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Long hot summer of blessing
So France swiftly followed by Colchester, Coventry, Copenhagen, USA and Slovenia. In little over a month.
You’ve read all about France (haven’t you?). We lamented the disparity between French and English service stations on our way to Colchester but were pleasantly surprised by the Segue theatre. One of the nicest rooms we’ve played in, acoustically near perfect. audience near perfect too. then it was off to Chelmsford to the most surreal travelodge ever. honestly.
Coventry should have been great – great theatre, the brilliant john minton doing visuals in stereo, great audience, just hardly any of them, allegedly because hardly anyone had heard about it. strange. still, home for a nice warm cuppa.
Next off to warm up the copenhagen jazz festival. we met some lovely dallas cowgirls on the plane. long way from home but that didn’t seem to put them off. also it appears we already have a following in copenhagen.
And now we take coals to newcastle! yes gtb in nyc! the home of jazz. first we have to be blatant tourists – empire state building, carnegie hall, times square, central park, greenwich village, ground zero, broadway… and then the gig. we are nervous. well I am, clive never seems to get nervous. we are playing at one of the coolest venues I’ve ever played in: joe’s pub. Mary Gauthier was on before us (in a separate gig) and was great, full of stories of how to make a living in music. nice posters mary.
Then our gig. amazing. part of the nerves were because of the understandable uncertainty about whether anyone was likely to turn up. has anyone heard of us in america? apparently they have, it was a great turn out. and they loved it. we had several women (well, one) in near hysteria, having travelled from new jersey to come and see us and genuinely delighted. we HAVE to go back.
Upstate new york we head. nearly missed the flight (long story) but arrived in one piece. a very different gig, partly because it was a festival, which always brings a different vibe, but mostly because we were playing in a beautiful 19th century church. definitely an opportunity to emphasise the quieter, darker side of the blessing. space, silence, atmosphere and melody very much to the fore. but again a lovely brace of gigs. it was nice to have a day off at the festival too. saw some great buskers lead by an excellent singer and bass player (yes, at the same time) katie ernst, saw some of the lovely gwyneth herbert and were completely transfixed by susanna and the magical orchestra. then we drank gin.
So then we staggered back to england for a few days rest before jetting off to the third stop on our tour of countries in the England’s world cup group stage group: slovenia. ljubljnjnjnnja to be more precise. a beautiful country and an extraordinary venue – a huge outdoor theatre with the largest awning in the world. we arrived early which again afforded us the opportunity to enjoy the city, the festival, and the gigs, watching louis sclavis trio in a thunderstorm a highlight. we had a good time climbing castles with the led bib boys and then off to our soundcheck. and again our gig was great. hurrah.
Back in blighty now and down to work on the next album….
