A Sneak Peak

Being that this is the popular fan community on the web, I thought I would send along a little inside info about the upcoming tour to wet some appetites.

First the bad news. I've been sick as a dog all week which has seriously hampered my ability to prepare. So cut a brother some slack!

I've spent a considerable amount of time going through countless songs and wanted to briefly touch upon the goal of performances of this nature. As some of you are aware, I did shows like these years ago, more than ten years ago in fact. In fact, there was a time when I only performed by myself. That said, there is a certain type of song that works in this setting, which makes attempting to bend certain songs to fit it a rather pointless enterprise.

Now, it's obvious that anything can be played on an acoustic, but depth and dimension have to be taken into consideration with regards to playing to an audience. Weapon, for example, can be picked and then clumsily strummed, but it does not captivate in my opinion, and the reason is because from its inception it was a very multi-dimensional piece that relied on a variety of elements to properly succeed. Interestingly, I came to the same conclusion about While We Were Hunting Rabbits just yesterday. While it begins with interest, it wanes too quickly and, ultimately, does not stand up. Again, it was a piece in which while the verses were driven acoustically, the subsequent sections were entirely dependent on an interplay between altogether different instruments. Numerous songs have fallen into this category for me over the last few weeks.

When it comes to some older material, I have spent some time re-visiting some of my favourites, such as The Fine Art Of Falling Apart, Life Beyond The Minimum Safe Distance, and Symbolistic White Walls. But I have tended to focus on those pieces that intrigue me, so I did not spend time trying to tackle Fearless or other songs from earlier periods.

There has been a great deal of interesting reinvention though, the most noticeable being Sort Of A Protest Song. But there are a few other interesting surprises in there that hopefully come off well, such as possibly Indestructible.

How will it all play out? To be honest, I've never been faced with a tour on which I'm going to fly by the seat of my pants so much. It should be filled with moments to remember, forget, and ponder for years to come.

Hopefully you enjoy it, or, at the least, leave feeling only partially ripped off. Drive and walk safely to and from the venues, ensure that you do not drink and drive, and by all means throw sexy lingerie at my while I am playing something that appears to be entirely too moody for its own good.

As I completely forgot to set something up for NF's 2nd anniversary (March 13th) -- I hope this message from MG makes up for it!