Monday 14th August 2017: Gig at SINK (Blueberry Bar, Shoreditch)
We had a lovely morning / afternoon of good eats and coffee before the final ever Sacre Noir showcase in London.
We went to our favourite place to eat (222 Veggie Vegan) on the North End Road for a buffet lunch of salad and curries then onto Brownie Box on Old Brompton Road for amazing Brownies / Blondies before waddling back to the hotel to collect our musical stuff for tonight’s show. Kensington really is a great area for us and we are making the most of our time here in West London.
We’ve played at Plugged In Switched On nights before but not for a few years so we were looking forward to catching up with the promoter Iain and seeing the talent.
As always with open mic events it was a mixed bag of artists who took to the stage, from a young singer-songwriter who was clearly very nervous to a superb duo who had just flown in from Canada for a few weeks playing shows in the UK (Jo Jo & The Woods).
The featured act were called State Wild, an indie rock outfit from London, who managed to break the snare stand halfway through their set and were unable to continue… we were up next.
We played a short set of tracks with guitar / vocal / loops then chatted with some of the other acts and audience members before heading back to the hotel for the evening.
It almost seemed sad that this was the last showcase in London and that The Dublin Castle was our last “proper gig” in this city that we have grown so fond of – we’ll have to make plans to return on holiday at some point soon (if not with a new musical project).
Tuesday 15th August 2017: Last full day in London
For our final full day in the city, we revisited some of our favourite spots discovered on previous tours.
Coffee at Bar Italia, which was superb as always then lunch at the Wild Food Café where the menu had changed and the food was not as “amazing” as remembered; the little café seemed to have gone a bit ‘corporate’ and the waiting staff were not on particularly good form but the setting was great and the ethos of having a ‘fresh plant based menu’ is still a plus.
Hanging out in London is one of life’s great joys; you can’t buy the atmosphere and individuality that comes from every nook & cranny of this ancient and wonderful city.
Wednesday 16th August 2017: Time to go back to Scotland
One last breakfast at the hotel before making our way to Kings Cross in time to catch the 11:30am train home to Edinburgh.
I feel like I’m ready for some home comforts after 5 nights in one of the smallest hotel rooms we’ve ever stayed in.
Boarding with no delays, we found ourselves sitting at the same table as a lovely couple who were also going all the way to Edinburgh; I always think this is good on long journeys as it means we can all get settled and relax for the duration.
Keeping up to date with social media accounts and email inboxes whilst on tour is difficult; we are always too busy ‘doing’ and never find enough time to reflect / document events as we’re going along. Having this blog will be a wonderful reminder in years to come of the adventures we’ve had during the life of Sacre Noir… it’s always good to reflect and remember the good time & there have certainly been plenty of those.
NEXT UP:
Sacre Noir @ The Edinburgh Fringe Festival (SIPS pop up bar)
Saturday 19th & 26th August 2017
sacrenoir 