THE REVIVALISTS SUPPORT TOUR STATS
Solo acoustic support tour opening opening for āThe Revivalistsā
Shows played 6: Lafayette London ā Babadoum Paris ā House show UK ā Paradiso Noord Amsterdam ā Lido Berlin ā Bahnhof Pauli Hamburg
Tour Setlist (30 mins) - The setlist varied each night but I always opened with The Road and closed with Hollow. In between I would play some combination of Origins, Loving You, Hydra, Trouble, Hold Me Love, Feathers.
2059 miles self-driven. 4 English Channel Crossings. 6 fuel stops.
Audiobooks listened to - How to be right by James OāBrien, How not to be wrong by James OāBrien, I Partridge by Steve Coogan.
Iām a tour support pro at this point; from KALEO to The Revivalists and a stint with RagāNāBone Man in-between. Myself and Ben supporting Latin megastar Juanes for a show in London last year many others along the way. I thought it might be fun to give you a perspective on what thatās likeā¦
Weighing up whether or not to take the opening slot isnāt as straight forward a decision as you might think. Youāll generally spend quite a bit more money than you recoup back in feeās in order to do the tour, this is because many tour budgets are so tight anyway that support feeās tend to range between Ā£0 to - Ā£500 per show and more often than not towards the lower end of that scale. The expenses thing can be an issue, once you factor in van hire, fuel costs, ferry crossings, city centre parking, hotels, band and crew feeās for shows and travel days we average a minimum spend of Ā£1000 per show when playing full band. Thats often twice the performance fee for every show we take, the rest is either a loss or can perhaps be recouped by merch salesā¦ something we achieved on the KALEO UK run last year but something thatās a lot harder to do in Europe now after Brexit and the requirement of expensive carnet documents in order to bring in merchandise for sale.
So why do we do it so often? As artists we desperately want to play on the big stages and reach hundreds or thousands of potential new fans night after night. Itās a dream and a privilege to be able to travel the world meeting new people and to watch the headline band do their thing, thereās always a lot to learn from them. There isnāt a lot that is more powerful than the energy transfer that live music provides and we see that after each tour when our socials come to life with new fans and followers who are incredibly vocal and enthusiastic about having discovered our music at a live show and then done a deep dive into the back catalogue! Truly nothing compares to the lifetime connection you can make to a music fan when performing live.
On this most recent tour with The Revivalists I felt the warmest reception yet when playing as a solo support artist, from both the crowd and the band & crew. I reckon this was due to the perfect combination of a few things; our music fit right in that sweet spot where it was close enough in style to apply to the same fanbase but different enough to offer that perfect contrast between our sets. I was playing solo acoustic due to a lack of stage space in all the venues meaning they couldnāt accommodate full band (The Revivalists are an 8 piece band with 2 drummers) and the reception was mostly perfect with polite crowds who erupted at the end of each song and took me up on my invitation to come and say hello after the show. I love to meet new fans and see their excitement after connecting with a particular song in the set. There was a lot of love for Hydra & Hollow on this tour, good taste!
Watching the Revivalists was a treat every night, theyāre a band made up of virtuosic players, you can spend an entire set just honing in player to player until the final song. Everyone shines for their moment but nothing outshines the collective. At the end of the night in Paris (Show 2) their singer David approached me and said some very kind things about my set, I was mid way through refuting his comparison to the godlike Jeff Buckley when he asked if Iād be interested in joining the band on stage for a song at the following show in Amsterdamā¦ absolutely yes! This was something new compared to all of our support slots so far, weāve toured with some great bands and people but never have we been invited to play a big part in their set. We decided on a cover of āHigh and Dryā, David and the band would start the song and I would do a surprise walk onstage at the beginning of Verse 2, it proved to be a huge hit with the audience and the band invited me to join them at this moment every night for the rest of the tour, ending the song by shouting me out multiple times and telling their fans to āfollow and support Belle Mt. everybody!ā.
Taking into account all of the above factors in weighing up support tours - the costs involved, the thousands of miles and countless hours spent driving Europe, checking in and out of shitty hotels, service stations, skipping meals etc - this extra gesture really cemented my respect for, and gratitude to The Revivalists, we bonded quite a bit over the last 3 shows and Iāll happily join them on the road anytime they need me. Hopefully next time as the full band with Ben and Chris onstage with me, weāll need some big stages though which wouldnāt be a problem for those guys in the US where they just sold out Red Rocks 2 nights in a row.
LONDON HEADLINE SHOW - FEBRUARY 7TH 2024
Weāre playing a full headline show at Access All Areas 2024! Back in London headlining our first festival of the year with Access All Areas.
Weāre treating this as our one London headline show for the first half of 2024 and will be going all out just as we would with any headline show, but as its part of the festival theyāre able to give you a great deal on tickets at just Ā£12.50 each for the single show ticket or Ā£27.50 for the festival pass that gets you into all of the shows.
Get yourself a ticket for our show or pick up an All Access Pass to get into all twenty shows of this multi-venue festival, taking place January to March 2024!
Oh one more thingā¦ the timing of this will be very close to our debut album release, so weāre going to be hyped!
On sale now š¤
RELEASE UPDATE
As you read this Feathers just passed 100k streams on Spotify and The Road is hot on its heels. Our target for the first 4 weeks of any release is 10k streams, so to hit a milestone like this so soon is very exciting. You guys and all of your shares and posts are our marketing department right now, so if youāve been spreading the word then count this as your win too. So much love š¤
***3 new patrons joined this weekā¦ Matt, Rowena, & Mihaela! š«¶***
Belle Mt. Patreon fan community; Itās been a lot of fun to get to know our fans more closely this year and to share way more of our process. Social media gets in-between us all and weād love your help to keep on making music āØ
Click below to find out more about our Patreon communityš if you join now, not only can you jump right in the discord chat and attend the live streams but you get the benefit of all the previous posts weāve shared, including an exclusive full live show video, free cover art wallpapers, and previously unheard song demos.
Belle Mt. Patreon membership comes with access to our community discord chat group, a monthly zoom hang concert with our community and other unique tier dependent perks. Most of all it helps us to stay independent and to keep making musicš¤