The End of the Tour

Hi everyone,

After the Far Eastern journey, it was time to start the Scandinavian leg of my world tour.  I started off in Denmark with the first five of ten concerts in the country.  I was astounded when I was told that my album had actually been the highest selling album of the whole year in Denmark. For that, I'd like to thank everyone in Denmark for supporting me.  We started off in Copenhagen, of which I had fond memories of my first visit.  In September last year, I was told that in a 2 song live performance, I should expect a crowd of around 1,000 people.  I was flabbergasted when I walked out on stage in front of about 20,000 people!  The police said that they had the biggest crowd since Denmark won the European Championship in 1992.

I took quite a few walks through Copenhagen in stunning weather.  The areas close to the castle and palaces are truly stunning.  I found the audiences in Denmark incredibly supportive and appreciative.  At the start of the tour in North Wales, I was dreading the talking part of the show as I thought I would be stuck and nervous as to what to say, especially in places outside the UK.  English is spoken very very well in Scandinavia and this was proved to be true.  Quite a fw of the concerts were outdoors, and one or two of them were pretty chilly.  I had the pleasure of welcoming Natasha Marsh back on the road with me, we had great fun working together again in Scandinavia, especially as we had some very long journies on the tour bus from place to place.  We saw some wonderful cities and had glorious weather.  Stockholm I have always loved, plenty of nice streets to walk in.  Malmo, Gothenberg, and Oslo were all  fantastic places to visit.

Part way through the Scandivian tour, I performed on the final of Holland's Got Talent in Amsterdam.  It brought back to me the time last year when I was waiting to go on stage to perform in the final of Britain's Got Talent.  

Although I was feeling quite nervous because of the sense of de ja vu, but then I just really enjoyed my perfomance.  

Before too long I was back in Amsterdam performing at the Music Hall, for my final two concerts of this part of the tour.  I got another reminder of the past though, waking up in agony as my left shoulder, which had been injured in the accident on my bicyle 5 years ago had completely frozen up.  Although it hurt even to breathe (and it hurt a lot!) I had made it through 77 concerts in 145 days without a cancellation and I was determined to finish the tour with a 100% attendance.  The Dutch audience, as ever were very friendly and appreciative, even though on the 9th I was keeping them away from watching their home team beat Italy 3 - 0 in the European Championship!  

I have really enjoyed the tour and it has been fantastic performing music that I love in front of over 200,000 people on this tour alone.  It's been fantastic having 200,000 friends supporting me in person.  I'd also like to thank everyone that has left messages of support here on the website and elsewhere.  I do read them, and really appreciate it!  Thank you! Thank you also to a few more fantastic people without whom this tour would have been impossible. Thank you to my wife, Julz (of course!), Jake and my management team, my conductor, Mark Agnor, Musical Director and my Pianist, Chris Taylor (and voiceover artist extraordinaire!) and of course everyone who came to the show.  THANK YOU!!!

Now I have a few days rest, and then I am off to LA to record my next album....

See you all soon!

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Paul on Holland’s Got Talent

Last week Paul appeared on the grand final of Holland's Got Talent and if you head over to the video section right this second you can see his performance.

8:53 AM - 7 Comments - 14 Kudos - Add Comment

Notes from Korea

After a few sunny days in Japan, we left on a morning flight to go to Seoul, South Korea.  Julz and I arrived at the airport and were met by a huge crowd at the airport including two very cute young children in national dress.  After a brief chat with members of a fan club (it feels absoloutely strange that anyone should want to have a fan club for me, my thanks go to Hans and all the other members of the Korean Fan Club for their support) we left for a press conference.  I was expecting a similar press conference to the one in Tokyo a few days before.
 
What I got, shook me!  I walked in to the room to find more than 200 journalists.  Then the cameras started.  There were so many cameras pointed at me, that I could feel the heat of the flashes!  As part of the press conference I agreed to be a patron for a charity combatting TB in North Korea.  I was presented with a plaque and a national dress.
 
After the press conference, I had a performnace on a show called W.  The last time I had worked with that programme we had been running down a corridor in Stockholm to make the stage in time at a Breast Cancer Charity Ball!  
 
