A Magical Evening with Damian Lewis and His Band at Hoxton Hall

Damianista’s note 03/22/2023: Since the Hoxton Hall gig has been recorded professionally and that it will be released later this year, we cannot share the live videos we made at the gig. But you may find live videos from Damian’s other gigs on our YouTube channel.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, I had a 48-hour lightning trip to London for fun with fan friends and a fantastic evening of music at Hoxton Hall in East End with the one and only Damian Lewis and his fabulous band. And when I asked my blog mate Gingersnap before my trip that whether she thought I was crazy, I got this response.

“You’re not crazy. But you have a new name. Groupie!”

Seriously, how many times do you need to travel to see a musician in action to qualify as a groupie? 🙂

It was such a magical night that, ten days later,  this groupie still the under the spell of Damian’s spectacular performance and ready to tell you all about how our Ginger Elvis has ruled on stage and off – he has made time for everyone, his guests and his fans, after the gig. He had pictures taken, gave autographs as well as bear hugs.

So please come join me in the historic and intimate music hall that is Hoxton Hall, and live or re-live ( if you were lucky  enough to be there!) every single detail from that terrific evening.

First things first. I owe huge thanks to my brilliant fan friends for their help in making this post a success. I cannot thank (in alphabetical order) Darlene, Hellie, Monique, Tsveti and Vincent enough for taking pictures and making  videos to share with the fandom on Fan Fun. It was such a pleasure spending this wonderful evening of music with my front row crowd! YOU GUYS ROCK! And we sure hope to continue the tradition.

I think my fixated smile arrived at the Hoxton Hall entrance and never left that night 🙂

So… when do you typically go to a club when they say doors open at 7:30pm? 7ish? Maybe even later if you skip the support act. Me, too… typically. But not for Damian. And I am very lucky to have a bunch of fan friends who agree with me. In short: Darlene and  I are the first to arrive at Hoxton Hall early enough (hmmm…. yeah at 5pm!!!!!) to make sure we will be the first to get into the music hall! We receive a warm welcome from Steve Abbott, Damian’s manager. Steve is such a sweetheart that, on the condition that we leave our cameras behind, he lets us watch the sound check. Lo and behold, there is Damian on stage – a surreal experience. We are grateful.

As Tsvetanka and Monique arrive a bit later, the team is complete! 🙂

L-R: Monique, Bahar, Tsveti, Darlene (I call this picture ‘The Daltons” :))

We have a lovely chat with Cornelius, who brings us Ferrero Rocher chocolates and takes this picture, and with the Scottish guy (whose name sadly misses me) who teaches us how to nick Damian posters from downstairs 🙂 I show Steve the fridge magnets I had custom-made for fans that arrive early at the show. He likes the idea. And I, at some point, find myself giving out magnets and offering chocolates to fans who arrive at the venue. Feeling as part of the team is everything 🙂

Custom-made fridge magnets I had made for the first 25 fans in the line for Hoxton Hall gig!

Then arrive Vincent and Ellie  (aka our London Spy) and her friend Pial, who are, exactly like me, 3 for 3 at London gigs! And my long-time social media friend Hellie, whom I am thrilled to finally meet in person, arrives with her friend Ceirwyn!

Hellie and I 🙂

Done with the sound check, Damian and the band leave the venue – probably to eat something. But our guy first visits us at the line and does not forget to pat me on the shoulder.  Thank you!

L-R: Unknown front row fan, Arkyn Show on IG,, Hellie, Vincent, Bahar, Monique, Darlene, Tsvetanka, and Lauren. Thank you so much, Ceirwyn, for taking the pic!

Doors finally open at around 7:30 or so and the stage is all set for the evening when we get there. Sadly, there is no handwritten set list this time, but a printed one. I get to study the set list: it is the same as the list at The Tabernacle gig yet the order of the songs is slightly different.

Amelia Watson is the support act . I am hearing her music for the first time, and I am no music critic… that said, being a good jazz listener, I am so impressed by her voice. I so love her cover of one of my all-time favorite tunes: “Ain’t No Sunshine.” And here she is playing one of her originals…

And it is time! Here is Damian on stage in the exact outfit (minus the jacket for the gig) he was spotted wearing early in the week in New York… Gingersnap could not help cat-call him on Twitter and we think he wore it to tease us (and no we do not care if this is true or not :)))

Damian greets the crowd as he tunes his guitar:

“That’s enough in tune for me. Welcome to East London all (then whispers it again in mic). Thanks for coming out.”

And they – Billy Adamson on  guitar, Joe Webb on  piano, Giacomo Smith on alto sax and clarinet, Will Cleasby on drums, Will Sach on bass and Kitty Liv on harmonica and vocals – take it away with Down On The Bowery –  a deeply romantic tune in which one lover invites his other half to climb up him like a vine,  join to him like a twin, stop him crying and start him laughing…

“I wrote this in New York.”

