight is the first show of the tour, and i'm really excited, not only about tonight, but about the whole adventure that lies ahead. We've been rehearsing a good variety of songs from all albums and a few covers as well. The setlist for the whole tour i expect will be a constantly evolving thing, with me road testing a bunch of newly written songs in there as well. That's all for now. I'll let you know how it goes tonight!! |