Sandi Thom - Concert Tours

Concert Tours

Prior to the 21 Nights from Tooting, Thom had been actively touring in the UK in 2005. Thom made an appearance at the Northsound Radio to 40,000 Free at the Dee festival in Aberdeen on 4 September 2005; a charity gig in Edinburgh later in September 2005, and was described as "hotly-tipped" by the Daily Record. However, in addition, Thom "has been labelled a fraud" according to the Daily Record. Thom supported The Proclaimers on their UK tour in December 2005 and toured with Nizlopi. She and her band continued to tour, playing the Pocklington Arts Centre near York on 22 February 2006, supported by Edwina Hayes, and the Queen's Hall in Narberth in Wales on 23 February 2006.

Thom has played live in several unconventional venues. She had previously performed at the opening of the World Skiing Championships in Sweden, where the stage was set up at the top of a mountain range; she performed at the top of the BT tower in London on behalf of the DMA's (Digital Music Awards), performed for a Children in Need auction winner who paid the charity £17,000 for Thom to play her living room. She played the Main Stage at T in the Park 2006, having been booked for the lowest billed stage. She headlined the acoustic tent at the 2006 V festival with Kasabian. In early 2007, Thom spent 6 weeks in France performing in every city across the country alongside a French artist at a free concert called the Ricard Live Tour. The concert attracted an average of 25,000 a night. She performed at English festivals such as Glastonbury, Guilfest and Redbourne; and in Scotland, the Wizard festival and the Belladrum Heart festival. Other festivals further afield included the Oxegen music festival and the World Fleadh in Ireland, and the Fuji Rock Festival. Thom supported George Michael for two nights of his stadium tour in Denmark. Concert dates scheduled for Ireland following the album's release were cancelled at the last minute No reason was given at the time for the cancellations. An announcement by Thom on her official website said that the cancelled performances were to be re-scheduled for September. However, this did not happen. In June, Thom performed a free 50-minute acoustic gig in front of 200 people at the broadcast centre of WDR radio station in Cologne, Germany; the gig was broadcast twice during the course of the month.

The tour's mainland UK dates ran from 16 June to 1 July, followed by Germany 10–19 July. Only the Munich Festival performance on the 19th went ahead, the remaining German dates where Thom was the only artist performing were cancelled. An announcement on Thom's German website stated this was due to 'studio commitments'. although this explanation was not given on Thoms UK site for the cancellations and Diary entries by Thom do not give any mention of Studio commitments or activity at this time. A full concert performance planned for Edinburgh as part of the Fringe Festival in August was also cancelled and replaced by a mixed bill in which Thom featured. A number of one-off performances and promotional appearances including Blackpool illuminations were also played. Thom also confirmed she would be taking part in Busk Cancer week with interviews and articles given to the press and on her official website in conjunction with the promotional campaign for her latest album and single although all references to it were removed after the release of the single "Saturday Night" and no explanation was given as to why she had not taken part. A performance at Butlins Minehead Holiday Camp was also added. Thom appeared second on the bill at the Aberdeen Hogmanay celebrations followed by an appearance on the BBC Hogmanay show from Edinburgh where she sang one song Thom performed "By Afton Water" at the official Burns Supper in celebration of Robert Burns's 250th birthday. The event was held in Alloway, Ayrshire, where Burns was born.

Thom dedicated her tour of 2009 to the Homecoming Scotland campaign. The support acts for each show were local artists with special guests ranging from Phil Cunningham in Inverness, Leon Jackson in Glasgow and her original guitarist Marcus Bonfanti appearing at the final show of the English leg of the tour in Milton Keynes.

The first official date of the tour in Edinburgh was cancelled after the venue suffered significant fire damage, and tickets already purchased for the show were made valid for the second date of the tour in Dunfermline.

A duet with the first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, took place at one of the shows in Banff where he is the Member of Parliament, but during this period Thom gave interviews to the press trying to distance herself from politicians and politics by stating she was not the SNP's mascot and had not endorsed the SNP although her image and name had been used by the party and its leader Mr Salmond on numerous occasions, and Thom had endorsed publicly the SNP and its policies at the last election.

Thom apologised to the artist/producer Nitin Sawhney after being quoted in an interview as saying "Im not coming back as Nitin Swahney" which led to the artist contacting Thom to explain why she had made the comment. Thom's apology said the quote had "Come out all wrong" and she admired Sawhney as an artist.

The Glasgow leg of Homecoming 2009, which was to hold the largest concert of the tour, was moved from the Clyde Auditorium to the smaller Lomond suite after tickets failed to sell. On the day of the show it was announced that X Factor winner Leon Jackson was to be the special guest. Ten Concerts were performed in Scotland of which two were advertised as sold out Three concerts were played in England of which one was advertised as sold out.

During the tour Thom released two EP's. A "Live EP" featuring recordings from the Aberdeen Castlegait Hogmanay celebrations and the "Caledonia EP" featuring a series of covers including "Patience Of Angels" (originally by Eddi Reader) and the official Homecoming Scotland 2009 song "Caledonia" written by Dougie MacLean. These recordings were only available to purchase at concerts performed on the Homecoming Tour.

Thom appeared at the SXSW festival in Texas in March 2009. Her appearance was hoped to create interest in the American market to further her career.

In April, a sold out performance took place at the 200 capacity Crown Hotel Ballroom as part of the Nantwich Jazz Festival.

The Scotsman ran an article about expenses for gigs she performed for the SNP between 2007 and 2008. Thom dismissed this as petty. A series of dates as support act for The New Beautiful South was announced for November 2009. She also played a 30-minute set at the Avo Session Basel, supporting Snow Patrol. This was followed by a support slot for Joe Bonamassa on his UK and Irish tour dates.

Thom appeared at the Stirling Castle Hogmanay celebrations 2009. She performed alongside The MacDonald Brothers, The Shermans and Gary Mullen. Thom toured the UK in April and May 2010 to showcase new material from her album Merchants & Thieves and made a number of appearances at Festivals in the UK including The Tiree festival in Scotland and The Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival in Colne Lancashire in England. A second Merchants and Thieves tour took place in September and early October. Thom announced a tour of "Intimate" venues in the UK for early 2011 as well as details of a record to be recorded in Nashville in 2011. Four dates in Germany were also announced but were later cancelled. Festival appearances, including Rhythm Festival, were also added for 2011.