Revival, Sin & Soul
I'm back in London, on my day off. Tomorrow is rehearsals, and the next day we leave for the European tour. Jet lag, coming this way, is a little easier to handle, in my experience, so I've been enjoying crisp winter weather, English newspapers and wandering through London town. I had a bit of a shock when I got to Tottenham Court Road. I played the last show at the Astoria, so was well aware of its passing, but in the time I've been away the actual building has been demolished, and it was only on seeing that that the reality set in. It felt like there was a chunk of the city missing, it was quite emotional in a way. But in the end cities are organic places, they grow and decay, and such is the passing of time. Still, a shame to see a gap in the skyline where once I saw what was, for me, the home of rock 'n' roll.
The Revival tour is done. It was a marathon rather than a sprint, but we made it to the end in good spirits, and the last few shows in Florida were exceptionally ace. New friends made, both at shows and on the bus, and a reminder that Chuck's concept of Revival is one of the best in music right now. Jon Snodgrass and I wrote a song together on the tour, and here it is for your enjoyment:
Finally, tickets for the Paris show on December 18th. If you want to reserve tickets for the show, the person you need to email is my old friend Cham, the promoter. Drop him a line about it. And see you there.
The Revival tour is done. It was a marathon rather than a sprint, but we made it to the end in good spirits, and the last few shows in Florida were exceptionally ace. New friends made, both at shows and on the bus, and a reminder that Chuck's concept of Revival is one of the best in music right now. Jon Snodgrass and I wrote a song together on the tour, and here it is for your enjoyment:
Finally, tickets for the Paris show on December 18th. If you want to reserve tickets for the show, the person you need to email is my old friend Cham, the promoter. Drop him a line about it. And see you there.
posted by frank at 4:22 PM
8 Comments:
i always dreamed of playing the astoria when i was a kid, it was my life goal. i managed to see 2 shows there, only weeks before it closed. i visited it it about a month ago and i agree with you, it feels like there is a part of the city missing. a part of my dreams are missing. seeing the empty space almost brought me to tears, it was a beautiful place. its going to be a very strange place when they finish the new station.
I felt really strange when i walked past the ex astoria turf, feel like there is so much commercial space now with such little honest creative space left in the whole of the centre of London town and this was so city people,the fashion hungry and tourists could travel quicker into their beloved shops and offices.same time in my hometown my local swimming pool gets knocked down for a tesco's despite our best occupying efforts,people(like frank) say these things are inevitable but i still think we should fight against most of profit-driven development in london if it is take over cultural space. the revival tour looked amazing, with the new traditional folk involvement in gigs, is morris dancing going to be seen on next tour?!
I couldn't tell which direction i needed to go at the crossroads without the Astoria there. I was completely lost without it.
Despite what i heard about the poor state of the building, it was still one of my favourite london venues. I'll miss the old girl.
As to Paris...it's friends and enemies and more hassle than i can deal with.
Nice tune! Any chance it will get officially recorded/released at some point?
I hope that tune gets released frank! Enjoyed it very much, and also sums up being in band on some nights when you dont get a big crowd (the story of my band lol!)
That song is seriously amazing, you guys gotta record that one properly and release it as a B side or something (Im thinking the second 3 years in two years time :P)
I like that song a lot. Also substitute was playing on Gavin and Stacey, at 19:43 when Smithy was driving on the motorway:) Nice one:)
I'm so excited to see Big Rock In Little Rock finished up there. It was truly a pleasure to see you all in LR, and well damn that songs does everyone involved it in proud. Cheers & thank you!
Post a Comment
<< Home