Hey everyone,

This is James Blunt. I'm on tour at the moment in the U.S and I'm getting the ball rolling on the recording of my second album. I'll be using this page for regular updates on touring activity and recording/

Sorry you haven't heard from me in such a long time but I've been up to lot. Check out below for all the great stuff I've been up to.

James
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CLEVELAND - OCT 18th

An early start for some morning radio shows gave a rather surreal quality to the day, as I was still drunk. Zoo radio was never a more appropriate phrase. When we were here earlier in the year I struggled with my voice. This time it was a pleasure to be able to hit all the notes and perform in front of a very receptive crowd. A quiet night was had by the band, as we retired to the bus to watch a movie and eat some Chinese food. How romantic. Tomorrow is a big soccer day.

LOUISVILLE - OCT 17th

A very wet day off yesterday was brightened by a trip to the cinema to see the Science of Sleep, the new film by Michel Gondry. Visually stimulating, it failed to keep one of our party awake as its rich dreamlike quality sent him straight to sleep. The Palace Theatre has a stunning interior of old southern artistry that was a sight to behold. The crowd were very enthusiastic and the auction raised a total of $12,800 from two very generous couples who could not be separated in the auction as time ran out.

LOUISVILLE - OCT 16th 2006

We are back on the road. This is the last leg of the Back to Bedlam World tour 2006. Since I have written last we finished up in Europe; the band and I went to the World cup Final (which was actually the first ever football match I'd ever been to. You might as well start with the best); and I've been away writing a few songs. I flew to New York for a night in August to go to the MTV VMA's. Can I thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for the voting that you put in. I had asked Billy to vote for me, but he said no, so I'm very glad you did. Thank you. I had never expected to ever be at such an award ceremony, let alone win a Moon Man. It was a great surprise.I've been happily writing away and now that we are back on the road, I've slipped in a couple of new songs for you to hear. I really like them, and they're fun for us to play as a band. The welcome back we had here in North America has been amazing. The audiences in Canada really got behind us. The larger venues there still seemed like intimate rooms. As some of you will have seen, we've got a whole new production going on which I feel ties in with the songs. It's a big old show now. As a band, our favorite bit is during "Wise Men" when a small pencil camera projects an image of Ben, our guitarist, onto the screen behind. It's supposed to be of his guitar during the solo, but if he stands just a little too close, you just get a huge shot of his crotch on the screen. For those of you who are wondering, it's a cucumber wrapped in tinfoil that's down his trousers.We've had a great reception in new and old cities and it's been great to catch up with some names from the board. Of course a highlight has to be the 2 nights at Radio City. Having been there at the VMA's a month before, I knew the layout of the venue and was glad to have the steps fromt the stage to the first mezzanine so I could run around around and threaten the audience with the gong-bonger. It was a great Axl Rose moment.The Charity Auction is going really well and I am amazed at how generous some people are. In about 10 shows so far, we have already raised over $30,000 for Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders). There are still another 30-odd shows to go! The money raised is going to be used by MSF to help in the Central African Republic (Darfur), where it will be invaluable, so once again, thank you so much for being part of this. Today, we are also announcing an extra date in Los Angeles. It will be at the House of Blues, and all the profits will go to MSF.While we're talking about world issues... please check out the movie An Inconvenient Truth if you haven't already. It's even more important than a celebrities' choice of clothing to an award ceremony. Only joking... Nothing's THAT important!!! Anyway, it's a really good film that is more relevant than ever right now.For those of you who are coming to the remaining gigs this tour, I look forward to seeing you there, and please be gentle with Billy in Vegas!


ATLANTA - OCT 15th

The sun has stayed with us though it gets cold at night. A peaceful Sunday in the south was marked by a really fun show to a very warm crowd. It’s so nice to see audiences enjoying Starsailor who many don't know about, but just appreciating a good band playing a good set. Our reception was very inspiring and was followed by a visit to a country music club run by friends of Karl which made a nice change. I’ve always enjoyed our trips to Atlanta, and this time was another to remember.

CHARLOTTE - OCT 14th

A healthy 400 mile drive south meant getting up and staggering into some very pleasant sunshine as we exited the bus. As the last few days caught up with everyone we had a very mellow Saturday catching up with the UK soccer news and other domestic tittle tattle. The show was well received but to be honest not the best we’ve ever played. The crowd were enthusiastic and for a State we had never visited before, we were looked after very well.

