Following months of touring round the UK, France and Germany I will end my 2017 in the wonderful Country of the Netherlands.
I have been on the road since April and clocked up 60+ concerts and returning to the Netherlands for the 6th run of shows will be a great way to go out.
My thanks to Red Rocket Music for making it possible to return to the Country after such a turbulent year.
I had an awesome time travelling and playing in France this year.
Drove my way down to Nimes and back via many mountainous areas.
I even did some solo piano busking on random street corners aswell as the usual shows with the full looping rig.
I also got to be a tourist in between the concerts and managed to catch some of the amazing views and sites that France had to offer including the epic Pont Du Gard.
And although some of the journeys were a little hazardous:
Fortunately despite taking some pretty perilous roads at times my tour van has come out unscathed (more or less). the sign above was fair example of the chaos that lay ahead but there was one road that was not signed that turned into a dirt road I would never ask my worst enemy to drive down. Even remembering fills me with dread as it was also the middle of the night at the time.
But nine the less all concerts went ahead as planned and as I type this I am amid my german run of shows.
Also my final French show saw me reunite with beat boxer ‘Nonox’ for another improv session:
Please see our jam of my tune ‘Pish’ from the Ramène Ta Graine Festival in Xonrupt-Longemer.
Marylene Coutret has been a professional photographer for many years and I have had the fortune of her capturing shots of my shows in France and New Zealand. Last night she attended my final show in France before I head to Germany. Below are some of her images she captured during my performance.
You can find evidence of her great ability as well as documentation and blogs about her long reaching hikes round the world. She will shortly be embarking on her most ambitious trek yet as she will span the great heights of Nepal during it’s winter season. This 5 month hike will take great courage and I wish her all the best as well as thank her for the time taken to capture and send me the images below.
Please check out her work aside from the photos posted here.
Upcoming concerts:
Following the completion of my UK dates I have decided to hit the road out in Europe Early.
Some amazing experiences have already been had driving around the continent and I was overjoyed to perform at Le Grattoir in Gerardmer as well as performing at the Ramène ta Graine Fest in Xonrupt Longemer.
I also had the fortune of sharing the stage with ‘Nonox’ who is a young talented beatboxer.
Check out our unplanned rendition of my tune ‘Pish’ (with a bit of freestyle thrown in).
I plan to continue travelling round France for the next couple of weeks before my 1st shows kick off in Germany:
So from the big smoke of central London I scoot out back into the wilderness.
Down to the coast I go and along the shore line passing the Banksy Brexit balloon as I go.
Eventually I arrive at my destination the quaint town of Deal. This is my 1st show in Kent for many years.
The place was on a sleepy Sunday vibe when I arrived but the chaos soon picked up.
Following my show I got the chance to hang out in the town for a few days and was lucky to be greeted with great hospitality by Toby who booked me to play the show.
I also had the chance to catch up with a dear old friend Peter fry who has been a collaborator from afar for many years. He is a beautiful photographer with a wonderful eye.
Some of his work can be found with his current project here:
modern life from p3t3fry on Vimeo.
Following Deal I played Canterbury and for the first time got to visit and feel like a tourist there.
I had a great time playing the venue Bramleys and was relaxed enough to perform one of my newest works in progress.
This is a rehearsal of the tune a couple of days earlier:
Normally when touring the South West of England I like to spend a fair bulk of time in all of the Counties.
However for this years trip I am left with just one show in Devon while there are 10+ shows in the neighbouring County of Cornwall.
However the singular show that there is in Devon will be a special event for sure as it is a charity fundraiser for A Festival I played at some years back called Dodd Stock.
The Fundraiser will take place at Brixham Theatre this Friday 30th June 2017.
Doddstock Festival will be held on Sunday August 13th 2017 at Brixham Rugby Club from midday.
The Doddstock committee was formed by Emily Howard in 2007 named in memory of Julius Dodd, who lost his life at the age of 24 in a motorbike accident. Julius was a talented local musician who loved music festivals and dreamt of organising his own festival. Doddstock aims to be one day of peace, love, art, and music. Showcasing the finest of local musicians and artists, feeling the community spirit, with lots of family friendly fun.
FaceBook Event Page:
https://www.facebook.com/events/612624965602031
Ticket Can Be Bought From:
Having only just left a week before I return to my home City to Play in West London in a Church no less.
Returning home after such a short stint on the road definitely has its benefits. 1st of all I realised quite quickly that I had forgotten a great number of things and as the tour rolled along it occurred to me what I needed. So playing so close to home enabled me to collect various bits and bobs.
Anyway back to the playing. My show was in possibly the most picturesque of all venues and the crew were wonderful that night. Also the show was a part of a bigger event called the Hanwell Hootie.
I was blown away by the number of amazing stages across this small part of West London. It proudly boasts to be the largest free one day fest London has to offer. Once my set was done I had a chance to catch many amazing bands.
Speaking of which I shared the billing with a great band called Chile who had elements of the Knife and the XX to their sound.
For my set it was a real rush on and off affair but with the help of the technicians I managed to go out with my full rig.
Please see below an audience recording of unreleased tune ‘Here is Where it is’.
There are also some shots of me performing taken by the lovely people at West London & Middlesex Twitter Page:
Onward from the big smoke of the English capital I will head to the slightly more rural county of Kent in the deep South East. Playing a few new places along the way.
Before I head there though I did frequent an open mic to practise my piano songs.
Next stop Kent!!
When I last toured Italy I had the fortune of stopping and parking my van for a week without needing to drive it anywhere.
I was located in Central Italy and able to use a car to drive into the towns and cities for shows where the lanes were too small and steep to get the van there.
All in all this was a great time to be touring and the only downpoint of sorts was that the static placement of the tour van ment I found myself housing some uninvited guests.
At first I thought little of the sighting (often while driving) of Black ants with Red heads appearing on the windshield and around the dashboard.
But After a while it became completely common place for 5 – 10 of these guys to take a wander while I sped down the highway.
Even after I left Italy and continued into Austria the sightings remained. Infact they stayed visible even upon my return to the UK.
As the winter came and went I thought that would be the end but alas not.
I don’t know what it was that saw them off but eventually after pretty much a year they seem to have moved on.
OR HAVE THEY!!!!!!……….
