It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything here guys, I have not been living up to responsibility as a blogger and I apologize :)
So much has transpired in the last few months. I toured with Lifehouse, just headlined my first tour in Germany, signed my first record deal, had my first video on MTV, recorded a brand new album and have loved every minute of it.
I’ve been so lucky to have the support of amazing fans all over the world and I wanted to share some of my favorite pics from the last few months with you here on the blog…so here it goes:
This was in Cologne supporting Lifehouse…just a few people at this one :)
You can imagine my surprise when opening for Lifehouse in Hamburg I was greeted by this poster in the front row with the lyrics to my single Falling For You…what a feeling
200 people a show turned up for my first headlining tour in Germany over the last few weeks and we even sold out a couple of venues…
300 of you came to my unplugged concert for Hit Radio Ohr!
Being on TV was pretty cool…here we are on SWR3 Late Night
The pretty colors of Hagen…
Two days into 2011 I headed to Nashville to finish up my new album, When The Lights Go Up…here’s the new album cover :)
So while that doesn’t cover it all. It gives you guys a little taste of how lucky and fortunate I’ve been over the last few months and as always, I have nothing but my thanks to offer you for making it all possible.
Look for another update (sooner than 6 months this time I promise) soon :)
One thing I love about this blog…is that from time to time I’ll go back and read it from the beginning of this year, when I went full steam ahead and hit the road back in January, and look back at everything I’ve done and everywhere I’ve been…it’s truly been one of the best years of my life so far, I’m living my dream, and loving every minute of it.
This particular chapter saw me go back to school for the second time this year…it’s been a lot different from my back2school tour in Jan/Feb…largely in part because of the weather…which has been amazing. It’s funny how the sunshine can affect so many things. For one, a large number of my shows have been outside..which has been really fun…I’ve also noticed that people are just a lot happier in the Summer time…and lastly…way more prone to picking up a Nick Howard T-Shirt as a result :)
I’ve hit 7 colleges over the last week, all of which have been fantastic…I’m blogging right now from the last stop of the week, Bucknell University where my poster (below) can be found right next to Ke$ha, who is playing here in a couple of weeks…not bad company.
As I was saying before…a lot of these shows have been outside…which can often offer a pretty cool view in some cases…as you can see below with a pre show pic I snapped at the University of Toledo in Ohio:
Everything looks nicer during the Summer…some of the scenery between these towns has been lovely…
One difference this on this College tour compared to my Winter run is that I’ve co-billed a few shows with some other great artists…check out two of them here, Ry Cumming and Anthony Snape…both from Australia and like me, making their way in the US of A
This was the scene last night at Cal U, during one of the warm ups show..(don’t worry, more people were there later :)
From tonight’s show at Bucknell it’s back to NYC for some local shows then it’s off to Germany with LIFEHOUSE, needless to say I’m a bit excited for that :)
The Nick Howard & Rachel P Infinite Playlist Tour sadly came to a close this week with a sold out show at Joe’s Pub in New York…it was an amazing way to end such a wonderful tour and both Rachel and I are so grateful to everyone who came out to show us such support while we were on the road and all the wonderful people we met along the way.
Since we last spoke, we hit the wonderful towns of Milwaukee and Chicago before heading back to New York for Wednesday’s closer. Chicago was hosting the Taste of Chicago while we were in town so being lovers of all things food related, we felt duly obliged to get stuck in:
On a full stomach it was time to hit the stage at the Elbo room and give the amazing crowd a taste of music…
Chicago, for those of you who don’t know and haven’t been, is one of the most beautiful cities in the US…as evident here (ps. I did not take this picture)
From Chicago it was up to Milwaukee where I was lucky enough to be opening for the Counting Crows at this years Summerfest…it was wild and there were rather a lot of people:
And man was it fun to play:
After driving back from Milwaukee to New York it was sadly time to draw the tour to a close with a show at Joe’s Pub which was so much fun. It was the first time in my career that I arrived at the venue to find a line outside of people waiting to get in to my own show:
Another first would be selling out my own show:
Not a first however was rocking out and loving every minute of it:
What a night…
And if ALL of that wasn’t enough I had the pleasure yesterday of opening for Rusted Root at the Alive @ Five Festival in Stamford CT which was a ton of fun…their fans were awesome, just there for a good time…I hope we helped deliver :)
So once again thank you to everyone who supported us on this tour, you guys were amazing, we had the best time and couldn’t have done it without you.
