Announcement: THE BIG EUROPEAN TOUR PROJECT



Hevals, Comrades, Revolutionaries,

With my new album Songs for Rojava now finished and available, I've had a bit of time to relax during the past week or so and think about my next move. Enter the Big European Tour Project.

I want to take these songs (and others) on the road around Europe between April and September 2019, but I'm going to need a lot of help to make it happen. After putting the feelers out a couple of days ago, I now believe I have contacts in a few European countries who are willing to help arrange some gigs and bring my music about the Kurdish struggle and the Rojava revolution to their towns and cities. However, I want to make this tour as big as possible, and so if there are any other people out there who might be interested in arranging a show; read on.

Which countries do I want to visit?

All of them! I plan to travel from England in a Camper-van with a good friend and so we will be flexible when it comes to our stop-off destinations. It would be good to start the tour in England and perhaps play a show or two in Scotland, Wales, etc before crossing The Channel, but it's all up in the air at the moment, so we'll have to see how it goes. Once we cross into Europe, there are no countries we're not willing to visit if someone is willing to arrange a show. So, get in touch!

How do you help to arrange a show?

There's a few different options that tend to work well in for touring musicians in instances like this. So, how you go about arranging a show is up to you. Take a look at these ideas first though:

House concerts

House concerts are a tradition for folk singers and touring left-wing songwriters, and I'd be happy to play some of them during the trip if you have a large enough space.

Community centres performances

Community centres are excellent venues for live acoustic music because they tend to have a lot of space, you get usually get them for free, and it's easy to promote shows to other like-minded people in the area through mailing lists or message boards used by the community centre staff.

University gigs

If you're a student or there is a university in your city; it's usually quite easy to find a venue in the local area willing to let you use their space for the evening. You also have access to lots of other people with similar interests through the university, and so promoting the show is easier than it would be for others.

Benefit shows

People who work for charities, run solidarity campaigns, or organise union groups could choose to arrange a benefit show where the profits go to a worthy cause. For benefit concerts, I will drop my fee by 15% in solidarity (although anyone who organises any kind of show can profit from their efforts - more about that in a moment.)

They are just some ideas that tend to work well, so consider them before getting in touch :)

How much do I need to make?

Traveling around Europe, even in a Camper-van, is not the cheapest way to spend your time. However, I'm going to do everything possible to keep costs down at my end by not sleeping in hotels and planning the most efficient routes. I still have to pay my rent at home while I'm away, and we still have to pay for a ridiculous amount of fuel. Also, I won't be working my regular job, and so I will lose that income for the entire time we're on the road.

So, here's the deal. If you want to help out and organise a show, I need you to guarantee me £250/€280. If I can book more than two gigs each week during the tour, that fee will cover all my expenses, ensure I have somewhere to live when I get home, and guarantee at least some people in your town or city can listen to some revolutionary songs for the evening.

As an organiser, you can sell tickets to the show or charge on the door. So, if you put on a gig at a venue that can hold 50 people, you could charge £/€10 each and double your money. At the very least, you only need to sell between 25 and 28 tickets at that rate to pay my fee and ensure I can come to play. The same goes or union groups or charities and solidarity campaigns looking to arrange a fundraising evening. The only difference is that I'll drop my fee by 15% for shows of that nature to show support for your cause.

Get in touch!

If you read all that, and you would like to work towards arranging a show in any European country between April and September 2019, please email me at leebrickleyauthor@gmail.com and I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks comrades. I hope to see you all very soon!

Lee Brickley

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