Hey guys. Well my mini Irish Patrick Wolf tour is over and it couldn't have been more perfect if it tried. I'll try not to go on too long but I have LOADS of news.
Ok so I travelled up to Belfast on the Thursday from where I live, Patrick was playing the Friday, luckily due to the bad weather and 5 hour train delays I eventually made it up. The next day, Friday, we travelled into Belfast that afternoon and got caught in a blizzard, it was so cold and so extreme. It was touch and go to whether Patrick himself would arrive in the country let alone be able to play due to city wide blackouts, airport closures etc but happily for us he did.
Belfast:
McHughs Bar was a big pub and we ate there before the gig and the power kept coming on and off but the actual basement area where he played was tiny. I'd be surprised if you could squeeze in 120 or so people and to be honest I'd say there was 80 people due to the bad weather. So my friends and myself darted to one of the few tables and chairs right in front of the stage, everyone else had to stand behind us so we were in prime position. There was no support act due to technical difficulties etc. Eventually Victoria came out (who's looking fierce these days) with her little setlist's and Will with the accordion so we all quietened down. Every time I see Patrick in real life I forgot how tall he really is ha ha. He was looking tres avant garde. He was in fantastic form joking that he was prepared for a situation where the power could go while he played so that was humourous and The City was played with a hilarious intro based on the demo button from his electronic piano which sounded like Enya. He gave lots of eye contact so I knew he knew who we were ...
Here's the setlist (which I also managed to get from the stage afterwards, seeing as we were practically sitting on it)
Wind In The Wires
Hard Times
Time Of My Life
House
The Libertine
Tristan
Oblivion
Pigeon Song
Overture
Together
Sun Is Often Out
Bermondsey Street
The Magic Position
Armistice
The City
Merchandise at all 3 gigs: Archive EP #2, Damaris and Hard Times on 7", Signed Lupercalia and Sundark and Riverlight Vinyls £15 and then 15 euro in Ireland, S&R T-Shirt, Bag, Badge Set. All I bought was the EP and Badges.
Had the weather not been so awful we probably would have waited around after to try and meet him but we decided it best to get home while the snow wasn't as heavy.
Dublin:
So we drove down to Dublin the next day and checked into our Hotel, got changed and ready and made our way to the Sugar Club that evening. This time it was a much bigger crowd and I'd say it was 320 people or so. He had a different outfit on that night. The set felt like it was much shorter, a few drunk people shouting out stuff which he wasn't impressed but as we all know bitch has claws so he held his own, loved it! Got second row this time. Again no support act. I hoisted myself up on the stage at the end to get the setlist ha ha. He did the Enya demo button thing again before The City ha ha oh and mentioned road tripping to Clonakilty which we cheered for and he laughed at someone proceeded to ask me was I related to him afterwards lol.
Bluebells
House
Time Of My Life
Hard Times
Paris
Pigeon Song
The Libertine
Wind in the Wires
Oblivion
Damaris
The City
Wolf Song
Bermondsey Street
Magic Position
Went back to the Hotel after, we were exhausted and figured Patrick would want an early night for all of our long drives down to Clonakilty.
Clonakilty:
Now this gig was the most special of the 3. So we drove down again to Clonakilty from Dublin, that was a long drive. We checked into the hotel and decide we'd find De Barra's first had a drink. Patrick walked past us to do his sound check and then we said we'd go for dinner. So after dinner I went back to the hotel to get something and got talking to the desk clerk and she asked who we were watching in the pub! So I said Patrick Wolf and she goes "Oh he's staying here tonight, they've booked 3 rooms but havent checked in yet" so then after I'd finished fanboying and stopped shaking I ran back to the bar to my friends to tell them. Bearing in mind now this is Ireland where there's no such thing as customer confidentiality and Clonakilty where the hotel we were staying in had 12 rooms. After a while at the bar we decided to buy some more drink to have back at the hotel for after the gig so i went and bought that and strolled back to the hotel to be greeted by Patrick and William in the foyer so I was like OMG ... Patrick goes "Oh hello how are you?" so I said I was good and excited for the gig and that I wasn't stalking him by staying in that hotel so he laughed and said that he saw me at the other two gigs and was delighted I travelled all that way and appreciated it. I said I bet he was excited about this show as it was all his family etc attending and he said he was then I asked him could my friends and I have a quick word after the show and he said absolutely that it would be a more relaxed at the pub and to say hi to all the gang then I left him and dropped our wine off to the hotel room and ran back to fill my friends in. Better still in the end it turned out his room was across the hall from ours ha ha!
So eventually the doors opened and we got front row again and if I thought we were close in Belfast this was something else. My feet were on the stage so his cousin read poetry to open as support act which was lovely. Then he came out on stage. Setlist was unreal he promised to perform songs that weren't performed in a long time etc he was quite emotional for the night and was talking about holidaying in Clonakilty as a kid, growing up in London, the treatment of the Irish in England, loads of stuff, it was really intimate. All his family, sister, parents etc were there if I had to guess there was 70 people or so. To complete the set I got the final set list:
Armistice
Wolf Song
Time Of My Life
House
Teignmouth (Which his sister came up on stage to sing backing vocals for
)
Hard Times
The Libertine
The Bachelor
Blackdown
Sun is often Out
Pigeon Song
Wind in the Wires
Together (featuring his sister Jo again)
Godrevy Point
The Hazelwood
The Falcons
Bermondsey Street
Magic Position
London
The City
After the gig we wound up getting a few more drinks in until all that was left was his family and us and a handful of other fans. We stayed chatting to his Mum and Dad, sister, cousins for ages a good hour I would say and it was really the best time of my life. He got changed and came down and was milling with the crowd and made his way over to us. He sat down and chatted to us for about 30 mins. He said he was delighted we came to all 3 and we were chatting to him about everything and anything. I found out some stuff that I dont think is my place to share and it was some stuff meant for just our ears, intimate things especially from his family but what I do know is. There probably won't be an Archive 3, he might put archive ep 1 and 2 back up online. Hes taking a break for a while now to work on side projects. This Clonakilty date is the last date of the sundark and riverlight tour he WON't be touring anywhere else other than just for special appearances or festivals but thats it for 2013. If you ask me I get the impression we wont have any new music until autumn 2014
I expect you'll read all this Cat so I brought it to his attention about your travel fiasco and he said that he knew and was so sorry to hear. I thanked him for his music introducing me to so many great friends especially those I went with. He was really modest and gushing and took pohotos with us and signed my setlist. The bit that meant the most was when he just KNEW my name and signed it with the correct spelling and everything I was beaming. We chatted to some more family and then left the bar around 1:30 the last thing he said was see you at breakfast. We didin't in the end
but did go on a mini tour of local landmarks that inspired him as a child and later his lyrics like a lighthouse etc
I'm getting tired now so prob have left loads out but nothing for the rest of my life will mean as much as that 3rd gig
If you have any questions just ask ... Oh and I took loads more photos and some videos I think but dont have time to upload them all here!