I just got home from London and am still on cloud nine, for it was such a great show and a rather splendid evening. I really enjoyed myself and it was so nice to share this amazing experience with all the lovely boardies.
I don't even know where to begin... maybe best at the beginning.
I arrived at the Water Rats around 5 pm, waiting for the other boardies to show up, but nothing happend. About 10 minutes later I thought I'd have a look inside in case they're already in there. When I looked through the window all I saw was John, sitting at the bar, all alone, lost in thought, looking out the window. I was like 'OMG, what am I supposed to do now?'. So I smiled and waved at him and even though he probably didn't know who I was, he smiled and waved back (or should I rather make this: even though he KNEW who I was he smiled and waved back?
) Anyway, I thought it was really cute!
Still waiting outside, Lucy and Kitine came to say Hello and went to their Hotel, Napsi arrived and also Loraline. At around 6 pm we decided to wait inside. Shortly after that I went downstairs to the restroom and couldn't quite believe what I heard. "I Leave On Friday" coming out from behind a mysterious door in the basement. I stood there listening without making a sound, I think I didn't even breathe. The whole scenery was pretty bizarre and surreal... that dodgy, narrow hallway and this beautiful voice and guitar sound echoing from behind the door (made me think of the Mozart scene in Shawshank Redemption somehow). Then I told Napsi and Lydia and we all went downstairs, listening to John rehearsing Cold Coffee and 2nd For The 1st time. Sorry for my extensive description, but for some reason it was quite overwhelming and a moment I'll never forget.
Back at the bar, Lucy and Kitine arrived. Lucy gave us our presents, a lovely badge with the Departures cover on it (and another one for me featuring the sexy producer
). I thought that was so sweet of her and so nicely done, she really should run John's merchandise!!
More and more people arrived, Karl Brazil, Paul Beard and Malcolm Moore included, yay, and John took the stage at 9 pm sharp (with acoustic guitar this time), accompanied by Chris Pemberton on Keys and Pete (I don't know his last name) on Cello. I loved the sound that was different from last time at Water Rats as there was no bass and drums, but excellent none the less. The cello definitely adds to the sadness that's diplayed in many of the songs, quite possibly the saddest sounding instrument of all. John's voice was beautifully there right from the first notes and you could tell that he was really into it.
I believe this was the set (different order maybe):
Rendezvous
Let's Run
I Leave On Friday
Cold Coffee
So Close
2nd For The 1st Time
It was absolutely fantastic to get to hear the new album songs live, some of them for the first time. I was completely enthralled from start to end and even forgot to call Kati to let her listen to one of the songs. Just too great a performance, very moving and captivating.
Afterwards we finally got to buy the oh so impatiently awaited Departures album, sold by John's beautiful assistant.
The album looks great with all the nice pictures of John (and Matt) on and in it, though it has a shiny, kind of unsignable surface that was giving our permanent markers a bit of a hard time.
We were all very excited to be having the real thing in our hands, and John kindly signed our albums and everything else he was asked to put his signature on (even my 'naughty' notice sign from the Cosmos corner in NYC and my new mobile phone
), everyone had their pictures taken and some words exchanged. It was a cool atmosphere and it's always nice to get so close to your favorite artist. We asked him about the tour and how many sold items of Departures it would take to possibly think about making a 3rd album. If we got it right, he said about 20,000 copies.
After saying Goodbye to John and Pernille (the staff had already started to clean up the place, LOL), all of us diehard Garrison fans were making plans how to achieve the 20,000 copies goal (that would be 2000 items for each of us ;D). A bank robbery came to mind and some other crazy ideas. For a start, in order to save some money, we decided to grab something to eat at the nearest Burger King, a cosy neon-lighted place, serving that fancy cuisine américaine, serenaded by some drunken weirdo who kept us entertained although nobody actually had asked him to (Ronald McDonald seems to be everywhere, LOL). However, none of us really cared, and so it was a lot of fun, talking in English, Spanish, French, German or whatever. Still floating on air after our amazing Garrison gig experience we were definitely by far happier than the meal!
So, THANK YOU all so much... John for the beautiful music, the show that was just awesome and the new album of course (which I'm yet to immerse myself in)... Lucy, Kitine, Napsi, Claudia, Lydia and Elodie for making this special night even more special. Hope we can do it all again in a few weeks.
Missy (I was thinking of you during So Close... and fingers crossed for Dec.), Gray, Kati and Flakie, you were dearly missed and so was Matt!
Looking forward to some video footage now to relive the magic.
(Sorry for the novel and for running on, you must forgive me, it's late and I'm still on a high... guess that's the state shortly before the Post Garrison Blues kicks in...)
thanks girls... I'm starting to feel better again... I hope this time for real *lol*
) Anyway, I thought it was really cute!
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I'm so glad at least to have the board where we can talk about John's lovely music, music in general and this crazy, weird, amazing, beautiful thing called life too. ;D My friends get tired about talking about music with me. I wonder why? 