COLUMBIA - FRIDAY 13th

Woke up in the beautiful surrounds of Maryland for the last outdoor event of the year at the Merriweather Pavilion which is a large theatre style seating area and a huge lawn behind. It’s a great setting, but the cold was staggering. I had been warned before we went on stage that many people had bought duvets and blankets and as we started the show it was around 11- 12 Celsius so our breath was hanging in the air. The audience responded by getting up and dancing around to stay warm and although it got colder and colder and harder to play our strangled instruments, we enjoyed it. The cold may have fused a little of my brain as I ended up making several outrageously lewd statements. It happens. We raised a new record of $8,600 for the auction this evening and that left everyone with a warm glow.

NEW YORK - OCT 12th

A day off and a private party to celebrate a close friends birthday!

NEW YORK - OCT 11th

More work to do in the morning and then a trip to one of my biggest supporters in New York - the folks at Z100 Radio in New Jersey. I have been in several times and they have a sensational view across the Hudson River to Manhattan. On September 11th, they were live on air as the planes hit the World Trade Centre and bore remarkable witness as those tragic events unfolded in front of their studio window. Back for a sound check and some filming with Access Hollywood who came to do a feature on the tour and then a chat with Victoria Newton from Britain’s The Sun newspaper. The second show was possibly even more fun than the first and was a great pleasure again. As we left Radio City in a torrent of rain, we headed for an aftershow party at a club called Bed on 27th street. It was full of beds. The night finished somewhat later than yesterday…

NEW YORK - OCT 10th

A full day of promotional activity before the sound check, New York is always a hectic place to visit, work-wise, but invariably good fun as we all have friends here. Radio City Music Hall is a magnificent venue and all the crew work extra hard to get the show in. It takes up an entire city block between 50th and 51st street and almost spans from 6th to 5th avenue. A tour of the stage hydraulics under the stage that were installed many years ago is amazing. The New York Fire Safety Officer didn’t clear all of our set so we had to buy in new carpeting for the stage and use a curtain from the dressing room as part of the set. It was a great first gig in New York, though. We really enjoyed ourselves and were humbled by the great crowd reaction. Afterwards, we met up with lots of people over from the UK and our good New York friends at Atlantic records as well as the many ex-pats we know in New York. In an amazing act of group responsibility, the night ended for everyone at 2am so we would still be fresh for the next day. Someone sold pictures of me dancing in a nightclub for a few quid.

WALLINGFORD - OCT 9th

Up with the lark for the Regis and Kelly show and a special early morning version of Goodbye My Lover that got cut off on the East coast by a presidential announcement on North Korea. Then a ride up to Wallingford in the beautiful Connecticut countryside to the Chevrolet Theatre where we enjoyed a beautiful autumn day. Despite a large number of cars in the foyer to distract people the auction went to two lovely ladies from the message board for $2850. We left swiftly after the show for New York City and our favoured hotel and managed to catch last orders at the bar next door.

PROVIDENCE - OCT 7th

We are at the wonderfully named Dunkin’ Donuts Arena, home to the local basketball team. The day started with one of the most important tasks to date: manoeuvring the bus to make sure the satellite would get reception for us to watch the Euro 2008 football qualifiers. It was a great day for Brian and Mark, our Scottish crewmembers. Not so much fun for the rest of us, as England once more flattered to deceive. The show was good though, with the band finally feeling that everything was gelling and they were all back in the groove after our summer break. The auction raised $1,400 from two local physicians who support the charity, and to finish the night off, we popped out to a local microbrewery after the show for a few tasty home brewed pints before setting off on the bus again.

CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY OCT 6TH

We hit a recurring problem with travel in North America.Despite having confirmed seats on the flight to Philadelphia, we were told it was overbooked and we may not travel on the flight we needed to catch to make soundcheck. Eventually, the Tour Manager bargained our way onto the flight, but it left a sour taste over the bizarre ticketing practices of major airlines. We have the same problem back home sometimes, but I’ve only experienced it here. Has anyone tried to sue? “They’re selling you a place on the flight that doesn’t actually exist”, said Mike, the soundman. After a 2-hour delay, we eventually made it to New Jersey. The pouring rain did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm of the crowd, who were great. Karl, my drummer, decided to start the set before the intro track, Ghost Town, had even begun, which caused much amusement to the rest of the band and crew, and great embarrassment to himself. We regrouped and began at the right moment and the audience didn't seem to put out by the bizarre start. Several other Spinal Tap moments followed, the best being when i kicked over bens pedal board and pulled the lead out of his guitar as he started his solo in So Long Jimmy. He swears it was his best solo of all time. No one else in the world heard it.The auction rasied $2,000 dollars and was won by two of the US boardies. We had hot wings and beer on the bus and set off…

