i’m very late with this, because i’ve been inside an avalanche since leaving Poland. the fall European tour has ended (i think), and the echoes it’s generated feel infinite and overwhelming, and i’m in the Cairngorms in Scotland now, which is somehow still not a vast enough space to contain them.
thank you, Kraków, for last Tuesday. to the fantastically wonderful Kuba @ Łabandzi Śpiew for all his persistence, hard work and optimism in finding and organizing a show for me there. to Adam Krukowski for the gorgeous opening set. to Krzysztof @ Grandma Enjoys Music for doing sound with such care, and for so generously lending me some of his gear for the night. and to everyone who came out, including some unexpected guests from afar. you were all so lovely, and i’m grateful.
new show. ❤️ thrilled to be performing in Kraków, Poland next week, on Tuesday, October 28th, at Confession Club.
huge gratitude to Jakub at Łabandzi Śpiew for all the effort he’s put into organizing the concert, and to Krzysztof at GEM for stepping in to take care of sound.
show starts at 20:00, tickets 20 PLN. see you there.
the picture below says everything about last night’s private concert here in Warsaw – it’s one of the welcome cards that Victoria, who organized every aspect of the evening, made for each guest, and placed on their seats to find when they arrived, each with a unique autumn leaf she’d collected and then carefully pasted to the card, and each with a handwritten message.
it’s not just the extraordinary care, time and tenderness she put into doing this, it’s the leaves themselves – they capture so much of what last night was. and more.
i should add that there was delicious cake too, that she’d baked herself. and champagne. and candles. and gift bags of sweets. and a rented sound system, handled by expert technicians. and a stage that looked like a meadow at sunset, pink and purple and orange, with strings of small glittering lights on the floor, like fireflies in the grass.
and on top of all of that, this beautiful conjured field was occupied by a group of people who were absolutely lovely, and attentive and generous listeners, and who helped turn an already magical scene into an experience that i’ll never forget.
to the kind and welcoming people at MIT space, to the sound technicians who did such an amazing job, to the audience, and finally and most of all to the truly remarkable Victoria, who was behind every last detail, from her original email inviting me in August (and the many we exchanged since) and who imagined and then brought to life the all-too-fleeting but indelible experience that last night was: thank you.
Warsaw, part 1 of 2: Café Michelle, Friday, October 17th.
if i could arrange for all of the birds in the universe to burst, singing, out of your screens, it would come close to expressing what performing twice in Warsaw over the past three days has done to my heart. but i think this would probably be more frightening and chaotic than anything else, for those interacting with this post. and especially nightmarish for those who live in small apartments.
so for now i’ll just say thank you, as part 1 of a post in two parts, to everyone involved with the show on Friday night. to Andrei, firstly, for helping me find Café Michelle in the first place – he wrote to me back in May with a list of venues in Warsaw, and Café Michelle was one of them. but it was only through his patience and persistence in connecting me to the owners that i managed to book the show at all.
as for Café Michelle, any venue that puts kindness, compassion and inclusivity so high on its list of priorities is my kind of place. thank you again to everyone there for hosting the concert, and for your generosity and hospitality, and to Jakub for all of his help in coordinating details, and helping with sound.
when it comes to everyone who filled that room, and what we shared during and after my performance, including your words, hugs and encouragement that night, and your online messages since – i’ve held on to every moment, and every private word you shared with me, and will continue to hold on. as i hope you will. i’m not sure why i’m so lucky to meet only the most warm, open-hearted and beautiful people, wherever i go. but it makes me feel hope, in spite of everything.
also, i’ve made a small list of the songs you’ve requested for next time. so as some of us laughed about after the show, i definitely have to return. 🙂 and i will.
i’ll leave it there, because some things are too deep for words – and because we shared those things on Friday night, after all. thank you, Warsaw. ❤️
here is my guitar on a street corner in Warsaw, Poland. which can only mean that i’m close by.
i wish i had a better picture to accompany this post, but since i’ve arrived have mostly just been immersed in all that Warsaw is. including some time spent in Łazienki Park yesterday evening, where the autumn colours were so astonishing that to take a picture of them would have felt like trying to cage a phoenix.