…and the penny drops! I may be completely off but I think this song was written for Alison for bringing love, joy and laughter into Damian’s life again. Lyrics say “Down on the Bowery, I just got healed…” <3 The big clue is NEW YORK here. They always stay at The Bowery Hotel on Bowery Street in New York!

Damian now takes us back to the times he did a lot of busking. He did the tubes, but he also had a motorbike and a tent and he went to busking in Southern France and Spain. He played wherever they let him. He judged badly one night as he crossed the Pyrenees. He built his tent in the middle of a storm, and realized, as darkness fell, that his tent had a huge hole on its roof…  as the storm raged, he wondered if this could be the end…

“Zaragoza, here I come.”

“My friend Billy  on the Guitar.”

Damian’s friend Billy is Billy Adamson, a guitarist and songwriter. You can check his Instagram here.

They go straight into Hole in My Roof. This one is about loss – having a hole in your roof, in your head. You feel it in Damian’s deep, husky voice.

“You and me should be together ’til the end.
So bye bye, baby, I can’t wait to see your smile again.”

I’m not crying, you’re crying!

Damian talks about the venue.

“Beautiful music hall, we are in…  Victorian music hall… Simply stunning.”

I mean – look at this!

Hoxton Hall is a beautiful music hall. It feels very intimate because of its vertical structure – three floors with lovely, laced balconies on three sides. The hall has some interesting history as well: Built in the traditional music hall architecture style, it was an affordable venue to entertain the working classes with musical acts, circus and even performing dogs for a long time! Currently a charity, Hoxton Hall is run by a board of trustees and a staff team, and supported by volunteers.

Back to the gig…

“I once knew a fantastic lady…”

Here comes My Little One – a true celebration of the late great Helen McCrory!

My Little One is a happy song about who Helen is, a petite lady (“how does she look so tall? she is only 5 foot small”) who is formidable (“she punches like a heavyweight, could eat you up for breakfast”, “she growls like a hurricane”), loud (“how can she seem so loud? I can hear her in a crowd”), energetic (“how can she walk so fast?”), lovely (“she’s got a smile that’ll light the sky up”) and much more.  And he loves her. Love grows, evolves, and changes shape over time. Life must go on, Damian will live on, and Helen will always be a part of him…

“Kitty Liv on the mouth organ.”

Kitty Liv is a fantastic musician, one third of the band Kitty, Daisy and Lewis (a different Lewis!) and has an upcoming album! You can check her Instagram here.

The next song Soho Tango is about a very first meeting. Two people walk in Soho in the wee hours, rolling cigarettes, telling  jokes and talking… I often find myself singing this song at home…

“Giacomo Smith, ladies and gentlemen. Sax and clarinet player, and more than that, my producer…

Giacomo Smith is the leader of the Kansas Smitty’s House Band performing on both clarinet and alto saxophone.  He composes extensively for Kansas Smitty’s releases. As a soloist, Smith performed at Jazz at Lincoln Centre in Nw York as well as Royal Albert Hall and the  Barbican Centre in London. You can check his Instagram here.

Time for a cover!

“This is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Not one of mine.

😀

It is Harvest Moon by Neil Young.

“Joe Webb on the piano. (In Welsh accent) My brother from another  mother.”

A highly regarded pianist on the U.K. jazz scene, Joe Webb grew up in Wales and that is why Damian introduces “his brother from another mother” in a Welsh accent 🙂 Webb is a member of the Kansas Smitty’s House Band. You can check Joe Webb’s Instagram here.

As Damian announces that the next song is about spies, I completely agree with the audience member who shouts:

“Awesome show.”

A Spy Among Friends is available for streaming  on ITVX in the UK and has just premiered on MGM+ in the US. It is slow-cooking, captivating and elegant. Cinematic to a degree that I envy the viewers who could see the first two episodes on big screen at the BFI London Film Festival. There are time  jumps so you need to pay attention  – do not text and watch. ENJOY!

As someone who follows everything Damian quite closely, let me also give you a little trivia here: Never Judge A Man By His Umbrella is the title of a memoir written by former MI-6 Nicholas Elliott, the very man Damian is portraying in A Spy Among Friends! 

Damian now covers an old classic from 1978. And oh my God he shakes the room with his performance of Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London! In case you do not know the song,  it is about a well-dressed womanizer, a ladies’ man, a werewolf preying on little old ladies. A perfect song for his voice. And look at our boy on stage – I already get Will Radley vibes from The Radleys, Damian’s next movie project about a middle class, suburban, vampire British family 🙂

“How about Will on the drums?”

