It was August 2001 and I was standing backstage in Washington D.C before the first show of my solo tour. After recording Skin and the release of my autobiography, the idea of a solo tour had made sense to me. A tour with no band, no back-up, nothing but me. This was something I hadn’t done in years, since I played the bars. Now that it was about to happen, I was terrified and nauseous, sure that the audience would get bored after four songs. Then I walked out on stage. The audience stood up and never sat back down. I played and felt at home, safe, almost like I was back playing in the bars. Every night, in each new city, I felt connected to my audience, even more connected because I was the only one on stage. The tour just got better and better until September. On the morning of September 11, I watched the television with the rest of the world as the towers fell. My first thought was of my children. I drove 24 hours straight to get home. I held my son and my daughter as I tried to explain the unexplainable. When the tour resumed, the audiences were subdued. I contributed in the only way I knew, playing my music.
Strange as it was, there was a sense of unity and common purpose in those first shows following September 11. Slowly but surely, as the tour progressed, the mood of the audiences changed. They wanted to be entertained and lifted up, and I wanted to be with them. The final night of the tour was at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Playing in Los Angeles is always like a homecoming for me and that night was perfect. It felt like a culmination of the entire tour, with all the energy and emotion of that long journey packed into one night.
After Los Angeles, the tour went on to Europe. There, I found myself writing again, like I hadn’t written in years. I was writing constantly and obsessively about everything that was new and different in my life. I wrote about the strength of my new relationship and the power I felt playing solo. These new songs were so fresh and raw that I felt the need to perform with the band again. I got my band back together, with the addition of my new guitarist James. We played two shows at the Roxy in Los Angeles. Two rocking shows full of friends and fans. We played new songs and our favourites in the hot, sweaty club. Performing that show felt like it had almost twenty years earlier, like a new beginning. It felt great.
I hope this program gives you a sense of this Journey, from “Live and Alone” into whatever the future may bring.
