I know that this doesn't actually belong in a "European Tour" thread, but is it unreasonable to hope for a little bit of love for Australia this time around?

It's summer here, and there should still be some good weather left once the European dates are over

Steph -

We want to come to Australia/NZ, believe me.

It's up to you, though, or rather it's up to an Australian promoter to be willing to back a SW tour there. We tried last year. We're going to try again this year. But until somebody's willing to fly us across the Pacific, we're stuck stateside.

Promoters over there try to gauge how much of a risk they're taking, I think, mostly by looking at record sales (as I would if I were a promoter, not really having anything else to go by).

So the best way to get us over there is probably to convince as many of your friends to buy the new album as possible...which probably sounds mercenary, but as I'm not really likely to see royalties from Australian record sales unless we become HUGE it's less so than it appears. And I think it's the truth.

Here's hoping. I've had my eye on that Overland Track in Tasmania for years, and if we can come over, I swear I'm gonna do it.

JM

Such a shame. I've said it before, but I would love to see Shearwater live. I remember seeing Rook among the best sellers of the month in my favourite independent record store, so people in Melbourne were buying it, but I guess that doesn't translate to national sales. The best way to get people listening to Shearwater is to get the music played on Triple J. It's a crap radio station but it's the national youth network and unfortunately wields a lot of power. If you get on their playlist, you get heard.

So Steph, as well as pestering all your friends to buy The Golden Archipelago, tell them to pester Triple J to play it.

Edited to add that record-sales figures in Oz are problematic because so many of us buy from overseas sources rather than local. CDs are generally $25-$30 here (and vinyl's even more expensive), but if I buy them from Amazon or the US label's website, even with the overseas postage cost it's generally less expensive than buying them here. I have a personal policy of only buying local music from local record stores to support our struggling industry, but otherwise I'm as guilty as anyone of going for the cheaper deal.

Sorry to go off topic. What were we talking about again?

I'd donate to an Aussie tour fund if there was such a thing as EVERYONE should get the opportunity to see SW live. The Coventry show here in the UK was by far the best live performance I've ever seen. Nothing even came close and I've seen a LOT of great gigs in my time.

I won't be able to make any of the UK dates this time around as by then I'll have a teeny tiny baby boy in my arms but I'll be there in spirit. In fact, I'm going to make sure that TGA will be his first listening experience. If you could mix down a lullaby version Jonathan then that'd be much appreciated.

Yours for a $5,000 donation to Kickstarter, mike333.

Would it be cheating if I started my own Kickstarter page for this? Sorry to go off topic here but actually, a SW lullaby compilation would be a truly wonderful thing.

They've even got a start with "All The Pretty Horses."

I think both Nobody and Sing, Little Birdie work wonderfully as lullabies musically (although possibly not lyrically, but I actually don't know the words to Sing, Little Birdie).

Speaking of touring, I had a dream last night that SW announced dates for a U.S. tour next year, but then I woke up to the cold, cruel reality that I still don't know when I will next see SW live Soon, I hope?

p.s. sorry to all the Aussies out there - I'm sure it will happen someday.

I, too, hate waking up from this dream.

I am happy to report for Atlanta fans that Shearwater will be here on the evening of March 24, at the Earl. TELL YOUR FRIENDS--we want a BIG crowd!!!

That is eerie because in my dream I was going to have to miss the concert because I was in a meeting in LA, whereas in real-life I am getting back from a meeting in LA the day of the concert. Thanks for the insider info! I love living in the same city as you guys

On lastfm appear some european dates for august.
Link

some shows in the UK and the netherlands.
5th aug, katowice, pol
6th aug, frankfurt, ger
7th aug, dresden, ger
9th aug, berlin, ger
10th aug, hamburg, ger
12th aug, københavn, dan

seems to be confirmed?

WOOOHOOOOO!!!

Yessssssssssssssss!

Got my ticket for Copenhagen (don't think I've ever whipped out my credit card faster...). Now I only have to decide if I should go to Berlin as well. I have never been to Berlin so this would be a great excuse. I'm on vacation during that week anyway so I'm free to go wherever I want.

I had forgotten about the lullaby off-topic part of this thread. I recently had an overnight flight and fitully slept to the dulcet tones of Palo Santo while flying over the Andes, wishing that there was an endless supply to dream-like JM songs to nod off to.