Homecoming Live Time!

Like I said, I have now figured out how to blog from my phone, which makes it a lot easier to keep everything up to date. But in order to keep you up to date, I have to bring you up to date. A lot has happened that I haven't had the time to put up, and I thought I'd share some pictures from the concerts I had in Norway in June.

I was asked to give two concerts in my home town of Jevnaker in Norway on June 3rd and June 5th, as part of a local music festival. I invited my friends Dan and Becky along from the UK, to do piano, guitar and backing vocals on my songs as well as to play some of their own songs. We had a blast! I loved having them with me, showing them around and sharing this whole thing with them.

The weather was on our side all week, and we had some lovely
picnics in the grass in my home town. (Picture from a local newspaper)

Getting ready...

We had a stressful couple of days getting ready, but that's all a part of it. The people in charge of the event were all very lovely and helpful, and made sure we had a piano to rehearse on, as well as plenty of sound-check time. 

Putting the set-list together

Getting ready

Last minute rehearsal

I am also very happy with how the gigs went and with the amount of people who came to listen to us. It was advertised both on the radio and in the local newspapers, plus of course I forced everybody I know to come give us a cheer. ;-P 

Thanks to the local media, we had a
decent crowd to play for in Jevnaker.

Thursday, June 3rd

Thursday night, we did a set of 8 of my songs and one cover (Newton Faulkner's "Ageing Superhero" *link to youtube*, such a beautiful song!), and I was happy and surprised that so many people came, saw and STAYED even though it was late on a Thursday. It was great to play live again, and to premiere a couple of my new songs. "Another Song" was one of them, and I have a video for youuu! ;) I will put some more videos up as soon as they are edited. Also, someone filmed the whole thing with sound from the desk, so hopefully I will be able to get a hold of that as well, eventually. But Things Take Time, so for now I'm happy with my own recordings.

A happy trio with the set-list after gig #1

Saturday, June 5th

Saturday was the main day of the festival, and our spot was at 2. The sun was shining like crazy, and the streets were full of people. Even though most of the people were outside in the sun rather than in the tent, where we were playing, the sound was transmitted all over the city centre and made sure we had a much larger audience than we thought. I had such a great time, and people were really nice. We even had to sign some autographs...! (Yeah, yeah, I knew the guy... But so what!) At this gig, we did 5 of my songs, the Newton Faulkner cover, and Dan and Becky each did a couple of their own songs.

Picture from a local newspaper

Becky Godlee

Daniel Drumm

All in all it was a great "homecoming". After a busy year abroad it was lovely to come home and see everyone again, and to show people what I've been up to this past year at LIPA. The new songs, the arrangements, the friends.... Speaking of new songs; I promised you a video, didn't I..? I wrote this one around October, but it has completely changed since I first wrote it. I left it for this long because it was messy and confusing, but then I sat down with Dan a couple of weeks before this show and he helped me re-arrange it. And here it is - I'm gonna leave you with this - Another Song, live in Jevnaker 03.06.2010. Hope you like!=)

Lots of love,
Audrey

Audrey Wilsen - "Another Song" live 2010

Audrey Wilsen | MySpace Music Videos

Inspiration

Seeing your biggest ever musical idol on stage for the first time is
something special. Hearing the songs you've listened to for more than
ten years coming out of the mouth of this amazing artist, seeing her
fingers play the strings of the guitar like only she can, and seeing
HER dreams come true as well, as she plays the piano with ease. She is
music, she is my inspiration.

Walking up to her and thanking her for an amazing show, ending up with
a picture, signed CDs and a lovely chat with your biggest hero(ine)
now that is something special as well. She remembered me from Myspace
(I feel like such a nerd), and we talked for quite a bit. I couldn't
help but feel like a little girl in her presence, but she was lovely.:)
To tell you a little bit about the Myspace thing...
About a hundred years ago(or at least 5), I messaged her asking if it
was possible to get a hold of an instrumental track to one of her
songs, Won't Go Near You Again. My favorite song, and I would love to
sing it live. She answered me, saying that no, there was no
instrumental track, but it wasn't at all dificult to play on guitar.
She told me that she had only played for a year when she recorded the
album, To Whom It May Concern, and this information was what gave me
the kick in the butt I needed to start working on my guitar skills, or
the lack thereof. This album has been my inspiration for as long as I
can remember, both when it comes to voice, songwriting, and guitar,
and I figured if she could get THAT good in ONE year, there was hope
for me to god dammit!! And that's when I picked up my guitar and
started writin songs on it. To this day, I am not half as good as she
was a year in, but I'm getting there.
Sadly, I didn't have a proper camera with me, but I managed to get a
somewhat dark and blurry picture with my phone. So here it is, a
picture of a starstruck Audrey with her biggest hero, Unni
Wilhelmsen. :-)

Lots of love,
Audrey

Mobile blogg

So I THINK I have figured out how to blog from my phone... We'll see
if this works!

Just wanted to check in and let you know I am having some lovely and
lazy days in York, and I have just started working on Another Song
again, hopefully I will have it recorded before I go back to Liverpool
next week for graduation. Yey!:)

Hope you are all enjoying the summer, wherever you are!

Lots of love,
Audrey