This blog is the fourth chapter in my daily journals chronicling my first tour as a rock artist. In the previous entries I recalled our shows in London, Warsaw, Prague, Berlin, Zurich, Utrecht, Brussels and Paris. My adventures continue in Part Four…
Wednesday, April 30
1:15 pm
Bruguières, France
The bus is stopped at the festival grounds in the tiny commune of Bruguières, just north of Toulouse. Here, my band and I will play a concert tonight at Le Festival Echos & Merveilles, a celebration of fantasy-themed literature, costumes, and music. Then, most of the team will leave tomorrow, and I will stay on until Sunday to perform a second concert with local musicians.
I was the first one off the bus, and I encountered Nicolas Chaccour, the festival’s gregarious founder and music director for the ensemble the Neko Light Orchestra that I will perform with on Sunday.
While the rest of my band slowly emerged from the bus, Nico walked me over to the artists’ tent, a backstage area set up like a big circus tent, complete with a kitchen, cafeteria, bar, lounge, and grand piano all beneath breezy canvas coverings that let in the air and the warm spring sun. Thankfully his English is excellent, because my high school French has yet to resurface from the depths of my mind.
Thursday, May 1
2:30 am
Bruguières, France
My crew had warned me that the indoor concert venue was very hot, but I was nevertheless unprepared. I entered the hallway behind the stage as Faun, the band before us, finished up their incredible set, and I felt encased in a humid, sticky fog. As I stepped on to the stage, I felt like I was in a swamp. Sweat instantly accumulated on my forehead as I looked out at the roiling sea of sweaty pirates and elves. By the second song, everyone on stage and in the audience was soaked in sweat. My hands slipped across my guitar while my hair splashed against my back.
One of the most successful songs of the night was “The Last Ballad of Damrod.” This song from The Rings of Power was originally sung by Jens Kidman, of the iconic extreme metal band Meshuggah. I suspected if there were one place where a song about a killer troll would connect with an audience, it would be a French heavy metal fantasy festival, and my intuition proved correct. For our tour, lead vocals on this song were performed by our bassist Pete Griffin, marking his debut as a lead singer in a band! After the set, I texted Jens to tell him how much the crowd loved the song, and he replied, “Hope Pete did a great job or I’ll come haunting him in his dreams.” I was delighted to relay the message to Pete.
The audience was exuberant after “Godzilla,” building their applause into accelerated rhythmic chants, demanding an encore! We went back out on stage to a rapturous reception and performed “The Skye Boat Song,” the perfect way to end our final concert of the European run.
Later that night, Paul and I hung out in the artists’ tent with members of Faun, which was a blast. They were delightful. A miniature jam session broke out and Paul grabbed his fiddle to join in. When you’ve been playing with a musician for twenty years, it can be easy to lose perspective on how good they are. As I watched all these talented, European musicians being so impressed with his musicianship, I suddenly felt cool through association.
Our brief bus trip back to the hotel marked the last time my crew and band would be together on this trip. We’ve all gone out to see the sights together, hung out together, and really connected over the last two weeks. There’s something special about this group, and I am lucky to have them with me.
Tonight, the band and crew will sleep for a couple hours in the hotel before heading to the airport to journey home. Frankie and I will stay here until Sunday’s concert with the Neko Light Orchestra. I must admit I’m feeling deep pangs of homesickness. This has been the longest I’ve been away from home since my kids were born, and part of me wishes I could just get on that plane tomorrow and go home. Still, I’m excited to experience Toulouse for a couple days and play with a unique ensemble this weekend.
Saturday, May 3
7:15 pm
Bruguières, France
I felt a jarring whiplash in the pace of my life after the breakneck pace of the previous two weeks—suddenly, I had two days off in the South of France!
On Thursday, I strolled through Toulouse. My Uber driver could only get me so close to the city center because the streets were blocked off for sizable political protests over the war in Gaza. I wandered past barricades and police officers in full riot gear. The events remained peaceful, but there was tension in the air.
I got coffee in the shade of the Basilique Saint-Sernin de Toulouse and caught up on social media and emails. I then roamed Toulouse, navigated only by my own curiosity.
