Steve Poltz In The UK

Acoustic Café - 16th April 1998 Steve Poltz's first UK gig was held in a tiny venue known as the Acoustic Café, which is in the heart of London's Soho. I arrived at about 7:45PM. I was expecting a small venue, but just not this small. Half the area was taken up by the bar, the rest contained the stage, with room for about 40 people standing. When I went into the stage area there were just three other people there, two men and a woman. but one of the men was instantly recognisable, it was Steve Poltz with a bottle of Budweiser in hand! Fortunately earlier in the evening I'd been to Virgin Megastore and bought a magazine which had a picture of Jewel in it. So when Steve didn't look too occupied I went up to him with the magazine and asked him to sign Jewel's picture. He seemed very surprised, he said it was his first UK autograph! I asked him about other European gigs but he said they were all probably private events. I planted myself on a stool to the right of the stage and by about 8:15PM Steve was ready to play. By this time there were about 20-30 people standing around the edges in front of the stage. He only performed a small set, less than an hour in total. It was a mixture of songs from his album and older songs including You Were Meant For Me. At the end he chatted with some of the audience, I thanked him for playing The Great Mystery which is one of my favourites. I said hello to his manager Bob Duffey, he thought I must be from Mercury Records as that was where the majority of the audience were from. I said I was a big fan of Jewel's and I'd heard about Steve's tour from the Jewel list. Bob was very complimentary about Jewel saying what a nice person she was. Set-List I Love You Satan's Choir Forbidden Fruit You Were Meant For Me Impala Little Red Corvette The Great Mystery Waterfalls Encore Broken Hearts And Painted Nails Chinese Checkers [Instrumental] Silver Lining

Covent Garden - 17th April 1998 Today, Steve Poltz was supposed to play what was billed as the Covent Garden Acoustic Busking Tent. When I got to Covent Garden there was no sign of anything that resembled a Busking Tent. I asked at the Information Office and they said they didn't know what it was either, but they seemed to be aware that somebody called Steve Poltz would be turning up at around 6PM to play, but they didn't know where. So I was wandering around Covent Garden at about a quarter to six, when who should I spot but Steve and his manager Bob! They were standing in an alleyway trying to keep out of the chill wind. I went up to them and asked them where Steve was playing, but they said they had no idea! However, with them was a representative from Mercury Records (Eva I think her name was) who was busy on her mobile phone trying to track down Steve's pitch. We followed her around Covent Garden until we came to a spot where a juggling act was just finishing, Eva said that this was where Steve was supposed to playing, I don't think Steve was too pleased about this, and because of the cold weather he decided he wouldn't play there after all. So the only other thing to do was to track down the nearest bar. They invited me along as well, so the four of us ended up in a bar on the edge of Covent Garden, the drinks being on Mercury Records. Eva was on her mobile phone giving directions to other Mercury Record's people who were to turn up. I felt a little nervous being amongst all these Mercury Record's execs so I didn't hang around for too long. Set-List Jennifer Juniper [in the bar for the young daughter of one the Mercury staff] :-)

12 Bar Club - 18th April 1998 This was another small venue, but this time there were far more people inside than at the Acoustic Café. This was probably due to the fact that their were other acts on the bill. But I'm certain that those people who were there became big fans of Steve Poltz by the end. Before Steve went on stage there was a warm-up act, I think he may have been the owner of the Club. At the end of his set he introduced Steve Poltz, saying how superb he thought Steve was after hearing his album for the first time the previous day. Set-List I Love You Good Morning (Waking Up With You) Kirb Your Dog [Not too sure of the title, but Steve said he wrote it that afternoon after stepping in some dog shit in Camden Town] Hollaston Street Beautiful Day Broken Hearts And Painted Nails Little Red Corvette The Great Mystery ABC's Of Love Improvised song [about three people sitting in the front row] Kicking Distance Encore Everything About You The Tree Hugger Song Waterfalls