Where it all started 5 years ago for Alex…!

Hey,

I hope you’re doing great! I’m now back in La Belle Province of Quebec after what has been such an amazing and inspiring journey to Hamburg with Alex attending the Reeperbahn Festival as a delegate for the 8th time! How crazy...! It’s Monday morning right now, and I’m listening to Nico’s beautiful songs as I had an incredible conversation with one of my music conference buddies and Alex about her career and personal life, how much of a tragedy her life has been, and how beautiful her music is. 

It’s a very beautiful time of the year to be in this part of the world as fall is setting in, bringing its perfumes and fresh winds to the enchantment of every nostalgic at heart and long-walk lover such as me! We’re here for a little less than two weeks before heading for Alex’s very first US tour, opening up for Temples! A very exciting time for us all, and I truly can’t wait to share more about our preparations with you next week, as I’m sure we’ll have a wonderful time putting that 45-minute concert together at the HQ! 

Before heading into that, I have a great story I want to share with you. Everything started last Monday, as Alex and I arrived at the Montreal Airport with all our massive suitcases loaded with your beautiful The Club membership packages and getting ready to check in, which is something Alex really likes to do, so I leave that to him while I position the bags in grand fashion for our classic picture. Alex comes back after what felt like ages, saying “You won’t believe what just happened while I was in the concierge office! There’s this guy who, after looking at my passport, asked me if I was in a band, and after I told him my full name, he answered that he saw us perform at our 1 am concert at Angie’s during the 2019 Reeperbahn Festival! Can you believe it?!?” 

I was obviously like “WHAT?!?!?!” What are the odds?! This is incredible! A German guy, working for Air Canada in Montreal, is the one taking care of our check-in, and he saw us perform at what has been one of our most unforgettable moments on stage! Alex quickly followed up, saying: “We need to immortalize this incredible encounter and celebrate all of what happened during those 5 years since that concert as we’re about to land in this incredible city of Hamburg where it all started for us in Europe precisely 5 years ago…!” 

Here we were, Alex and I, toasting at the airport, celebrating what brought us to that moment in time: music, friendship, courage, faith, and this crazy idea that everything is possible to those who believe! It was on Thursday, September 19th, 2019, that Alex Henry Foster performed at Canada House at 11 am and at Angie’s Club at 1 am. Two concerts in a day that truly changed everything! Following those 2 performances, Alex has been invited to perform at the Orange Blossom Special Festival, the Fusion Festival, La Fête de la Musique, the Brückenfestival, and it is also there that our actual booking agency said they truly wanted to represent Alex across Europe. We arrived at the Reeperbahn in 20219 with nothing and left with a booking team and a few festivals for the summer of 2020… All of this 5 years ago already! Simply incredible!!!! What a journey! 

Since then, COVID happened, Alex’s surgery happened, and here we were, him and I heading back to this city where so many great things happened, 5 years later, about to see many more miracles reveal themselves to us both as our hearts were filled with this same passion, dedication, courage, and even more faith in us than we could possibly think of back in 2019. 

2024 has been nothing but a busy year… It started with Alex coming back to the Quebec HQ (which hadn’t happened since 2020) on our way to record a new album with producer Mikko Gordon, followed by the release of such a beautiful project around Kimiyo before heading for a 10-week European festival tour, then spending 6 weeks in Tangier, followed by Alex’s new album release just this past Friday, where Alex gifted us all again with such a unique musical journey around A Measure of Shape and Sounds! I’m already exhausted simply by writing it down right now, and we’re about to leave for a US tour and also head back to Tangier to finalize Alex’s new album next November and December...! 🥵

As we were about to leave Tangier, Alex and I sat down for an Open Conversation around A Measure of Shape and Sounds, and as I like to do, here’s an excerpt for you before everyone else...! 

Forever thankful for your friendship, faithfulness, love, and support, and for all those memories we share, making this journey in life much better and worth going further and deeper…!

Let’s be great to one another.

Your Friend and Host
Jeff