China Tour Diary Part 1
There were four buttons. One said ‘very satisfied’, another ‘satisfied’, another ‘unsatisfied’ and the final one ‘very unsatisfied’. I thought he was very efficient in checking the passport so I enthusiastically pressed the ‘very satisfied’ button. And that was it, I was in Shanghai. A city where they seem to be constructing freeways on any spare piece of land. The label manager and his girlfriend gave us amazing presents and then we sped off to the French Concession area of the city where our hotel was.
After an early morning train to Nanjing I promptly found myself sound checking for the first solo show of the tour. Nanjing is an ancient capital city and has one of the best universities in China. They also make some great flat bread and egg things and sell them on the streets in the mornings.
On my floor in the hotel there were about thirty army officers. They were either part of the tight security organised by pocket records or they were just having a conference in the hotel, i didn’t have time to ask them. I practiced a bit in my hotel room before the show , getting nervous because I hadn’t performed the songs much in the last six months . Plus it was a solo show so I didn’t have Nathan (who apparently came to be known by the fans at the shows as ‘the bearded uncle’ ) to back me up with his flawless stage presence. Arriving back at the venue made more nervous as I had to push my way through the 300 people who were apparently there to see me play. I didn’t quite believe it and wondered if the crowd were also part of the army conference happening in the hotel. But soon the pocket music staff pushed me onto the stage with my capo and setlist tucked under my arm.
The crowd seemed very relaxed about the whole show so that instantly made me feel better and I proceeded to play 17 quiet songs in a row. The crowd joined in during the song ‘valder fields’ and it sounded like a gentle 300 person choir so I started to wonder whether ‘the bearded uncle’ was going to be able to reproduce that kind of sound when he arrived.
The bearded uncle arrived safely into shanghai and someone commented that he really looked like a rock star while I just looked like I was lost. I didn’t have time to be offended though as we were up the next morning and having interviews and photo shoots and signing sessions. The Chinese media people were all great and asked us lots of questions about what part of china we liked best and what we thought of shanghai. There is certainly a sense of pride from many Chinese people about their home town so we tried to give those non committal kind of answers where we said there was lots to like about all (of the 2) places I had visited so far.
The next day was on to Hangzhou, a lunch next to the famous west lake (china’s third most visited tourist attaction), an unfortunate incident with an overflowing hotel toilet and the show at Travellers Bar. I didn’t realise so many people and digital cameras could be crammed into such a small space and the bearded uncle likened the stage set up to that of cage fighting. We were escorted through the crowd by our Beijing bodyguard and then as we got onto the stage the exit/entrance closed behind us as people pushed into the space and chairs were used as barricades. So we weren’t going anywhere. It was either play a one hour set or get torn to pieces by 300 kids from Hangzhou.
But actually apart from an incident where someone tried to steal my jacket from off the stage people in Hangzhou seemed really nice and we got to meet loads of them after the show. It was a shame to have to get back on the train the next morning and head back to Shanghai- I think we all wanted to spend another few days eating dumplings and sipping tea next to west lake. If Nanjing and Hangzhou had had their own consumer feedback response buttons I would have no hesitation in pressing the very satisfied one and I think the bearded uncle would agree.
sTay tuned for part 2.