Causing A Scene…
Beautiful supportive music communities look like this…
Yesterday was joyous! 3 different stages…30 acts & packed audiences hot footing it from one venue to the next…in a perfectly timed lineup. All showing their support for live music…the venues & for an amazing cause so close to many of our hearts in Leicester.
It’s a really uniquely beautiful 360 moment to stand on a stage supporting a hospice that supported my family at the end of my dads life…while sharing the songs peppered with grief & trauma…along with all the other messy vulnerable parts of my life…to then give them to a crowd of people…as you see the music take over & make them feel all of this too…it’s quite something.
Music really is the best therapy & certainly helps save lives as well as remember them…
Before heading to The Firebug yesterday, I managed to spend an hour at the Hospice, which I do from time to time…especially around anniversaries. Walking in to the chapel though…I did feel I’d made a big mistake trying to do it all in one day & the gig being emotional enough, but as the tears started…I looked over to the wooden lectern & saw it open on the book of John…nice touch dad! It made me smile…that revelation would have tickled him. I lit a candle…wrote my name in the visitors book…scribbled my jumbled thoughts on a cardboard leaf to hang on the memory tree & then cheekily helped myself to a tiny party size bag of Haribo’s from Archie’s backpack (the chapel’s bear) to cheer me up. My dad was all about taking handfuls of free stuff from places (largely condiments from Weatherspoons for some reason) so I know he’d approve of that move.
I then headed to the gardens of the hospice…which is my favourite place to visit there. As my dad has no grave & his ashes are still somewhat in limbo at my childhood home…I have no real place to visit in times like these & if I’m honest…on really tough days, it makes visiting my mum at the house…feel like quite a heavy emotional tidal wave…with a front room mausoleum.
It’s also tough when going over to care for her & having to take on all the caring duties…when it feels like death is always in the corner & there’s no distance to just live, but I guess it’s quite ironic & certainly in my dad’s sense of humour…that his ashes have ended up in the living room!
It was a beautiful day overall & I got to catch up with some awesomely talented friends. Matt & Kat are the most generous venue owners we could wish for & I certainly think good venues make great audiences.
There is a lot of talk about how hard the live scene is at the moment & it’s true…it really is, but yesterday was also a great reminder of what is being built around us & how much we should treasure it. Marshall McLuhan once said that “All environments are invisible…the fish can’t see the water”…but yesterday I saw most artists turn up hours before they played to support others on the bill (the usual ones who turn up just for their set & leave have a special seat reserved in Hades & we all know who you are)…I saw owners of other venues supporting the Firebug…Duffy’s & everyone performing…I saw people very generously donating to a community hospice that is struggling because of government cuts…I saw love…collaboration…friendship & a whole group of people celebrating music & just being alive.
I don’t envy the hangovers this morning…but it’s one that will be remembered for sure.
I’m back making the physical version of the album today. Later tonight I have an interview with an American Radio station (I’ll post the link when it’s being broadcast) & more travel plans/logistics to work out…the next two weeks are a bit full on with The Great Escape…the PRS AGM & the Ivors Awards week on the horizon, so I’d better make sure I’m not too far behind (more than I am already) or I’ll be hand making my merch on the FlixBus (again!)
Have a beautiful Monday whatever you’re up to.
J x