{"id":1670,"date":"2019-02-21T14:30:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T14:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1670"},"modified":"2019-02-21T22:53:22","modified_gmt":"2019-02-21T22:53:22","slug":"the-last-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1670","title":{"rendered":"The Last Tour"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The tour that I\u2019m about to embark upon will be my last tour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Planning life at this stage isn\u2019t that easy, because while I feel quite fit and healthy right now, I might not be in a year\u2019s time. This isn\u2019t morbid. Not in the least. By choosing to tour at this time, I\u2019m ensuring that I can present myself to you on good form. In this way, it\u2019s an insurance policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I could stick my head in the sand and pretend to be Peter Pan, but I have to own up; I\u2019m perhaps slightly beyond middle age\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t actually want to retire. I would hope that there are many years ahead in which I\u2019ll be able to contribute. Actually, I would hope that I\u2019m fit enough to be able to do a farewell gig on my eightieth birthday, but I might not be, so this Last Tour is by way of that insurance policy, in that, if for some reason I\u2019m not able to do that, then now\u2019s the time to put your bum on a seat near you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The age of 80 perhaps isn\u2019t that old any more, but there are not many 80 year olds who would be able to perform as athletically in the voice as I may still be able to in another couple of years. I will hope to have a new album by then in any case. Farewell gig or not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I was to live another ten years, which is extremely doubtful, I\u2019d still be writing poetry, but I don\u2019t think that I\u2019d be able to maintain any sort of viable gig-fitness. Again, this isn\u2019t morbid, it\u2019s just fact. I have to laugh\u2026 the medical profession gave me maximum 7 years to live when I was 31. That was 47 years ago!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, I have included three new songs in the set for THE LAST TOUR. They\u2019re one of the reasons I want to tour. I\u2019d like to make sure that they are played in public at least once. It\u2019ll be great to play them for you. They\u2019re all strong songs, and the next album looks to be heading into a particularly good place. I intend to finish writing this album in the year ahead. I\u2019ll record it as soon as I can\u2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The set list will contain some old favourites, but will also contain a couple of surprises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m going to be traveling a string and brass section with lead guitar, bass and drums this time. The music will be totally supported by acoustic instruments, from solo acoustic guitar with violin to total ensemble all in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, the lyric and its sentiment will take prominence, while its musical bouquet has been written to enhance the mood. I really enjoy the musical place that the songs have now inherited. I wish that I\u2019d been able to do this sooner, but better late than never.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ensemble will be led by Fiona Brice, who has very ably taken stewardship of my orchestral vision since the sad departure of David Bedford. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, I\u2019ll hope to see many friends on the tour, and doubtless I\u2019ll be offering many of you some advice from the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for being there,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

roy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More information on the tour dates here: http:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/live.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The tour that I\u2019m about to embark upon will be my last tour. Planning life at this stage isn\u2019t that easy, because while I feel quite fit and healthy right now, I might not be in a year\u2019s time. This isn\u2019t morbid. Not in the least. By choosing to tour at this time, I\u2019m ensuring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5144,"featured_media":626,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6,5,4],"class_list":["post-1670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-live","tag-roy-harper","tag-roy-harper-tour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1670"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1689,"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1670\/revisions\/1689"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.royharper.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}