Stockholm, Amsterdam, Ottersum, Groningen, London

Big Big Picture

My run of dates in Europe have been wonderful, the venue’s have been amazing, the food, the audience’s…all lovely. The show in Stockholm made a giant billboard picture of me for promotion, it has to be the biggest picture of me I’ve ever seen. We teamed up with a Swedish group called Society’s Stepchildren, who are working for the rights of foster children of Sweden, and working to get restitution for people who were abused in the system. There is an ongoing investigation into the governments practices around fostering and children’s homes in Sweden, and one of the government investigators came to the show. I had a good meeting with him, and I had an amazing evening overall, I met so many people who moved me with their stories.

We then went to play in Holland, and the first gig was in an old church/nunnery that was used as an orphanage and home for children with special needs, for a hundred years or so nuns took care of children in the building where I played, the marble stairs were worn down from all the years of nuns and children going up and down there. The Nazi’s bombed the orphanage during the war  ( it’s only a few kilometers from Germany), and the building was in disrepair for many years. It’s been build back up, and they  hold many different kinds of shows there every season. Playing The Foundling in that church was spooky and electric for me, we had candles burning on stage and throughout the room, and I could feel the history of the place inside me.

The next night we played a church in Amsterdam from the 17th century , Amstelkerk built in 1666. The show was produced and promoted by The Paradiso, and they did a great job for us. Once again, the room was perfect for The Foundling songs, from the stage we faced a beautiful old organ with huge pipes on the wall, it was fantastic AND walking distance from the hotel, which is always nice. After soundcheck we went to drink coffee at an old bar that had a jazz band, we sat in there by an open window and listened to music and watched the rain for a couple hours, then went and played our show. What a wonderful day, I loved it. Amsterdam is one of my favorite cities in the world, it’s so diverse and welcoming and open. I love the crooked buildings, the cafe’s the shopping, the food….and the Dutch people. I can’t wait to come back again.