In the middle of Cannonball Statman’s 7 week autumn 2023 tour for his new album Hard to Break, he’ll be joined by the legendary NYC artist Jason Trachtenburg for a number of dates in mainland Europe, and one in London. Jason will be performing as a solo act, with his set lists featuring a selection of songs from his latest album I Really Love You, Tonight, other songs from throughout his career that began in the late 80s on New York’s antifolk and performance art scenes and has since spanned over 3 decades, an a cappella piece based on J.S. Bach and the cycle of life, a poem about the art of performance and dying on stage, some brand new semi-classical pieces from his new musical called The Statue based on the memoir of Anna Dostoevsky (which premieres November 10th at The Lambs, NYC), and/or some Frankie the Pigeon kids songs. He will also be joining on keys for some of Cannonball’s songs.
This is an exciting double bill for many reasons. Jason and Cannonball are possibly two of the most theatrical and energetic live musicians New York City has ever produced, so any line-up with both of them on it is guaranteed to cause any number of anomalous physical and non-physical phenomena in the surrounding area. If they were performing in Italy on this tour, as they’d originally planned to, I would not be surprised if the Leaning Tower of Pisa began to stand upright after they went on stage. Some French fans have expressed concern that Cannonball and Jason’s performance at La Pointe Lafayette in Paris on the 7th of December, where they will also be joined by France de Griessen, will lead to a case of potentially lethal dancing mania not unlike Strasbourg’s Dancing Plague of 1518.
Additionally, these dates are exciting because Cannonball and Jason represent two generations of the New York antifolk scene, with Jason having been part of the scene since not long after its inception in the 1980s, prior to spending much of the 2000s touring the world with his family band the Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players; and Cannonball having then become part of that scene in the early 2010s, establishing himself as one of the most prolific touring artists of that era of New York antifolk, along with Mallory Feuer of The Grasping Straws. Jason was one of Cannonball’s earliest fans and supporters in that scene, and even unintentionally played a key role in forming the Cannonball Statman trio that recently toured in the UK and mainland Europe this past spring (video here).
Here are all the European dates with Jason Trachtenburg that are fully confirmed. Before this part of the tour, Cannonball is performing in 13 different cities in England (more info here), and then on the Internet & in Paris with France de Griessen, shortly before Jason’s arrival in Europe (info here) — after these performances with Jason, he will be closing out the year with 2 performances in Sweden (here).
16 Nov / Lisbon / Little Chelsea Experience
19 Nov (all day, all night) / London Antifolk Fest @ Windmill Brixton (tickets)
with David Cronenberg’s Wife, Lucy’s Diary, & many others
Cannonball has also booked Jason to perform two additional UK dates that Cannonball will be in the audience for, but will not be performing at:
20 Nov / Brighton / The Pipeline
21 Nov / Rochester / Three Sheets to the Wind
…after that, Cannonball will re-join Jason on stage for the remainder of the tour:
23 Nov / Santander / Escenario Santander
24 Nov / Madrid / La Tortuga (tickets)
with Lewis McKale & Curro Rumbao
25 Nov / Girona / Ateneu 24 de juny
26 Nov (afternoon!) / Vilamacolum / Can Patot
29 Nov / Biure / Cal Biure
with The Missing Leech
1 Dec / Kortrijk / Crate Records
2 Dec / Hannover / Nordstadtbraut
3 Dec (afternoon!) / Kamen / private house concert
4 Dec / Cologne / The Hanging Gardens
5 Dec / Amsterdam / De Nieuwe Anita
with Selma Peelen
6 Dec / Brussels / Fabulus
with France de Griessen
7 Dec / Paris / La Pointe Lafayette
with France de Griessen
See you soon!
Kléo
