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Onto the USA

Posted 21st September 2009

We arrived in New York fairly late in the evening so while Julz got settled, I popped out for a stroll down 7th Ave, and grabbed a bit of supper to take back to the room.

It was one of the later starts that I have had for breakfast tv, and as we were outside and local laws didn’t allow for a performance in the normal style, I performed part of La Prima Volta a cappella. Singing a cappella is something I always feel a
little nervous about, so I was pleased with my performance.

After a brief walk around the town it was time to head for La Guadia Airport in New York for our flight to Dallas. Our last visit to Dallas was connecting on a flight from the Bahamas to San Diego last Autumn when I had a private performance. Thankfully when we arrived this time, it wasn’t in the middle of a thunderstorm!  We were to find the temperatures a little on the hot side, with temperatures constantly over 100 degrees most of the day. We made sure we had plenty of sunblock when we did venture out.

We started the US tour in a fantastic venue, the Nokia Theater in Grand Prairie.There was a very responsive crowd, and it was fantastic to see so many people after the show.

What was great about the US tour this year was that we got to go to places in the US that we hadn’t been to before, namely Dallas, Houston and Atlanta. It was great to see these places and to explore as much as we could. Everywhere we went it was very hot, in contrast to the last US tour in March, so it was great to see places with the sun out and blue skies. There were some very long journeys by bus, for instance, from Hollywood, Florida to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Atlantic City.  We also had the great honour of playing some great venues, such as Atlanta Symphony Hall, and a slightly alternative venue for me, The House of Blues in Houston - a very cool venue!

My favourite venue has to be The Beacon Theater which is right onBroadway uptown from Central Park.  The greatest thing was on the way back to our hotel in Midtown Manhattan, we saw my name in lights on Broadway!  The theatre itself was a stunning building which has recently been refurbished at considerable expense.  All I can say is that I was honoured to perform there, the acoustic was perfect, and the audience were incredible.  I am also enjoying meeting people after the show as I always enjoy shaking the hands of the people that make it possible to do what I love doing.

We returned to some of the theatres we had been to before, like the Berklee Performance Center in Boston, and The Borgata Music Box in Atlantic City. While we were in Atlantic City we spent some of the day with Justin Zackham who is writing the screenplay for the proposed film that is being worked on. It was great to see Justin again, a very nice guy with a lovely family. We took a stroll along the beaches on the Atlantic coast, and although the weather was dull and dreary, it was easy to see the charm of the area, although after 30 minutes of walking in sand, you knew you were getting exercise!

After Atlantic City, we drove to one of my favourite cities, back to Toronto for our performance at the Elgin Theater and Winter Gardens, the only surviving double decker theatre in the world. It was another stunning venue to perform in and it was great to catch up with our Canadian friends while were there.

Directly after the show, we drove overnight to Chicago, only to be woken at 3am as we crossed the border back into the US.  After
spending a little time there we got back into our bunks for the
remainder of our journey. Chicago is one of my top 3 places in the US.  I have been fortunate enough to have been to the ‘Windy City’ three times now, and the weather has always been fine and with blue skies, although it does get bitterly cold in the winter!

I had a TV performance to do as well as my final US performance on this tour.  In the studio, right before I went on stage for a live TV performance, I managed to bang my head very hard on a cabinet.  It hurt quite a lot and I was still feeling it as I was performing.  So you see why Julz always bans people from saying ‘break a leg’! I’m clumsy enough without encouragement!

Our flights back to the UK involved flying out of Washington, so we made use of a spare day to explore the city and tried to fit in as many places a we could, and even caught a cortege leaving the White House.  All too soon it was time to head to the airport, for the next journey to Europe, to Prague for my next two shows…...

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