TORONTO OCT 5TH

TELEVISION-TASTIC An extremely busy day of promotion starting with a Canada AM performance and finishing 12 hours later with a 9 song duo show live at the Rehearsal Rooms for Bravo TV. Somewhere in between the two were 24 interviews. It was fun for me and Beardy to get back to an intimate duo setting after the three arena shows. Earlier in the day, I was special guest on MOD for Much Music where a pumpkin pie tasting ended up in a whipped cream incident with the female host. She was keen to push the boundaries of early evening television. A similar experience on MTV that day drew me to the conclusion that the Canadians are great fun but mad.

TORONTO OCTOBER 3RD

The Air Canada Centre, home of the Maple Leafs and a very impressive arena like Montreal. We are expecting over 11000 fans tonight. After some TV interviews in the afternoon we got down to a long soundcheck where everything is starting to gel and feel right. This was followed by a signing session in a new Best Buy store. A very efficient local team managed to get more than 250 people past me in under an hour for a handshake autograph and photo. Its amazing the different numbers of ways people spell the same name, proving it’s always worth checking. A couple of our old skool Canadian fans from the message board took the time to stop by and say hello. It’s always good to see the familiar faces.The show was great fun and the whole band voted it the best of the three for us. The response to new songs like Annie and 1973 has been great and the Toronto crowd, like all the Canadian audiences were very responsive. It's a day off tomorrow so after the formalities were over and the auction winners were taken care of ($1400CDN raised) we partied at the Century Lounge and what I remember of it was fun.

OTTAWA OCTOBER 2ND

Another ice hockey arena but a bit smaller than Montreal, its home to the Senators apparently and it’s out on a highway in a very isolated locale. Second nights are traditionally where things can go wrong as the pressure from the first night is off, but this show was good fun and all went smoothly.The auction for MSF went for a very generous $2,600CDN and that's really encouraging. A lively after-party with some old friends of the band involved a jar of honey being put to a more imaginative use than the hot lemon drinks it usually goes in. It’s getting cold and late at night as we leave for Toronto.

MONTREAL OCTOBER 1ST

We had a rude awakening at the Canadian border, where all 23 of our touring party had to undergo an interview with the immigration staff at 7am, having got to bed at between 4 and 5am. This delayed our arrival into Montreal so the day became even more hectic than usual for the crew. Immigration always pull over the tour buses because they want autographs, and smiling for border-guard pictures is not so easy that early. First nights of tours are always adrenaline fuelled affairs for the team. Tonight we were launching a whole new show and stage set design to a sold out 13,000 capacity ice hockey arena the Bell Center. The stage was like a big new toy which no one knew for sure if it worked or not. We were also debuting two brand new songs, Annie and 1973 being played live by the band for the first time as well as a new cover version of Breakfast in America, the old Supertramp tune. The set is a complex affair of drapes and curtains that fly in and out leaving the end look of a 60 foot wide curved screen for the final video footage. The touring staff pulled it all together amazingly well for the first night. The band were all keyed up to go and play the new songs on the stage and although there were some usual first night glitches, mainly from me, we had a storming show and an amazing friendly response from the Montreal crowd. An impromptu party followed. It’s best to over-indulge early on in the tour. The charity auction was won by two charming girls, who had seen both previous shows in Montreal. They made a generous donation to Medecins Sans Frontieres of $850 CDN.

BOSTON SEPTEMBER 30TH

Playing at a radio station party the Mix Fest in Boston, we were part of a line up featuring an old friend, KT Tunstall, and amazingly, Meatloaf, who was a late replacement for an act that had dropped out. Everyone plays a short set at these things, so the crowd got 40 minutes of almost all of Back to Bedlam and a cover of Where is My Mind (The Pixies hail from Boston). So I played about 10 songs in 40 minutes. Meatloaf played 3 songs in 40 mins… We had to leave swiftly after coming off stage to drive to Montreal for the first proper show of the tour

NEW YORK SEPTEMBER 29TH

I dropped in from London to MTV in New York to appear on TRL to premiere the Goodbye My Lover video to America. Having been away from the business for a couple of months, it was fun to be welcomed back in so warmly. I have a tan, a new jacket, and I’m ready to kick off the Fall Tour… We exited past the herd of photographers and took the train to Boston.



Phew!

I hope that wasn't too much for you guys. I've been really busy recently. So keep tuned to the blog page for all my latest news.

In the meantime, here's from photos from the tour...

James.

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