Josh Pyke's ‘Lone Wolf’ Tour Diary: 4th - 5th July

Josh Pyke has just wrapped up a nation-wide ‘Lone Wolf’ tour, where he brought along his entire catalogue of tunes, including those of his latest record ‘The Beginning And The End Of Everything’, to city and regional supporters alike.

For fans wanting a little more insight into the day-to-day realities of touring, Josh Pyke graciously documented his travels, in words and pictures, exclusively for Music Feeds readers in his Lone Wolf Tour Diary.

Here in the final diary entry, Josh Pyke attempts to communicate with the other side through an iPhone app, gets his audience to do some recording and eats donuts.

Friday, 4th July – Milton Theatre, Milton

The last two shows this weekend! Excited to be finishing off with two sold out shows at the Milton Theatre. Milton is a beautiful town about three hours south of Sydney, and having played there a few times before, I’m looking forward to spending a weekend there.

We drive down, stopping off in Berry for some pies and coffee from the Milkwood Bakery, and then head on down the coast. We decide to get straight into sound check and so head to the venue to be greeted by Billy the house tech.

Milton Theatre is an interesting place. It’s owned by the council, but run by a committee of passionate volunteers, who have kept the venue going for the last 15 years or so. They love the venue, and it shows in the personal touches around the place.

Another interesting thing about the venue is that it’s meant to be haunted by a young male ghost called Walter! They’ve had paranormal investigators through the venue, and apparently have recorded a lot of paranormal activity.

Sadly, despite multiple attempts to reach Walter, via a few cheap and offensively dodgy iPhone apps, which are “supposed” to pick up ghost words, I fail to make contact and so I must remain a sceptic! I mean “Zoo” is not a particularly ghostly word! Jack [Carty] and I even ventured up to the area purported to have the most Walter activity…alas…nothing.

The show tonight is great. I think the relief of knowing the tour is almost over, and that it’s been so successful, made me really relax into it tonight, and the crowd is the exact right mix of enthusiastic and attentive.

I even manage to get the crowd to sing a long “C” note that I record on my iPhone, that will end up being sampled to use as a weird synth sound in my stoner rock side project. It’s been a long day, so after meeting all the lovely people, and seeing some familiar faces after the show, we head back to the accommodation and crash.

Saturday, 5th July Milton Theatre, Milton

It’s a beautiful morning so I head out for a run along Mollymook Beach. Tame Impala’s first record has long been my favourite jogging record, and it’s feeling pretty good being out in the sun with another sold out show to play tonight.

This tour has been the best I’ve ever done. Sometimes I suppose the pieces of the puzzle just come together, and we spent a lot of time trying to find the best venues around the country to make the solo show an intimate and comfortable experience. I really wanted people to be able to engage in the songs, and I wanted to be able to engage with the audience. I think we got it right!

I meet up with the others and have breakfast at Tallwood Cafe, which is pretty awesome. My barometer for goodness (poached eggs and coffee), is sated. Even better, we run into, and join, some lovely folks who have been at the show the night before, and they sneakily shout us breakfast! Much appreciated! A good start to the day 🙂

We check out Milton markets, and even find Jack’s CD playing in one of the shops on the main drag, this town is definitely one which supports culture and the arts.

Time for the show again tonight, and it’s always with mixed emotions when it’s the last one. I decide to sneak onto stage with Jack when he’s singing the song we wrote together called The Jones’s, and then it’s time for my set.

I loved playing tonight. I think it’s the best show on the whole tour! It’s a fitting way to finish off the best tour to date.

I want to thank everyone who came to a show on this run, and also on the capital city run of the Lone Wolf tour. It’s been a career defining tour for me, and has set a new bench mark. It’s such a gratifying feeling seeing so many familiar faces in the crowds, but also to be meeting many people who have only just discovered my music. That’s a pretty special feeling ten years into a career in music.

Also big ups to Jack Carty for being such a great support act…I think he won a lot of fans on this tour!

Now it’s home, via Berry for their famous cinnamon donuts from the donut van on the side of the road. I’ve been going there since I was a kid, and can’t pass them by.

So, now I’m home for one day of preparation, and then straight into the White Album Concert rehearsal for the rest of the week, and performance this weekend!

No rest for the wicked!!

Thank you all so much again, and I’ll see you down the track!

JP XXXXX

Josh Pyke is gearing up to hit the road again alongside Tim Rogers, Chris Cheney and Phil Jamieson for The White Album tour, where they will together perform one of The Beatles‘ most groundbreaking records, their 1968 self-titled double album. See the tour dates below.

To get up to speed, read Part 1 of Josh Pyke’s Lone Wolf Tour Diary here!

Then check out Part 2.

Part 3

And finally Part 4!

Watch: Josh Pyke – The Beginning And The End Of Everything