Lastly thank you to my touring buddy Rachel P, we had a damn good time and it was fantastic to be inspired by her performances every night…the future is bright for this young lady :)
Where did I leave you guys? Somewhere in Connecticut I believe right? Well now I’m in a cool little coffee shop in Pittsburgh where I thought I’d take a moment to keep you abreast of the tour and give you some insight into the last few days. This is where I am right now:
This = Blogging
Now let’s cast our minds back to Sunday, a dark day for England as our rather aging Football team were thrashed by a rather spritely looking Germany. This wasn’t exactly how I had envisaged my only day off on this tour so I’d like to thank the English national team for ruining my Sunday..better luck in 4 years chaps…
So, that just meant we had to try extra hard to make our show in Washington DC (well, Virginia really but to those with less knowledge of the region, DC works just fine) extra special…
Little did we know it would be THAT special. So many people came out to show us some Jammin’ Java love and we were bowled over by the support. Along with Rachel and I, our buddy Mikey Wax joined us for the last time on this tour and amazed us again with his songwriting and uncanny ability to play the guitar and piano at the same time…Jammin’ Java is one of the coolest venues we’ve hit on this tour…I’d strongly suggest you hit it up if you’re in that part of the world…great music 7 nights a week.
Jammin’ @ Jammin’ Java (thanks to our wonderful drummer Craig for taking vintage looking shots for us all week).
From the nations capital it was onwards to Pittsburgh where we are right now (before heading to Columbus shortly) and a drive through beautiful Pennsylvania and Maryland…don’t believe me?…
Well you do now…
Last night’s show in Pittsburgh was a blast and thank you to everyone who came out for us. I like to do a little deep meditation before shows these days in this fashion:
Nick Howard - The Meditation Sessions
Now lastly I want you to see how rock and roll this tour gets…yesterday morning I woke up with the biggest girl laying on top of me…staring right into my eyes. I’ve always had a thing for blondes, so you can imagine how happy I was when I woke up to this lovely lady.
This = As Rock and Roll as you can get
Well friends I won’t lie, it’s been a bit too long since we last spoke, and for this I am deeply sorry. However, I have great news…what is this news? Well, the news is that I am back on tour and this means that I can provide you with funny anecdotes from world of the ‘road’ and keep you up to date about life as a rock star.
So, right now I’m ‘blogging’ after a great show in Northampton, MA, our third show on this tour which means that I owe you a quick run down of the shows so far doesn’t it. Our first stop on this tour (and by ‘our’ I am referring to singer/songwriter supremess Rachel P) was in Portland, ME, on Tuesday. Now, for those of you who are unfamiliar with Portland I strongly suggest you go for a visit because not only is it a lovely little town with bad ass little streets and a groovy coastal vibe but the people are among the friendliest I’ve encountered in this great land of America. Rachel and I take a little time before each show walking the streets and talking to strangers to get a feel for the town and everyone wanted to stop and chat for a while…pretty cool. Here is what you’re missing by the way:
Told you…pretty damn nice little streets aren’t they?
So, onto Wednesday and Boston. If you haven’t been to Boston then you’re missing out on yet another of Americas best cities. Why? Well, anywhere you can find an England Supporters bar to watch the England vs Slovenia game while simultaneously watching the USA vs Algeria game all at once is okay by me. Note to self, screaming at 10am is not a good idea when you have a show that night…I ended up sounding like Rod Stewart.
So later that day we were invited on the radio with our good friend DJ Jelo…I know we had some listeners from as far as Europe and South America so thank you all so much for tuning in (can you still say tuning in? Who cares I said it anyway)…this is what was happening on the other end of the ‘wire’ (I don’t know if you can call it ‘wire’ anymore either)
Rachel P | Nick Howard | DJ Jelo = Dream Team
We played at Cafe 939 which despite it’s name is not actually a Cafe, instead, it’s the coolest venue in Boston and is run by the nicest bunch of people who always make you feel welcome and put on a great show for you…I did my part and sung my little heart out…like this:
This = Me singing my heart out
Also while in Boston we encountered what I believe is the cutest dog in the world…we even got him to pose with one of our flyers:
I don’t even know if it’s a dog…it could be it’s own breed of amazingness…I guess we’ll never know.
