I'm writing this blog in a cab in London. These rides tend to be long so I'm putting down the Twitterberry for a bit and dusting off the ol' typewriter. I'm touring Europe for the majority of the month and the days are just flying by. The first show of the tour was last Friday at the famed Fabric nightclub in London for the launch of my new Fabriclive CD. I stopped by their offices in the daytime—barely recognized it with the sun out—and they gave me a box of my CDs... yes! But then they sent me off to do a couple hours of press... no!
As for the show itself, it was great. They had the Chemical Brothers on the bill too so there was a full line (pardon me, a queue) outside at 8pm. For those who know Fabric, I'd been wanting to play room 2 for a long time and I finally got it. My funky homies Greenmoney played earlier in the night, followed by Joe Goddard from Hot Chip. The room was rammed when I played and they set me up on stage so there was real interaction with the crowd. That's not always a given in those superclubs. The Scratch Perverts played a heavy dubstep set right after me that was so loud, even my fancy-schmancy earplugs were vibrating inside my ears. I think the bass cleared my sinuses. I was still on US time so I didn't really feel like going to sleep anytime soon. I vaguely recall going to bed around 8am.
On Saturday I flew to the bustling French town of Dinard in Brittany to then be driven 2 hours to the just-as-bustling town of Morlais where I was performing at the Panoramas festival. Brittany is known for its crepes but I didn't get to partake in the pancake, unfortunately. What Brittany is not known for, apparently, is its hotels, and now I know why. Don't expect to see this establishment in Tablet Hotels anytime soon. It was basically a bed in a room, so I just went to the festival and ate some catering. There was a slight technical snafu as I was about to start my set, but once they fixed that turntable I was able to jump into funk mode as planned. The line-up was basically a whole bunch of French dudes, myself (which I kind of understand because I speak French) and "Guru's Jazzmatazz"... riddle me that one, folks. Anyway, I stayed to watch Surkin after my set and the next day we hopped on the train together and headed to Paris.
Sidebar: there's been a running theme to this tour that I really should mention. Last week for my birthday, my parents got me the Planet Earth DVD box set and I started watching it on this tour. Pretty much every night when I can't fall asleep because of the jetlag, I zone out and take a journey to the Antarctic with this thing. I'm kind of obsessed now. I know it's 5 DVD's and it'll take me a while to finish them but... I don't want it to ever end! I want to see more baboons tip-toeing through water again and again. And another thing, can someone get me a bird of paradise? Like, for real? I hereby name this tour the Planet Earth tour.
So as I was saying, I went to Paris. I had a few days off on tour and I chose to spend them there with my buddy Mehdi. It was great, I really love that city. I slept a whole bunch (ask him). I ate well, I shopped a bit, I saw some friends, I made a couple power moves, and then I ate some more and had a glass of port. I was there for 3 days and now I feel replenished. I just got back to London, and I'm about to hit 4 cities in 4 days. We're only getting started. In the words of the great Sean Combs... LET'S GO PEOPLE!!