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.
thrilled to be returning to the beautiful City of Seven Hills shortly after the concert in Paris next week – i’ll be performing at Beebop Café in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on Saturday, October 4th.
fond memories of shows there in years past, including opening for my friends Midas Fall on the threshold of our first Eastern European tour together. but this time i’ll be alone. unsure of full details right now, but will share when things are clearer, and wanted to announce this concert before any more time passes. show starts at 9 pm, tickets are 20 lv at the door.
in a few days, i’ll be boarding the TGV to Paris, France, to perform a concert.
besides this being my first performance there, it’s a long-awaited return to the city for me, as the crude little sketch below that looks like it was drawn by a mouse with a pen in its mouth became the logo for 1101, the “label” that i created just before the release of my first album, Codes and Secret Longing, in 2005. and it happens to be a sketch i drew of myself in a wine-stained notebook in Paris, during a fantastically vivid six-week stay there over twenty years ago.
as primitive as it is, i felt it captured something. 1101 was never a label at all, but a symbol of independence, freedom, and transformation. so using this drawing seemed fitting at the time, and still does – it’s appeared on every physical copy of my albums since.
all of this to say that it’s profoundly meaningful to be returning to Paris after all these years, and to imagine singing some of my songs there. i hope to see you at Les Disquaires on the evening of Tuesday, September 30th. tickets are available now via this link: https://shotgun.live/en/events/raised-by-swans-live. the show starts at 20:00.
Travemünde was like a dream. thank you to the wonderful Thomas Arndt for his incredible hospitality, thoughtfulness and generosity, to Sven for helping with sound, to the A-ROSA staff, and to my dear friend Martin Beyer for agreeing to join me on this adventure, and for gracing the stage with readings of a couple of his short stories. thank you finally, of course, to all who were there listening, amidst the inevitable activity of a busy hotel. this meant a lot to both of us. i’m off to Paris next, speaking of dreams. more on this tomorrow. love, eric. (photo: martin beyer)
Travemünde war wie ein Traum. Vielen Dank an den wunderbaren Thomas Arndt für seine unglaubliche Gastfreundschaft, Aufmerksamkeit und Großzügigkeit. An Sven für seine Hilfe beim Sound, an die Mitarbeiter vom A-ROSA und an meinen lieben Freund Martin Beyer, der sich bereit erklärt hat, mich auf diesem Abenteuer zu begleiten und den Abend mit einer Lesung von Kurzgeschichten zu bereichern. Und schließlich natürlich euch allen, die trotz des unvermeidlichen Trubels eines angesagten Hotels gekommen sind, um zuzuhören. Das hat uns beiden sehr viel bedeutet. Apropos Träume: Als Nächstes geht es für mich nach Paris. Mehr dazu morgen. Alles Liebe, Eric. (foto: Martin Beyer)
this Saturday, September 20th, i’ll be performing at A-ROSA Travemünde, a beautiful hotel close to the Baltic Sea, in northern Germany, thanks to a kind invitation. the author Martin Beyer will open the evening with a reading at 8:00 pm. very much looking forward to this, and hope to see you there.