i’m very excited to be performing here tomorrow evening, at Michelle Klubokawiarnia, as my first concert in Poland – see you there at 7:30 pm.
i’ve been wandering the vibrant, ancient city of Plovdiv, Bulgaria for several days and nights now, during my free time, and thought first of posting a picture of its beautiful old town to accompany this post, or one of its cobblestoned, cat-filled streets, or perhaps of Nebet Tepe, the spotlit, 6000+ year-old ruins of which i haunted for a few hours last night.
but i’ve settled on another picture of a stage, taken just before my performance here, a couple of nights ago. because the truth is that without the generosity of Ivan at Beebop Café , and the hard work and kindness of Tsvetomir at Numbered Days Booking, who booked the show on my behalf, i’d not have been able to be here at all.
i’m also sharing this image because it was such a special concert to me, with fantastically good sound (courtesy also of Ivan), and a lovely audience, and i met some incredible people once again, and frankly at this point am in danger of glowing so brightly that i incinerate myself from within. not that this would be such a bad way to go.
thank you again, Ivan, for your unwavering commitment to supporting live music and art – you’re a true rarity, and i love that you have a soundboard the size of Antarctica inside your club. and to the wonderful and inimitable Tsvetomir, who helped and supported me even as he was very busy with other much more important parts of his life. and of course to everyone who came out. i’m already looking forward to returning next year.
i have a few days to discover even more of Plovdiv now, before heading to Poland for a couple of shows (one privately arranged, one at Café Michelle in Warsaw). there was hope for a show in Turkey and/or Greece this coming weekend, or even Sofia, but it looks like these will have to happen later. for now, i’m very excited about having Poland on the horizon. more soon.
i tend to favour pictures i’m either (a) completely absent from, or (b) occupying approximately 3.9% of, but something about this shot that Antoine Jassaud (@antoinekeynes) sent yesterday appeals to me, probably because it captures something about how it felt to be onstage on Tuesday night, mid-swoon. merci Antoine.
in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, now, and very excited about my concert tomorrow evening at the Beebop Café. show starts at 9 pm. see you there.
leaving Paris. incapable of expressing just how deeply Tuesday night’s show here affected me – pretty sure that everyone who was at Les Disquaires that evening saw and felt how moved i was to be sharing the room with all of you, to have the chance to meet and talk with so many of you after the concert, and to finally have the opportunity to sing my songs in a city that’s occupied my heart for so many years.
thank you again to everyone at Les Disquaires, to Patrick for the sound, to Olivier and Steffi for helping at the door, and to everyone who came and listened, and filled the club with such a miraculous amount of light and warmth.
off to Bulgaria now, to perform a concert in Plovdiv, on Saturday. which is lovely, and needed, as it feels like going to visit an old friend.
j’ai été très ému et reconnaissant de découvrir cet article aujourd’hui sur MagicRPM ici dans mon petit appartement loué dans le 20e arrondissement de Paris. merci beaucoup à Frédérick Rapilly pour ses mots aimables et son soutien.
quant à la photo, c’est une que j’ai déjà partagée, prise par le merveilleux Olivier Joly, que j’ai rencontré pour la première fois dans l’un des coins les plus reculés d’Islande en 2018, et avec qui je suis devenu depuis un bon ami. elle figure dans son magnifique livre de photographies islandaises, Sagas.
dans quelques heures, je me rendrai @lesdisquaires.club pour faire la balance. j’ai hâte de jouer là-bas ce soir, pour mon premier concert à Paris, et j’espère vous y voir à 20 heures.
i was very moved and grateful to discover this article today on MagicRPM.com in my little rented apartment in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. many thanks to Frédérick Rapilly for his kind words and support.
as for the photo, it’s one I’ve shared before, taken by the wonderful Olivier Joly, whom I first met in one of the most remote corners of Iceland in 2018, and with whom I have since become good friends. it appears in his magnificent book of Icelandic photographs, Sagas.
in a few hours, i’ll be heading to Les Disquaires to soundcheck. i can’t wait to play there tonight, as my first concert in Paris, and hope to see you there at 8 p.m.
