Culture Club: David Gray
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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You're very welcome back. It's now time for the Culture Club and I'm delighted to say that our guest this week is none other than the singer, songwriter and global superstar, David Gray. You're very welcome to the Culture Club. Thank you. Thank you for having me. we've a lot to get through but I suppose the reason you're here is I suppose you've got your tour your past and present tour coming to Dublin Cork and Belfast this summer and this is off the back I suppose of your album last year Dear Life but it's past and present I suppose is the tone and tenor of the tour is that right?
That's right, yeah. Sometimes when I write a new record, I feel that it's going to have trouble competing with the big songs in the set. So I have to think carefully about how I'm going to present the new music. It's important for most tours to represent the present as well as the past. But with this record, I felt it could go shoulder to shoulder with some of those big songs. I feel that the music on Dear Life is very melodic, it's very direct. And that's been borne out by the tour. And I also wanted to do like a deep dive each night. So not just the big hits, which are always there, and some of the new music, but also to focus on different albums like Lost Songs, New Day at Midnight, things that haven't been played so much, A Century Ends or whatever.
And do a little deep dive each night into, so shake it up essentially. So rehearsals, we looked at over 70 songs.
What is David Gray's upcoming tour about?
And we've played about that many across the tour. So we've really varied the set list. So although the big numbers are always in and some of the key songs from the new record, the rest of the set's quite fluid and sort of changes. So it keeps it fresh for us, importantly, but also for the audience. It's had a kind of celebrational energy. I've managed to remain present on stage rather than just switch into sort of industrial... Autopilot? Yeah, industrial music-making mode, which when you're doing tens and tens and tens of shows can be sort of a trap you fall into when you start to think that every gig's the same. So I've made it deliberately different and it's worked. Keeping everybody, including the audience, slightly off balance so that it enables something to happen particular to that night is important.
So that's been my approach and it's been a phenomenal tour. I mean, phenomenal tour. So that's why we've rolled on into this summer because there was demand and not just for tickets, but for us to do more shows because... It's just with big audiences like at the Electric Picnic or Radio 2 last summer, but also in, you know, theatres, traditional theatres or the Albert Hall. The shows just really, really worked. And these things don't go on forever. I've got my band around me. They're the flesh of my music. How long can I rely on them? We're all getting a little bit older and more fragile and more mental. So it's like capitalize on having this incredible resource and let's just all enjoy making the most of it.
So that's sort of what the tour is about. It's something for us and something for the crowd.
And what's the pressure then in terms of maybe do you front load the new songs at the front of the show or do you kind of mix and match it or do you kind of have to dangle sort of a hit to kind of get everybody going?
How does David Gray balance new and classic songs in his performances?
Well, I think first of all, it's very important to have confidence that the new songs are going to carry across. Sure. So that you don't have to just making time till you drop Sail Away into the set or something. So no, so I don't, I don't do that. I work in slowly until the sort of bigger songs start to come into the package. So It's different every night, as I just said. I don't usually start with a couple of oldies, drop a new one, or front load the front of the set with the new stuff. I've done that in the past as it seemed like the best approach. Let's do some new stuff, then get the stuff.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–1:34
2
What is David Gray's upcoming tour about?
1:34–3:19
3
How does David Gray balance new and classic songs in his performances?
3:19–16:11
4
What challenges does David Gray face when introducing new music?
16:11–34:53
5
How does David Gray maintain his vocal strength over the years?
34:53–43:47
Speakers
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