I had three performances in Seoul, and I enjoyed them all immensely.  The reaction I received at all three was the loudest on the whole tour.  I couldn't even hear the 60 piece orchestra behind me for the cheers!  The concerts were some of the most enjoyable so far.  I've always been very keen to see as many people as possible after a show.  There were over 200 people at the back door after!  
 
After 4 days in Seoul, we flew down to Busan which is a lovely seaside city.  The scenery was stunning and we really enjoyed our time in Busan.  It was very warm here and both Julz and I got a nice tan while we walked along the beach.  It was another fantastic reaction at the concert in Busan.  I also discovered that my recording of Nessun Dorma was used for a couple of adverts for skyscapers in Busan.  It's really cool, but still quite suprising that people want to use my singing as a backdop for selling a product.
 
We really enjoyed our time in Korea,  we would both really like to return here again.  Busan was particularly beautiful.  I would like to thank the people of Korea for all their support and for being such an enthusiastic audience!

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Paul climbs Sydney Harbour Bridge

Whilst out in Sydney, Paul made the most of his time off and climbed Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Paul says, 'It was an awesome experience. By chance there were only two of us in the group going up. It was a rewarding experience, and there were some outstanding views.'

To see a picture of Paul at the top, click here and we'll take you to the gallery.

7:55 AM - 3 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Japan

We arrived on an overnight flight from Perth to the very busy city of Tokyo.  This was our first visit to Tokyo and indeed to Japan.  When I arrived, I had a press conference.  I always find these quite nerve-wracking as you never know what people are going to ask you.  I think it went pretty well, and from the room I could see Shibuya station, Tokyo's busiest railway station.  I have never seen so many people cross a road at one time.  Once I had finished at the press conference, I had the rest of the day free, so I took a walk around the city for a while, and crossed that very street.  

There were electrical shops all over the place, and having a fascination for mobile phones Julz would say that I was in my element!  There would have been little point buying one, however as they wouldn't work in Europe, but it was nice to have a look around. 

Later in the evening we went to a traditional sushi bar for dinner.  Julz was very apprehensive about this part as she was concerned that she wouldn't like it.  Julz was very brave, and will try anything at least once, it's just that she can't disguise her face when she doesn't like something!  She enjoyed the tuna, and tried as much as she could.  I enjoyed my sushi and shaashimi, particularly the tuna, and the raw white fish with rice and wasabi.  I quite like horseradish and wasabi tastes quite similar (in that if you eat a little too much, it makes your eyes water!). 

The first performance in Tokyo, was something of a learning experience as I was working with an interpreter.  She was very good and picked up what I was saying very quickly.  The audiences were again very responsive. Ater the show, we went around to a tipenyake restaurant where the chef cooks on the table in front of you.  I had been to one of these in Ottawa some years before with my Canadian friends, and there was here a huge range of different foods.  Eating in Japan is very social and Julz and I really enjoyed ourselves. 

The next morning I took a walk around the city and walked arounf the main park in the city centre of Tokyo:  Yoyogi Park.  It was very warm outside, and it was wonderful to find such a lovely park in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the city.  Tokyo has left me the impression of a city that has many contrasts.  You have the very busy centre around Shibuya station, yet less than 2 miles away, there is the peace and quiet of a park. Julz and I would dearly like to return to Japan again and see more. 

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Writings from Australasia

We arrived in New Zealand after 24 hours of flying and 4 flights from Mexico to where we were to have a few days break in Queenstown on the South Island.  Because of the time difference we crossed the dateline so we lost a day:  we missed April Fools day altogether!  Queenstown was stunning, It reminded me of some parts of Scotland.  Both Julz and I really enjoyed our time there, and we did a cruise on Lake Wakitipu and went up on the gondola part way up the mountain of Ben Lomond.   

We started our Antipodean tour in Christchurch, and really enjoyed our time in the South Island.  There was a huge reaction here and it was good to see more of a country that I had seen so little of last Summer.  We moved on up to the capital of New Zealand, Wellington.  It was great to perform in some wonderful venues with fantastic acoustics.  Everywhere I went there was a very warm welcome, and I have fouind the people of New Zealand very warm and welcoming.   From Wellington we went to Rotorua, which is the home town of my special guest on this part of the tour, Elizabeth Marvelly.  Elizabeth and her family were fantasic hosts and took us around the major sites in Rotorua, including the geysers and the boiling mud pools.  Because of the volcanic activity in this part of New Zealand has a distinct smell of sulphur.  You can feel the volcanic activity while you walk around, with steam coming out of the ground. We then returned to Auckland with another wonderful venue, The ASB Aotea Centre.  I would like to thank everyone in New Zealand for giving us such a warm welcome, and I look forward to returning again soon.