And lastly onto tonight’s show in Northampton which was a blast…Northampton happens to randomly be a little home away from home for me and nothing beats playing for some friends and family…even if the only pic I can give you is a little blurry:
One thing I’d like you to note here is the most amazing venue logo in history…how very retro is that sign? I know…I was amazed too.
So kids..as I bid you a good night and sweet dreams I feel the need to thank you for supporting me and coming to these shows. Without you in the seats the show doesn’t happen and I never forget how lucky I am to have such amazing people in my life.
Coming to a town near you soon, this is Nick Howard saying night, night.
Hi friends!
My US tour for Spring has sadly come to an end but many exciting things are on the horizon…next week I’ll be out in LA working on some new tracks that I’m planning on releasing in the coming months, some of you have heard a couple of the songs live already and I can’t wait for you to hear the studio versions once they are finished! Keep an eye out on my blog, facebook, twitter and myspace for photos and videos from the studio…
Then in June its out to LA again for shows in LA and San Diego, including an appearance at the Apple store in San Diego which I’m really excited about. Later in June I’m hitting the road with my buddy Rachel Platten as we hit up about 10 cities on the east coast in throughout the midwest. On July 3rd I’m opening for The Counting Crows at Summerfest in Milwaukee, one of my biggest musical influences, I can’t quite believe I’m getting the opportunity to share the stage with them! On July 8th I’m opening for Rusted Root in Stamford CT so all in all it’s shaping up to be a pretty groovy Summer :)
Stay tuned for studio pics and videos and thanks for all your words of encouragement and notes of support, I couldn’t do any of this without YOU!
Nick
Dearest friends and readers…while my blog postings may not have been as frequent as they were during my European escapades this past March, that is not to say that I have not been having a great deal of fun.
Let’s see, since we last spoke I have travelled to several new states here in the US, played in front of some amazing people, played with some other great bands…and finally got to rock out with my own band back here in NYC last week after nearly 3 months of solo shows…I was ready to rock:
And rock we did…as fun as playing shows as a one man band has been…there is nothing that compares to playing with amazing musicians and your friends…I am so fortunate to be able to have some of the best musicians in New York in my band…hopefully you’ll get to see a show with them all soon.
A couple of other highlights of this past few weeks include:
- Playing for the Make a Wish Foundation in New Hampshire
- Playing for some awesome American service men and women in Fayettville, NC
- Being the recipient of the MOST AMAZING GIFT FROM MY FANS I COULD EVER HAVE ASKED FOR
- Getting this cake:
Two other big pieces of news to share with you?
1 - I am so excited to let you know that in a couple of weeks I’ll be LA bound to record some new songs with one of my favorite producers and the man behind the wheels of some pretty amazing projects (including Natasha Bedingfield and Matt Nathanson)…I’ll be releasing these songs to the world shortly after and relying on your help in spreading them to as many ears as humanly possible :)
2 - In June, I’m going to be going on tour with my buddy Rachel Platten. We’re going to be tearing up the East Coast and Mid West, starting in Maine and ending up in Wisconsin where I’ll be playing at Summerfest for the second time, the World’s Largest Music Festival!
I’ll be posting those dates soon and will be blogging daily from the Studio in LA giving you some juicy inside pics and stories from life behind the glass.
Speak soon!
Friends…I’ve missed updating you on my whereabouts…I am very happy to be blogging again with reports of my recent adventures. Let’s see, last time I spoke to you I had just finished my tour with Boyce Avenue which I’m still reminiscing about…what an experience…and now, I’m back in the US of A playing all over the place and continuing to bring my music to as many people as I can.
Since I’ve been back I’ve had shows in Pittsburgh, Rochester, Albany, Boston, New York and Philadelphia…and plenty more to come…some highlights have been playing on 100.5 The Drive in Rochester where I also played in-store performance at one of the coolest (and friendliest) record stores I’ve ever played…Record Archive.
Another highlight was playing at World Cafe Live in Philly for the first time with Shwa Lobsen and David Garza, two awesome Singer/Songwriters you should check out.
