My life as a touring musician started in 1977 on tour through South Africa with Cliff Richard. I am now in my 60s and have spent most of my life working/touring solo or with small bands on guitar/keyboards and with symphony orchestras on trombone. Watching your vlog has brought back SO many good memories of life on the road. THANK YOU, RJ. Brilliant vlog. And all those exotic locations (I am Africa-bound)!! Absolutely stunning. And your guitar playing is awesome, too. Respect. Steve.
Dude! I've heard a lot of musicians talk about tours around the world, but you've been my first window into what that actually looks like. Thank you! Total respect!
Cool Vlog Man Love it! Oslo looks amazing! Im a Solo Musician so spend a lot of time on my own.. I like it that way though lol .. I look forward to watching more of your vids :)
RJ you are my hero ❤️. Also, seeing Eirik in your vlog was an awesome bonus! I had a feeling it would be him when you were in the elevator. :) I only follow 5 guitarists on RU-vid and you are 2 of them, thanks!
Can totally relate to appreciating solitude, time for reflection, and definitely feeling great when waking up after sufficient sleep..well taken for granted in earlier years, so, it's time for balance. Great videos btw, really enjoying digging though your catalog of demos too!
Hello from Montréal! I have been watching your videos. Really impressed by the way you play! A very special signature, beautiful phrasing and a lot of emotion trancend your way of playing! Wish you the best!
Oh, so cool! I love Oslo!! I haven't been in so long, but it was one of my favorite ports-of-call. Such a beautiful city with so many things to enjoy. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. I had a bag do that, and I used dental floss to sew it. :D Always good to get one of those little sewing kits while you're traveling. They're only a couple bucks and don't take up more space than a folded bill. OMG, I busked just outside of that tunnel you walked through that came out into the park back in 1986 (video at 4:16) ! I remember that place like yesterday. Very clean city.
Loving this kind of videos RJ. Is a fact that everytime I watch your videos I get inspired so THANK YOU! One more show to go. Keep it up!! (looking foward to watch some touring videos with The Del Guapos! That’ll be great!)
Wow...Beautiful place, Norway! One day, I hope to be able to visit a few other countries. Music and food...culture. Wonderful way to truly learn about the world. One heck of a privelege, Mr. RJ! Awesome! Btw...Happy New Year, buddy! 🎉
Love these tour videos! It would be cool to see you do a kind of "end of tour" review of your minimalist gear! Still can't believe you toured Europe with one guitar with no head on it.
Warm audience in a cold country ! Man: you're tough ! I wouldn't be fit for this kinda touring anymore... Kudos and HAPPY NEW YEAR !! Less than 8 hours to go \m/
What's up bro. I really dig your vids. Thanks for doing them. They are fun and gives me a glimpse of what it's like to be on the road these days. So, when I was on the road (I did that shit for years), at some point I decided to do stuff on my own away from the band because of 1.) you see each other on the vehicles and at the gig all the damn time, so being alone with your thoughts is a good thing 2.) frankly, a lot of the folks that I went on the road with didn't have the same interest as I did. Some them liked to drink and get high, like all the time. Others were chasing something to fuck, all the time. And there were some who were so whacked out and angry that it was hard to be around them because all they wanted to talk about was how shitty the world was. So, I learned to pursue things that I was interested in when I had the time 3.) I wanted to experience where I was in order to understand the place that I visited and my relationship to it. It didn't matter if we went to a spot for a couple of hours. If I found 30 minutes to walk around the block or a couple of blocks, I took that opportunity to just go and have a look. Others, as I said in #2 just didn't have the same interest. Some motherfuckers were so jaded, they did the gig, stayed on the bus, got all the free meals just so they can keep all the gig money and per diem. I thought those were the worst types because they deliberately limited their experience to expand their world just to fucking make the breadcrumb money on the tour. Maybe they been there and done that already and just didn't give a shit anymore and you couldn't trust them to have a decent expansive conversation about politics, gear, social culture, literature, etc... Hell, those fuckers wouldn't even pay for their own damn cup of coffee. Some guys kept the liquor we got at the gigs and stowed it along with their shit and got drunk in small increments on the bus... In any case, I really dig your work and I really, REALLY do like the funk tour you're on now. The country tour was okay, but the funk is where it's at and hopefully Judith Hill keeps you on for a long time. Only one criticism about Judith's act though: she gotta get new material, bro (I seen her own channel and other vids fans post on youTube). I hate saying this, but sometimes her repertoire seems a little too good-time music for me and I really want her to perform the deep neo-soul stuff I think would best suit vocal style (think Maxwell or Deniece Williams when she was with Maurice White producing; hell, maybe Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis could work with her....). The neo-soul stuff would give her act freshness, I think. But that would take better writing... Keep up the good work, happy holidays and maligayang bagong taon! I look forward to your work in 2019!!!
Your description of ageing rings so true! Preference for solitude and walking over alcohol. Strange but true. The bit you haven't mastered is waking up looking like a guy disturbed in his shed while molesting the neighbour's cat. That comes in about ten years time. Look forward to it! :) Btw, I think Coop might be co-op(erative). That's what it is here in the UK, anyway, the Co-op (cheap shop with some kind of social purpose). Thanks for the insightful vlogs, they're great!
xoxb2 indeed co-op stands indeed for co-operation. But outside UK it's a supermarket which (partly) is owned by the suppliers. Not specific social purpose, other then making profit 😉 in a different way business wise. 👍
Thanks for these videos, they are fun to watch. What percentage of your solos on this tour are worked out vs. improv? You are always killing it and get a good sound out of that barebones fly rig, what kinda amps are you requesting for backline?
That Kiesel guitar seems to be holding up pretty well on the road . You have been dragging it all over Europe , with no issues I assume ? If it holds up like that for you it should be fine for me in my basement . .lol. Love these vlogs. Thanks .
You are a genius is keeping it unassuming/real. You know what I think would close the circle on your vids? Some sort of solo. Either in your room like that jazz improv of a stage shot from the front. That is what it is all about, right? Race Day!
I stayed in a luxurious campground in Oslo in 1987. Actually, it was kinda boring. But hiking and camping farther north is the best I’ve ever experienced. Potable water flowing off the mountains, camp wherever you want (mind the sheep poo). Really how a kid imagines hiking to be.
As a touring musician with one more show before going back home, what is your mindset towards the next tour? Do you already have something lined up? Do you have someone who gets you work? Is there emailing to accept or pass on gigs? What is all of that like for a contract sniper guitar player wizard?
I think coop is co-operative? I think that's what it is in the uk anyways. happy new year dude. Could you possibly do a review of the Nux cerberus some time?
Now that you mentioned it, how is the relationship between you and the band? I mean, in terms of friendship and things like that. Awesome vid as always
Did you ever collect fridge magnets souvenirs on your tours to different cities/countries? Cool, easy items that are cheap but don't take up space. I saw you collected toothpaste, haha:)
I'm curious, is one of the backing vocalists Judith's mom? I ask because in a previous vlog, you mentioned that her mom was doing the logistics for the tour, and it seems by the video footage that you travel with a very small retinue. So I guess I'm making a logical leap to assume that one of the band is probably doing the tour management work.
I played in bands, on the road for 22 years. The groupies drop off after you reach 30 years old, but most are gone by 25 lol. They tend to be the 17-18 girls. It would seem a bit creepy to have a 40 year old groupie.
