Welcome to blog post #1! www.OkiemOfficial.com
It’s been a great week - but - with these posts I really want to document the journey of the highs and lows, the struggles and the triumphs. So often on social media ‘all is always good’! But as my journey as a solo artist goes further and deeper I want to keep track of all the stories and some of the behind the scenes realness.
A few weeks ago I saw a tweet saying ILUVLIVE were looking for artists for their event in Reading. I got in touch and they put me on the bill. It was almost 2 hours away and I was sure there wouldn’t be much of an audience but I wanted to perform more for the organisers so they would give me a slot on the London date. Sure enough, the gig at Reading was a success and they asked me to play the following London show in Hoxton. The headliner of that event was Mi'Das - a really talented singer songwriter. Check him out: http://www.officialmidas.com
On a lineup with rappers and singers I was really curious how the audience would receive my music. I had fifteen minutes to give it my all. It was just me and my violinist Jon.
In my zone.
I started the set with ‘Purple Sky’ - a new song that is loud and proud and builds into a very powerful piece of music. There was a long applause at the end and I thought the audience were fully locked in. Unfortunately not everyone was.. yet. I played the title track ‘Xiro’ next which has some very quiet solo piano parts as the song builds. I could hear a lot of people talking throughout so I knew I needed to do more. I ran a competition to give away a copy of my album for anyone that could tell me the titles of the songs I was about to play. I played a medley of popular songs - some that me and Jon had never played together before, they just felt right. The audience loved it and shouted out the answers back to me which really involved them in the show.
On to the finale! I finished the set with ‘Fifty Horses’ and could feel everyone engaged in the music. I could hear the silence. The audience gave me a long applause at the end which was awesome. I felt really connected to the music and gave my all in the performance and I’m glad it was well received.
Concert over. Take a bow - get off stage.
“ It was an intense fifteen minute journey we just went on.”
Big Thank You to ILUVLIVE: http://www.iluvlive.co.uk
