Reading and Leeds

I think I did a blog post of pretty much exactly the same title about a year ago, and I'm sure you will have worked out what I'm about to say already, but for the record: FUCKING YES! I'll be on the Lock Up stage on Friday (Reading) and Saturday (Leeds). Among many other things, this means I'm probably the only person this year (ever?) to be on the Lock Up stage and the Cambridge Folk Festival. I'm pretty proud of that. And I'd like to say thanks to Mike Davies for continuing to fight my corner in ways I can only dream of repaying.

I write this from the Railway Inn, Winchester. Tonight is the last night of the tour. It's been a long slog - 19 shows on the trot was, in retrospect, a little much. But it's been amazing - the crowds have been strong in number and voice all across the country, and it really feels like something exciting is happening here. For the record, I want to thank the crew, without whom none of this would be possible - Nigel, Ben, Tarrant, Graham, Ciara, Rege and Chris. And thanks to everyone who came down.

Also, the support situation on this tour has been a mixed bag - good in the sense that everyone who has played has been awesome: Andy Yorke, Ciara Haidar, Chris T-T, Short Term Effect and Oppenheimer (though they didn't play). The bad is simply that not all of them could play to every crowd - it was a shame about Oppenheimer having to pull out, and a shame that Ciara missed the last few shows. But I urge everyone to check them all out, they all make superb music.

I'm flying to Los Angeles tomorrow, which is pretty insane - tired doesn't even begin to describe how I feel right now. And then back for the Holloways tour. No rest for me.. But like I said, I feel like I'm on the cusp of something at the moment.