The most surreal event of the day was getting flagged down by a fan who was wearing one of my tour t-shirts.
On Friday, I caught up with my friend Elin, a woman I have known for years after she attended several of my European concerts more than a decade ago. Her family lives in a little village outside of the small town of Albi. They graciously invited me into their home and gave me a true sense of rural France. After all the sightseeing, performance, chaos and excitement of the last two weeks, I was grateful to experience a single day of peaceful, European life.
Saturday, today, I finally rehearsed with the Neko Light Orchestra, and I was impressed with their musicianship, passion, and positive energy. Their orchestral string section even sang my choir parts, blending beautifully with the ensemble’s lead singer, Pandora, who has a fantastic voice and radiant stage presence.
My favorite part of the rehearsal was when they offered to let me play the taiko drums on “Prelude to War.” I have never played taiko drums before in my life, but I dove into the part with glee. I can’t wait to do it on stage tomorrow! (Inspired by today’s rehearsal, I am considering buying a taiko drum to use in my set moving forward. Is that crazy?)
Monday, May 5
10am
Bruguières, France
Yesterday, the Echos et Merveilles festival was struck by lightning!
Frankie and I arrived at the soundcheck on Sunday around noon. The outdoor stage at the park grounds was a large grassy field, surrounded on all sides by lilting trees that framed the shores of a glistening silver blue pond, filled with ducks. However, today, the air was blustery and humid, with heavy winds rippling loudly through the leaves. The gray, tumultuous skies threatened rain. A decision was made by leadership to move the evening’s concert from the outdoor stage into the same indoor venue in which I had performed on Wednesday.
After a delayed soundcheck that afternoon, Frankie and I retired to the outdoor tented area for artists at the back of the festival grounds. As we ate a late lunch, we noticed staff quickly zipping up the openings in the tents above our heads. Moments later, we heard the light tapping of rain against the tent that quickly escalated into a torrential downpour. Within minutes, rain pelted down in sheets, creating a din so cacophonous we struggled to speak to one another as water accumulated at our feet. Flashes of distant lightning followed, trailed by long, low rumbles. I glanced outside to see thousands of festival attendees fleeing for the large, covered tent that held the book fair, or scrambling into the lobby of the concert venue, to escape the deluge. Ten minutes later lightning flashed and thunder shook the tent. At last, there was a flash so bright that all of us in the tent were temporarily blinded. The ground shook with the loudest blast of thunder I have ever heard. My whole body jolted. Lightning had struck the fairground right outside our tent. Thankfully, everyone had cleared out to safety.
Something about all that atmospheric energy remained in that night’s performance. My first set with the Neko Light Orchestra was nearly two hours long. The ensemble had crafted their own arrangements of my music, reworking my ideas into vibrant re-imaginings. I jumped from electric guitar, hurdy gurdy, accordion, to piano, and taiko drum, and even sang backing vocals. After all the pressures of my tour, it was delightful to simply be the guest of honor in someone else’s band!
After the first show, we played an impromptu, abbreviated set for the dedicated, rain-drenched crowd that had stuck it out to see us. This time, the orchestra and I all tapped into deeper, thrilling reserves of energy. We ended the night with an encore of my arrangement of the traditional Irish reel “Clean Pease Strae,” as featured in Outlander, a performance that evolved into an extended jam session. Both the band and the crowd (most of whom were dressed as various elves, warriors, wizards, and pirates) erupted into dancing
The second show ended very late, well after 1:00 am. After grabbing a few hours sleep last night, I am currently sitting in the airport in Toulouse, about to board my plane. The European run of my Themes and Variations Tour has finally finished. It’s true that the #RockStarLife was perhaps a little different than I had expected. Blow drying socks in a hotel room sink, tossing and turning in a fever dream, and narrowly avoiding getting struck by lightning, these were not events I anticipated. Nonetheless, the first leg of my first tour was an unforgettable adventure.
Thank you, Europe! I’m excited to dive into it all over again in North America. But first, sleep.
Continued in Part 5.
-Bear
