everything will flow

7/27/96

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The show in London tonight is the last show in Europe for this tour.

At noon, I participate in a Japanese television program called "MusicStation" via a satellite broadcast. This program airs weekly on channel Asahi. I do the show because Miki Nakatani will be on the show. She is one of the artists I produced.

I return to the apartment afterwards. At 3:30 a car comes to pick me up to take me to the Royal Festival Hall. We do soundcheck and the hall sounds good. My friends Yuka and Fumiya who live here in London show up to see me.

At 6 pm I go to the Museum of Moving Images which is located near the concert hall. There is a screening of "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" and"Wuthering Heights". I go to participate in a informal interview with the audience at this screening.

At 7 pm I get back to the concert hall and get changed. Afterwards, I take a moment to thank and say good bye to some of the crew who will not tour with us after tonight's show.

The 7:30 pm show begins. Many of those on our crew are from London and seem a bit nervous tonight. Even the musicians, including myself are a bit nervous about playing tonight. It's because we are playing in London. The criticism and fame you get here can set the standards for you for the rest of the world. The audience in London are the probably the most or the second most toughest critics in the world. They all kind of sit back in their chairs and have these expression on their faces that say, "show me what's you've got". I have had several shows here, but they were never totally rocking.

But things tonight were totally different. By our third song "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence" Jaques almost couldn't finish his part because the applause of the audience was so great. We had four encores. I have never seen such a hot crowd in London as this evening. At the end I joked, "you guys tonight are almost like Italians". It was a perfect show, a perfect night.

I ask myself why is it that the trio ensemble is so popular with everybody. Why is it that when the material is more pop it doesn't go over so well. Anyway, I know the answer. It's because this trio format is more strong as music. The music is more direct and easier to understand for the public. Even the touch of my fingertips on the piano can be heard to the audience. There are no borders between the audience and us on stage to block the music.

With this kind of music, the audience is able to get as absorbed by the music as the musicians. I have to say my instinicts were right all along; the trio format embodies the core of what my music is all about. I should always think about the Trio as the nucleus of my music and just add on to it what I want when I think it needs more.

After the show, I go to greet the staff that worked on the live Internet broadcast of my show. I thank the people from Mitsubishi/Apricot UK who were the supporters for the Internet broadcast tonight.

Later, I have a drink with my personal guests. Roddy Frame, Michael Nyman and Eno's assistant Saffron were among the guests that showed up. But, I was most surprised to see Cynthia there. She is someone I hadn't seen for four or five years and didn't know whether she was dead or alive. Cynthia was the one who introduced me to Steve, who died of AIDS. Words can't express the memories I share with Cynthia.

I go back to my apartment filled with deep emotion. I hadn't eaten anything yet because I was so busy, so I go out to Kings Road to grab a bite to eat. I have a salad. I am almost faint with fatigue. When I get back to my apartment I fall onto my bed.