hiya,
hope youve all had the chance to watch the live stream. it was amazing - fantastic gig, met John and Pernille, actually had a proper chat with John (as far as my vocabulary allowed...). recorded the entire gig for those who missed it!!
proper review and photos and videos when i'm back home.
I couldn't agree more, it was an amazing gig, and, as always, I enjoyed the heck out of this show. Looking forward to your videos, Jenny.
Maybe I should leave it to that, but since Missy asked for a 'life story', here goes:
Start off in Berlin on a gloriously grey Wednesday evening, board the plane and a bloke, looking like the younger brother of George Michael and facing the worst cold in history takes the seat beside me. Bingo! He asks for a tissue and then keeps talking to me throughout the whole flight. I learn that he's from Manchester and an artist, drawing cartoons of everyday life scenes for a local magazine. I give him all my tissues (I'm nice like that
) and try my best to make it through the conversation what with his constant sneezing and coughing plus strong accent turns out to be slightly difficult. I hardly get a thing and secretly hope that talking rubbish doesn't make a plane crash.
After landing in London, I take the bus to Victoria, then the tube to Clapham Common. My hotel is situated right on the other side of the park with a lovely lake, the area is much nicer than expected. But this is about everything nice to say about the hotel. The rest is rather dodgy, actually the most horrible spot I have ever set foot in. Get a room in the basement, view to loads of trash (well, it’s not the Rivington, haha). Breakfast is equally horrible, instant coffee and about 30 people but only ONE toast machine. Admittedly, queueing up for almost ten minutes to get a slice of bread is not exactly my idea of fun, having Madonna with 'Don't cry for me Argentina' coming out of the speakers clearly adds to the drama... "it won't be easy, you'll think it's strange"... Thank God, I'm not borderline suicidal, this scary hotel would definitely have pushed me over the edge.
Sh!tty accommodations, still great to be in London though. Visit my favourite spots (Borough Market under the railway; Tate Modern (currently, there's an exhibition called "Exposed - Voyeurism, Surveillance + the Camera" (a sign?), which I highly recommend; Notting Hill). But the BEST about London on this 9th September is definitely John's gig at the Bedford in the evening.
I get there, meet Jenny and her mum and sis. We have a nice chat about England, the concerts they have been to, John's music and that Nerina Pallot has become a mummy now (it's a boy, Vodka Cranberry???
).
Then Jack Mittleman, who is also supposed to perform, comes to our table and asks if we had come to see him. We say "Yeah, of course" (which is not exactly the truth, but hey, one good deed every day! ;D). He says 'That's great, see you later' and smiles brightly. Nice guy.
Shortly after that, we spot John, Pernille and cuddly little Viktor, who is even more cute in person than on the pictures (if that is at all possible). He gives me a heartwarming if toothless smile and for some reason I feel as if I know him for ages (okay, he's only 7 months old, so can't be that loooong
), I guess it's because of all the pictures I've seen and the videos he has already starred in. Viktor does a brilliant job as the opening act, very lively performance and, although supposed to sleep, he seems to insist on staying awake until his Daddy is on.
Then it's showtime, John gets on at 9 pm (as most of you have probably seen via the live stream). The room is not exactly packed but still nicely filled up with people, good vibe I think. Everyone is listening, you can hear 'a needle drop'. The sound is fantastic, wonderfully crisp and clear. Pete on cello is fantastic, too, and so is John. As soon as I hear his powerful yet tender vocal plus stunning guitar playing, I know exactly why I had come!!!
Set is as follows:
Let's Run
So Close
Cold Coffee
Rendezvous
After You Left
Lonely Souls of New York
I Leave On Friday
2nd For the 1st Time
Really, really love the set, especially hearing the new tunes for the first time, both of which completely blow me away. Superbly crafted songs with a great sense of emotion, so beautiful, so quintessentially John.
Halfway through the set John realizes his guitar is 'out of service', which must be a nightmare for any performer at a point where 'the doors are open' and everyone's so very much into it. John says something like "That's the beauty of live music" whilst trying to get the Taylor going. Who would have thought that watching someone (not anyone, of course) fiddling with the batteries can be so entertaining (I thought he was rather sexy in that moment of nervousness plus I was relieved that I'm not the only one having trouble with flat batteries when it's least appropriate).
After trying in vain, he gets another guitar and "After You Left" comes on in all its beauty. Does anybody else find that haunting theme (wish I wasn't so bad at naming chords) in there rather spectacular?
Next is "Lonely Souls Of NY" on the piano, with all his heart and soul put in. So much emotion, incredible. Almost feels as if he has a secret formula to convert the music industry's ignorance into energy and inspiration. Amazing song, gorgeous melody and genuinely great lyrics.
(I've posted a video of this one on my Facebook)
Show ends with the quiet "2nd For The 1st time" (not only suitcase and floor borrowed this time
) and just like England's Worldcup or Rooney's threesome, it's all over far too quickly. I know I know, nothing good lasts forever - still his shows always leave me wanting more. There's no such thing as too much Garrison-music, I like 'the way it hurts'... obviously.
We stay inside for the next band, a girl with an actually quite beautiful, Dido-like voice and a boy on guitar, sporting a very nice Kurt Cobain T-Shirt. Only downside, all of their songs sound completely the same and, unlike John's performance, their act feels like ages.
After they're done we go to the Pub room, glad to see that John and family are still there. He chats to many people, seems very relaxed and happy, just a normal guy, refreshingly down to earth. He thanks us for coming, then explains that there will be rehearsals with Blunty and the band on the next day and a tour coming soon. We have our 'obligatory' after gig pic taken (thanks, Pernille) and then he's leaving, guitar in hand.
Bottom line: You can't experience the magic of a Garrison live performance and all that comes with it, unless you go!!
I leave sunny London on Friday with a constant smile on my face and "The Lonely Souls of NY" on my mind.
"Gonna be good" - Promise kept... Thank you, Johnny!
Oops, sorry for the novel. Would you believe it still says "53222 characters remaining", haha. I'm working on that!
but i talked with my mum about John's gig in september... and she is thinking about to see him too, it is not sure at all,.... , but ...the idea is on its way 
but i talked with my mum about John's gig in september... and she is thinking about to see him too, it is not sure at all,.... , but ...the idea is on its way 
- 
).
, Hay-on-Wye (BOOKS), Stonehenge, Bristol/Bath (where we went to Moles to see a gig; unfortunately the guy we wanted to see didn't play, but there was some other musician who wasn't bad; besides, the venue seems to be quite famous; many good musicians have already played there. Including Budapest, as John told us). On our second day in London we went to see another gig - Dylan LeBlanc at Rough Trade East. As I recently have become a fan of some good musicians and then later discovered that they had played Berlin or other places where I had been, I wanted to avoid that by looking for musicians who played London on September 10th. That's basically how I found out about Dylan. I listened to his songs on myspace, liked them and thus decided to go and see his gig. Which did work out in spite of a few problems (finding the record shop wehre he was to play was one of them). I really enjoyed his short set - he has some amazing songs. Some sound the same, but some do stand out. Awesome lyrics as well… all very sad but meaningful. And he's only 20 and has already written and produced an album ("Paupers Field"). Got an autograph on the CD we had just bought that day, and a photo with him, and the promise that he will play Germany someday. By the way, if anyone ever attends him one of his gigs someday and wants to give him a gift, here's a tip: he seems to like Jack Daniel's