Just returned from a terrific 6 day sojourn in France - two nights in Paris followed by four nights in Nancy,  90 minutes by TGV train from the capital. 

I’d been invited by a dear friend of mine, Jerôme Didelot of French band Orwell, to participate in an amazing concert he’d organised featuring a local orchestra + 6 vocalists, keyboards, guitar, bass and drums celebrating the collaboration of classical players and pop musicians since the 1960s. 

It was a really interesting and varied programme featuring songs by The Beatles, Burt Bacharach, Scott Walker, Serge Gainsbourg, ELO, Bjork - and it was a sell-out, about 350 people, and I’m told they had a further couple of hundred enquires for tickets! 

I got to sing Eleanor Rigby, She’s Leaving Home, God Only Knows and Everybody’s Got To Learn Sometime. 

It was especially enjoyable because unlike the usual rock gig it wasn’t loud and the monitoring was very good so you could hear yourself singing really clearly on stage. Luxury! 

Also, everyone involved in the project was an absolute delight to work with: the other singers, the orchestral players, back-stage crew - all so positive, enthusiastic and refreshingly devoid of ‘attitude’. 

My friend Jerôme is really keen to put the show on at other places now that we’ve seen how well it works  - can’t wait! 

P.S. We actually found a vegan restaurant just round the corner from the Pompidou Centre in Paris. It’s called Le Potager du Marais and bloody good it was too!