We arrived in Australia intially in Melbourne where I performed on the TV programme, It Takes Two.  My first concert in Australia was in Adelaide, a lovely city in South Australia, an area I knew only before as part of a previous job as a wine advisor for a Supermarket in the UK.  It is home to some of the best wine in Australia.  It was another warm welcome and it was great to see more of places that I hd only touched ...  From Adelaide we moved to Brisbane in the Sunshine state of Queensland.  There wasn't a lot of sunshine when we were there, it rained quite a lot, usually when I didn't have an umbrella with me!  We stayed right on the riverside so had a wonderful view of the city from our window.  

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Paul on the Road – Your Reviews!

Paul is currently out on the road, meeting all you guys around the world and you have been busy leaving your comments on the forum.

Here are some of the most recent comments! 

Tygraphic writes, 'Thank you, Paul Potts. I am an American who just recently bought your music. You remind me to not give up on my dream of becoming a fine artist. I have lacked the confidence to really believe I can achieve it. Your story really touched my heart and is proof that if we dare to believe it is possible.'

Mary writes, 'Your Perth show was excellent! We look forward to you returning sooner rather than later. We wish you every success for your future in music and your personal life.'

If you've seen Paul make sure you leave your reviews in the forum!

7:39 AM - 2 Comments - 4 Kudos - Add Comment

Mexico

Hello again,

We arrived back in the United States to go to Los Angeles to perform. Before it was time to perform we went to have a Burger at In and Out which we had heard very good things about. It was very very good, and the chips were advertised as cut on the premesis were very good indeed!

It was incredible to be performing in LA, and the Wiltern Theatre was a wonderful place to perform in. I enjoyed my performance there and the crowd were very noisy in their appreciation. It's really difficult to believe that this time last year, I was selling phones, and yet here I was at a sold out theatre in LA of all places. Julz and I met a lot of people after the show, including some of the guys from Paramount, plus we met some very committed fans. I enjoy meeting up with people after the show. It's good to get feedback and always good to thank people in person.

We had another trip on a tour bus after the show down to Phoenix, Arizona. Apparently there was a major accident on the Interstate 10, and we had to take to the desert road for a big part of the journey. Not that I noticed though, I slept through the whole thing - just like the blizzard in Canada! We arrived in Phoenix to a very dry heat. After a long rest, we made our way to Mesa, and the Ikeda Theatre. It was a wonerful place to perform, and Julz got one of her major craves of this part of the tour - her favourite take away – KFC! I really enjoyed my performance - my last in the US for a while. It was yet another wonderful theater, and yet another wonderful reception.

I've really enjoyed seeing more of the United States, and wherever I have gone the people have been welcoming and friendly. I never believed I would sing again before I did Britain's Got Talent, and here I was completing a tour of the US, a huge privilege for me. I would like to thank everyone in the US for giving me such enormous support, and to those who travelled hundreds of miles to see me, I love you for it!

We left from Phoenix to go to Mexico by plane. It was hot and dry in Phoenix, but in Mexico City you also have the altitude to deal with. I love Mexico though! When I was here in October I was given a very warm welcome - at a showcase where 500 were expected, 4,000 people turned up. Julz loves Mexico for its Tequila - last time we were here she put all the men to shame!

The performances were at Teatro Metropolitan, a former Cinema which was converted back to a theatre in 1996. I was a bit more than nervous about my lack of prowess in Spanish. I did try my hand though, although how good my spanish was, I don't know! Then the unthinkable happened - we had problems with the theatre's sound system, which left me a little nervous, but it was swiftly dealt with and I just sang through it. With the distances we have been covering, you can't carry a huge amount of equipment, so while the PA system went down I tried my best just to get on with it.

The audiences in the two shows - 3200 each night - were very passionate and enthusiastic and the Metropolitan was a truly wonderful place to perform. It had a similar feel to the Appollo in Hammersmith. I'd like to thank everyone in Mexico for supporting me, I'd certainly like to come back and see more of the country!

