Busy days in Belgium

Got back from America early last week and, as ever, it was good to touch the green, green grass of home. Spent a few days reminding everyone who I was and then flew to Belgium on the weekend and played the Toogenblik Club near Brussels on Friday night (played there last year, great club venue) and then two shows on Saturday.The first was at the Labadoux Music Festival. I played on the main stage for an hour and had a great time. It’s an interesting exercise to go from playing to a crowd in the USA to Belgium, but the thousand odd Flemish souls decided to reward me with one of those standing ovation things which always leave me not knowing which way to look. We then travelled onto a place called Oudenaerde for a show at the De Boerderery. This was one of those gigs that one always remembers. There was a very special atmosphere in the building with a capacity crowd, a great PA system and a bar! Basically, I took the stage at 8.20pm and left it at 12.30 am, with just a short 15 min break in the middle. It reminded me of a show in Sunderland a few years ago, which I think had set the record up until Saturday. My best recount of the evening tells me I sang 31 songs. The stage was very small and was surrounded by the audience with no gangway. I therefore didn’t have a path to get off! I managed to get a chair onto the stage and said that when I sat on it would signify the last song. They then proceeded to take the chair and passed it over their heads so as this couldn’t happen! Anyhow, it was quite a day with two gigs that will stick in the memory for a long time. I slept well that night! Thanks to everyone in Belgium who made me feel so welcome. Looks like things are building nicely there. Special thanks to Diethard for making it all happen. So, back home picking up the pieces, though my team are taking the heat off me, which is great. Lost of stuff flowing through and I’m excited about the War Child show with Bruce Cockburn at the end of the month. I’m also thinking of recording that covers album that I have talked about for many years..hmm.