​Nov 5, 2019 - Caernarfon Wales, Galeri

We arrived at this beautiful north porch Wales city at around 3 o’clock just in time to sound check with soundman Dylan. John, Goran and I did a fairly expansive sound check due to the fact that this room was such a large one, and it took some getting accustomed to. But Dylan was great and moved it along and within 20 to 25 minutes we had very good sound.
 
Somewhere in the middle of the sound check my old friend Owen, who booked the show, wandered by and just stood at the side enjoying the sound check… It was great to see him. He look good/ healthy ... he’s been through a lot of cancer operations and it looks like he’s come out on the other side of it .. an amazing, wonderful thing! ..
Owen has booked several of my shows in the past plus several with me and Carrie Rodriguez.  He is one of my favorite people to see on any tour anytime .. He’s kind to everybody, works hard at his job and loves music … What could be better?

We are staying at the Premier which is right across from the venue , everything on the dock with the boat alongside us and beautiful countryside in the back. It’s a beautiful area. Joan is loving the view and the feeling of the place.

Across the street from our hotel is a pretty cool little restaurant almost like a Fridays … but a little bit more upscale. They have saved the entire back area for us. One large sofa that takes three or four people and a few chairs facing against them. As planned, we arrived there at about 6 o’clock.

The place was extremely crowded and despite the fact that we were a priority the food came barely in time for us to eat it and get down to the stage and ready for the show.. which started at 7:30.

The show

Certainly this would rank for me as one of the best shows ever

“The Silent Shows”

Several folks commented after the show that the thing that made this show so special was the silence of the show… Surrounded by the gentle playing of two soulful masters, John Platania and Goran Grini... Many said they hadn’t seen anything like it and they loved what they heard and saw… songs that meant something… often having social commentary or prayerful meanings. I would say the same thing. These “silent shows“ are becoming our sort of calling card.  Different from anything I’ve ever done before and, at their best and their loosest, they are extraordinarily warm and powerful.

It’s not that a song like the “Real Thing, or “Track 224" or “I Can’t Let Go” or “ Wild Thing” don’t have their power or their connection, they certainly do … The audience loved those songs. But if you could have felt the over-the-top reaction to songs like “I Love You Today”, “He’s a Good Guy as Well You Know”, “There’s Nothing Coming Out of Me That I Like“, “I’ll Carry For You“, “ Theme for an American Hero” , “ What a Smile You Had “and “Fuck all the Perfect People”  you would’ve understood.

There is something going on here with the people on stage and the passion of the audience and it is working on a very big dimension.. it feels more like a special kind of human interactive church service.

So nice to be a part of that feeling with this great and warm and wonderful audience.

To end the show we played “ I Wasn’t Born in Tennessee“ which was met with huge applause .. that seemed to last forever.. so just as we were leaving the stage we decided to turn around and come back for one more. We closed with a beautiful version of “Refugee Children“ which had the audience singing with us clear and true and with such passion.

Thanks to all who were here to experience what happened tonight. John Platania was brilliant as was Gøran Grini - they added just the perfect amount of emotion to the silence… It had chills up my spine all night.

Said hello to several including:

Hi to Jane… so good to see you.. And hi to Anne… And thanks so much for the beautiful comments from a person who had never seen the show before and only  knew me as a writer who had written some hits… Your comments meant the world to me..

Hi to Bryn and India and Tudor and Maldwyn.. thanks so much for the kind words and the talk about the brilliant understated playing of John and Goran.. and about the connection of the songs .. much appreciated

Hi to Ian and Chris.. Great to see you again… Chris good luck to your musician son… How could you not be with a father who is so passionate about the stuff .. thanks for the nice comments great to see the whole family last time and great to see you guys again this time.

Special hi to friend and revered DJ, Rhys and lovely wife, Nest (with a sort of upside down V over the “E“).  Sorry my typewriting machine does not have such a insignia.. Great seeing you both!

Hi Garrett… Thanks for reminding me about the song that I wrote with Rosie for Rosie, ”Tumbling Down”.. I remember liking that song a lot and I haven’t heard it in a while… So I will research it again.

Great seeing you Kevin. Great to have you back... you look so good I hope you have a lot of years to go come to do the good things that you do in Music! .. hey Pete, great to see you before the show and after the show… I hear that Rhys is going to play our combo music from all those years ago on his station sometime this week… I would love to hear that.

And finally… So special  to see my old friend Owen.. and to top it off his lovely daughter Gwyn stopped by at the end of dinner to say a quick hello with her amazing new nine-month-old Cadi. And one of the highlights of this entire tour so far was watching my wife Joan play with that little girl... for five or 10 minutes… it was so great to see… And John Platania kept his iPhone in film mode for much of it… I can’t wait to see it ...hopefully we will post it one of these days.

Sorry I missed the names of several who said hello… Thanks for being part of the magic tonight! Hope to see you soon!