Los funcionamientos estaban en el Teatro Metropolitan, un cine anterior que fue convertido de nuevo a un teatro en 1996. Era un pedacito más que nervioso sobre mi carencia del valor en español. ¡Intenté mi mano sin embargo, aunque cómo es bueno era mi español, no sé! Entonces el increíble sucedido - teníamos problemas con el sistema de los sonidos del teatro, de el cual a la izquierda me un poco nervioso, pero él trataron rápidamente y acabo de cantar con él. Con las distancias hemos estado cubriendo, usted no puede llevar una cantidad enorme de equipo, así que mientras que fue el sistema del PA abajo acabo de intentar mi mejor para conseguir encendido con él. Las audiencias en las dos demostraciones - 3200 cada noche - eran muy apasionadas y entusiásticas y el metropolitano eran un lugar verdaderamente maravilloso a realizarse. Tenía una sensación similar al Appollo en Hammersmith. ¡Quisiera agradecer cada uno en México por apoyarme, quisiera ciertamente volverme y ver más del país!

6:52 AM - 12 Comments - 20 Kudos - Add Comment

Canada

Hello again!



Well we arrived safe and sound in Vancouver. We had a good walk around it and it's a wonderful city! You can see the Pacific Mountain range between the buildings. If only we had more time here to explore! The next day we made our way over to Victoria. On the trip across the sea, we spotted a distant Mount Baker, a dormant volcano totally covered in Snow, a beautiful looking mountain that dominates the US city of Seattle. The Macpherson Theatre was another wonderful intimate theatre. At the end of the concert I threw the roses into the crowd and managed to reach the balcony with one of them!



Julz is slowly but surely becoming addicted to French Toast, especially the banana variety! Not being a particular fan of bananas, I stuck to the plain variety. Yum! My last Canadian concert was in Calgary. The audience laughed out loud when I recounted the story that I had watched Eddie 'the eagle' Edwards on the TV at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1988. I was very relieved to find that the cold that I had been suffering from had completely gone, and not only that, the trapped nerve was no longer giving me problems. The Jack Singer Hall was a lovely place to perform in and I enjoyed my performance.



I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone in Canada for giving me such a wonderful welcome and reception. I hope to see you all again soon!

7:38 AM - 0 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

Canada

Hi Guys, I've made it to ..Canada! 

We're here right in the middle of March and the snow is on the ground, much to Julz's delight.  We landed in Toronto, one of our favourite cities, and we headed for our favourite steak house that is not a nightmare on Elm Street!  Barberiens is our regular haunt in Toronto. 

This part of the tour is a real road trip, from Hamilton we headed to Montreal in a tour bus so we got to sleep on the way.  This is the first time I have ever slept on the road in a tour bus, so it was quite an experience! 

In the meantime, I had managed to catch a cold while in New York, and Julz describes me as a typical man when it comes to having a cold:  When I have a cold, I'm dying!  Getting a cold is certainly not ideal, but they are difficult to avoid, even though I take plenty of vitamin supplements and drink plenty of orange juice, and eat plenty of fruit.  I tried to stay positive and just perform as well as I could. 

There were some absolutely stunning places to perform in:  Places des Artes in Montreal and the Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto were both packed to the rafters and wonderful places to perform in.  The Centrepointe Theatre in Ottawa was a more intimate affair. 

I am quite familiar with Ottawa.  My family has friends relatively close to Ottawa and I have spent quite a bit of time there.  7 years ago I managed to get time off to go to Canada, and I fibbed saying that I was going there to sing.  Little did I know that lie would turn out to come true 7 years later.

We then flew out to Edmonton.  It was actually quite a lot warmer than Ottawa, although it had been -30 degrees C only a few days before.  I managed to pick up some leg pain, and I spent the evening limping around the stage like anything.  It turned out that I had a trapped nerve that had been there some time, probably as long ago as the accident where I fractured my collarbone.  It was very painful and the treatment for it where the therapist put my joints back in line was even more painful.  I think I probably looked very funny on stage hobbling around!

From edmonton, straight after the show we got onto another tour bus for the 13 hour drive to Vancouver.  On the way we got caught up in a blizzard and the driver had to stop to wait it out.

I am really enjoying my time in Canada, the audiences have been very welcoming, and it has been good to see more of a country that I love.

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