On Saturday 30th March, I set off on my most unpredictable journey to date - my debut UK headline tour in support of the album I released last September.
Months and months in the making, the first gig was a free entry show at Chesterfield’s Vanishing Point Records with support from Paytron Saint.
Being a one woman stage show and lacking the funds for a tour manager (or indeed a backing band) means my parents are required at most gigs to help with carrying equipment and selling merch. As a side note - this does nothing to quell the assumptions of more people than you might imagine, that I am a teenager not long out of school rather than a soon to be 30-year-old woman.
Going on a tour with your parents also means you have to consider extra elements such as having enough data on your phone so that when your dad inevitably has a mini-breakdown over the inadequacy of the £20 satnav he refuses to part with, your phone is at the ready as a backup. And are there any restaurants near the venue containing food everyone will actually eat?
Luckily, it also has many perks. Not least their company, love and support (of which I remain incredibly grateful for).
The buildup to the gig had not been ideal - I had envisaged spending a solid two weeks honing my set and posting social media videos, but instead found myself randomly needing to get 6 separate Vitamin b12 injections at the doctors (on their orders, not one of those celebrity IV drips I might add). Each one positioned in the middle of the day, it threw my routine up in the air. What had been down on my Notion to-do list as run through set five times became just become as familiar with it as you can.
By Friday, with vitamins coursing through my veins and a vague sense of which buttons I’d need to press when, I set about packing my Rough Trade tote bag with everything I needed for the following day. With the doors opening at 7pm, we planned to start out just after 4pm. I was to wear my normal clothes and 90% of my makeup. We’d drop off the equipment, go for a meal and then make it back in time for a quick sound check before the night began.
Soon it was the big day itself, and I was once again applying Fenty Beauty’s Diamond Bomb (not sponsored) over my eyelids in the back of a car. The weather was surprisingly cheerful - one of those easter-y, spring-y, blossom-y days you stay in England for. A slight buzz of excitement in the air. Every pub we passed was full.
I keep a note saved on my phone in which I make a list of places I’ve travelled through which have what I term as good energy. The idea being that if I ever end up in the position where I can choose an ideal location in which to live, I can pick from the list.
My finger hovered over the notes app a few times, as Radio 1 played a selection of many of the 2010s ‘edm dance pop’ era (it really should have an official name) songs spewed up to order by major labels I must admit I despised as a teenager and yet know all the words to. The DJ invited listeners to identify the link between them all.
“They’re all number ones from the 2010s,” I proclaimed confidently multiple times until the DJ revealed that they were, in fact, all just songs from the year 2010.