Can you help?
Do online numbers mean anything in the real world? Auntie Flo tours the UK next week with full live band - join us!
Auntie Flo Full Band UK Tour: TICKETS
I’m equal parts nervous and excited - I’ve formed a band and going on a proper tour for the first time since 2018: NEXT WEEK!!. There are five of us travelling, I’ve hired a 6-seater car and we’re going to have some fun.
My main question: is it possible to mobilise the 2500+ readers on this Substack, my 13.5k followers on Instagram, 20k on Facebook, 6.3k on Bandcamp (most of whom have purchased a record of mine), and the 21k followers and 51k monthly listeners on Spotify into anything that resembles a real life audience who want to come and check out the live show?
I say these numbers not as a brag but as a genuine question - what is real anymore? You read stories of TikTok/Spotify-famous artists with numbers vastly greater than mine performing to empty stadiums and arenas, as their huge online streaming numbers struggle to translate into tickets sold in the real world.
So much of the music world is now totally siloed.
I’m therefore all too aware that a stream, like, or passive listen, doesn’t make an active fan.
My second question is: can you help?
I would dearly love to make these shows a success and would be delighted to welcome you to attend. If you are in the vicinity of Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Edinburgh or know anyone who is - please join us. London at Ronnie’s is sold out but there will be tickets on the door.
What I can promise you: the rehearsals have been sounding incredible. After two killer headline live gigs at London’s Jazz Cafe and Magnetic Fields Nomads Festival in India in the past few months, I guarantee that the band is the best way to experience ‘Auntie Flo’.
In the past two years, I’ve experimented with solo live, a duo, an Audio Visual set, and a DJ+FX hybrid playing only my own productions but realistically, the full band is the ultimate way of performing ‘live’.
Although that means maximal effort, much greater expense and logistical challenges for me, it also means a much better show for you, with an array of talented musicians playing real instruments, bringing maximum energy and virtuoso musicianship.
In the age of AI, pre-recorded DJ sets, electronic/live hybrids where a musician can hide behind technology, we’re taking a risk. Will it all be plain sailing?
Perhaps not: but surely that’s the point - it will be raw and it will be joyous.
Why be nervous? With the independent live music scene increasingly under threat, and smaller venues shutting down, I hope people come out to support. Playing in London or Scotland I can safely rely on bringing a good crew of friends to come out, but my contacts are a bit more sparse in Bristol, Leeds and Manchester.
We’ve got so much new music to play and very excited to share news of it in months to come. We’ll be road testing some of these tracks as well as giving fresh voice to some recent favourites and older ones too.
Less samples, more live vocals: Moncaya has been working closely on her vocal reinterpretations of some of my older songs and I’m excited to be working with Cyrus and Ziggy again, who have now got super tight with the material. Bringing the amazingly talented Tim Doyle aka Chiminyo will bring a load of energy too.
Come down early to check Moncaya on support duties too, with her beautiful solo show.
Havana Sessions - special tour vinyl
As a special thank you, I’ll also be doing a brand new pressing of some music I made in Havana, Cuba, made over ten years ago. Tracks like Mother Theresa, which has close to 2 million Spotify plays but has never been pressed onto vinyl will now make itself onto wax for the first time. I’ve done a fresh version of Havana Rhythm Dance feat Andrew Ashong, called Havana City. And a new latin interpretation of Die Bailando featuring Eric Alejandro aka Grammy-nominated Cimafunk.
So if you are one of the many people who come up to me and tell me how much that track means to you, look out for the vinyl pressed specially for these shows. More new on this release soon!
30th April - Leeds, Howard Assembly Rooms
w/ Moncaya
1st May - Bristol, Strange Brew
w/ Moncaya
2nd May - Manchester, Band On The Wall
w/ Bom Nation, Cervo (Banana Hill)
w/ Moncaya, Eclair Fifi, Lord of the Isles, Box Energy
16th May - London, Ronnie Scott’s Late Show SOLD OUT (but with some tickets on the door)
Tickets bought for Manchester, my wife and I will be there, very excited after being disappointed at not being able to make it to the previous live gig in London.