All in all it’s been great fun to continue where I left off and thank you to everyone who’s made it out to a show so far…can’t wait to see more of you at the upcoming shows.
Speak soon!
…must sadly come to an end…but man did they come to an end in some style…the last few days of this tour have been in a word - ‘magical’ and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t sad it’s over…but I have so many amazing memories to take home with me and have gained some of the most amazing fans I’ve ever encountered before…for this I am very grateful.
Our show in Portsmouth last Wednesday was a fun one. I had some local support in the house as my home town of Brighton isn’t too far away (one of whom included my mum who very much enjoyed the glitz and glamour of her son having his own dressing room :) The crowd in Portsmouth were flattering and kind as most have been on this tour and I can’t wait to go back…
Now onto our final show in London on Friday night…not only was it such fun to play in my adopted home town (where I also had lots of friends and family in the audience) but little did I know that it would turn out to be one of the most flattering nights of my life…here’s me doing what I do oblivious to what was about to happen…
Quite dark and mysterious right? Well it was marginally lighter in the actual venue but there was a reason that the lights were a little lower than our other shows. As I got into the second verse of my final song of the show and indeed the whole tour (my cover of Use Somebody by Kings of Leon) I was completely confused when I heard the sound of bass and drums flooding the stage. After about 10 seconds of absolute confusion I turned around and saw Fabian, Alejandro, Daniel and drummer Jason Burrows all around me, instruments in hand, playing along with me and getting the crowd going absolutely INSANE…
I’m sure there will be more pics to come, but I wanted to share these with you so you could see how amazing it was…truly one of the best moments of my short career so far :)
It was the ultimate compliment to cap off what has been an amazing experience and one that I’ll never forget. I’ll always remember the amazing and incredible fans who have embraced me each night in all the countries we’ve been to across Europe and I’ll be forever grateful to Boyce Avenue for giving me the opportunity to open up for them each night. It’s been a dream.
Before I move onto the next leg of my never ending tour in the US next week I want to thank every last one of you who came to the shows, every one of you who sang along to my songs, every one of you who bought my cd’s, t-shirts and asked me for my autograph and every one of you who I hope will come and see my shows next time I’m back in Europe which I hope won’t be too long at all.
You have made my dreams come true and I can’t wait to come back :)
Like so many places we’ve been on this trip, the beautiful shores of Ireland were another first for me. I can’t quite believe I’d never set foot in the Emerald Isle until Sunday, where Belfast awaited our crazy train and gave us quite a night to remember and a great welcome into the land of green.
Photo courtesy of Dougal Johnston
Belfast is a really nice city, I’m bummed that I didn’t get to spend more time but that’s one of the few pitfalls of touring…you get excited to see these amazing cities, but sadly you don’t really have much time to experience them…still, the optimist in me just see’s that as reason to return for a holiday :)
Monday night we headed down to Dublin (another city I’ve always wanted to go to but again didn’t get a chance to see much of) and played at what might be my favorite venue from the whole tour, the Academy. This show was special to me for a number of reasons, perhaps largely in part due to the fact that so many people in the audience were already fans of my music and as a support act on what is really my first full European tour, I was really quite flattered (as you can see here by my obvious happiness :)
Delight soon turned to craziness during the Loudest Fans Competition part of my show though, check it out…these Dubliners know how to scream, that’s for sure…
Dublin was definately one of the best shows we’ve had on this tour…here’s a peek at how crazy the fans went for Boyce Avenue…
Before we move on I’d be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to mention and thank my UK/Ireland Street Team for their amazing support…they really are a massive part of why these shows have been so awesome in the UK and Ireland…much the same as how my French and German teams made the shows in Europe so wonderful…I am truly truly fortunate to have the support of these amazing people and I can’t thank them enough.
So today I got up at 6am and started my long journey to Oxford where we played this evening…a 3 hour ferry and 4 hour drive later and I arrived in the countries joint most intelligent city for a show that took me completely by surprise…the venue was packed as always and the crowd couldn’t have been more friendly towards me and my little shindig on stage. Thank you Oxford for making me feel so welcome and thank you to all of you who took my music home with you tonight. Here is a video of you guys doing what you do best and last but not least, I’ll leave you with an artistic shot of the stage about 5 minutes before it was full of you all…
It really has been a mind blowing past few days…see you in Portsmouth