Kharkiv metro, Tsentralnyi Rynok station, (very) early morning, yesterday.
sending so much love and gratitude, Kharkiv. thank you for your powerful, open-armed welcome on Saturday night; for showing me what drives your strong and vibrant city, where air raid sirens rarely catch their breath (i lost count), and where each moment is held and felt as the precious thing that it is. even as you are all so tired. it was lovely to sing to all of you, and to feel your hearts, and to meet some of you afterwards.
thank you Kazka Family and Symposiy Bar for hosting and helping, to Yaroslav for organizing and lending me his guitar, to Fail Try for opening the night, and to the beyond-wonderful and generous staff and locals for closing it; it was an honour to be invited to drink and talk with you. arrived back at my hotel in a rainstorm literally one minute before nightly curfew began, my GPS severely malfunctioning again due to the city-wide jamming, my veins humming with whatever those shots were, but my memory of the route somehow clear enough, even in the pouring darkness. i felt like i’d left friends.
the train back here to Kyiv yesterday was evacuated three times; first in the sunny countryside, then at a rainy platform i didn’t know the name of, and then Hrebinka station, and each time it happened, i walked to the end of the train, looked back down the tracks towards Kharkiv, and sent more love.
next concert is here in beautiful Kyiv at Squat 17B; please note that due to the Day of Mourning tomorrow, it has been moved to Thursday, July 9th.
after that, it’s Odesa at More Music Club on Friday the 10th (see earlier post for details), and then Dirhami, Estonia on Sunday the 12th. all Ukranian concerts are in support of the wonderful Cats on Mars. ❤️