Only 26 years old, Will Cleasby is a ridiculously talented drummer that will be going places. He is a member of the Kansas Smitty’s House Band. You can check Will’s Instagram here.

Damian now sits at the piano for a solo performance.

“If Harvest Moon is one of the most beautiful songs, this is one of the sweetest… it’s Tom Waits… early years.”

Here’s Little Trip to Heaven

“How is everybody doing?”

“How you doin?” (Someone in the audience asks it like Joey from Friends would ask :D)

Damian says he is 10 out of 10.

“Just really enjoying myself.”

IT SO SHOWS, DAMIAN! AND WE LOVE IT!

This song is called “Wanna Grow Old in Paris… well, who doesn’t, right?”

Absolutely. But Damian once knew a fantastic lady who wanted to grow old in Paris…

Helen spent her teenage years in Paris because her dad was a diplomat there and witnessed chic Parisienne women attending parties and receptions at the residence. She once said:

I spent my teenage years in Paris when my dad was stationed there, and I’d look at women in their forties and think, ‘That’s the age I want to be.

Paris was also special for the two of them as a couple. Damian proposed to Helen on Pont Neuf back in 2006.

“One of those verses definitely wasn’t what I wrote but I enjoyed making it up… Will says it’s jazz.”

Spot on, Will! 🙂 But, seriously, isn’t jazz all about improvisation?

Damian now takes up the electro-guitar.

“You’re making plans??… (The audience: “Yeah.”) I thought so.”

Here is a snippet of Damian singing  Makin’ Plans from Hellie’s camera –  who is that red haired woman dancing like crazy in the front row? 😀

“Will Sach on two basses.”

Will Sach is a terrific bass player. You can check his Instagram here.

Talking about makin’ plans, one of the audience members who has made made plans is Darlene 🙂 She came from Long Island, New York with a sign that says…

She shows it to  Damian between songs. He says…

“Yes.”

And he adds:

“I was just over there. You should have flown back with me.”

Why, the penultimate song in the set list, is absolutely one of my favorites. I love the entire spectrum of jazz  but I am so in love with the New Orleans sound. And as Giacomo Smith very rightly said on Instagram after the gig at The Tabernacle “a little Jelly Roll Morton always gets the crowd going.” Smith’s clarinet solo in Why is simply superb.

“Yess, G!”

“We’ll leave the stage after this one, ladies and gentlemen. Sometimes people visit. Thank you all for visiting today.”

She Comes is a truly truly great song. And once you hear the lyrics, you immediately know who is sometimes visiting Damian…

She comes as a blackbird, she comes as a fox.
She sits at the window, she sings from a rock.
She’s the moon in the day and the sun that shines in the dark.
She rests in me and she rests in shade.

….
She’s my joy, she’s my pain and she rained on me.

When someone asked Steve Abbott, Damian’s manager, about what kind of music Damian plays on Twitter, this was his response.

So the encore of the evening comes from J. J. Cale – a song  you may know as one that Eric Clapton sings. Cale wrote the song in 1966, Clapton covered it on his debut studio album in  1970 that made the song popular. And so J.J. Cale re-recorded it for his album Naturally in 1971 – the year Damian was born! It is After Midnight.

I grab the set list from the stage! And for your information, nobody stole the towel. Because there was none 🙂

Before I tell you about Damian’s time with the fans… It was incredibly sweet of Steve, Damian’s manager, to take pictures of the front row crowd with Damian during the gig. I mean… look at this! I shared this picture with my fellow front row fans and also with Damian via his PA. I mean the guy needs to know his groupies!!!

Damian first sees his guests in the green room, and then makes time for the fans in the bar area. He asks me:

“How are we doing this, Bahar?”

Well, I help with taking pictures with fans as he gives autographs and hugs 🙂

Here is Darlene having the printed picture she brought from the US signed by Damian with the exact words he said to her from the stage earlier…

Someone asks Damian about his upcoming album. He says the album will have his original songs and a few covers. And, he adds, the first single is coming out on March 24!!!

When it is my turn, I have my Hoxton Hall gig poster signed. Damian signs my stuff with “Tseku!” (“Tesekkur” or “Thank you” in Turkish) nowadays. Until recently, I was thinking he might have learnt the word on A Spy Among Friends set…

…but it seems the Brits are collectively learning Turkish these days 🙂 At the manicure salon on the day of the show, the lady who did my nails talked about the Turkish people she knew in her neighborhood as well as the  Turkish TV shows she enjoyed!!! Then, at my hotel, a staff member caught me at the breakfast buffet just to say “Gunaydin. Nasilsiniz?” (or “Good Morning. How are you?” in Turkish) I was quite surprised since I am not used to hearing my native tongue from people that are not from Turkey. And she said she thought I was from Turkey based on my name and she knew a  bit of Turkish thanks to the Turkish TV shows and she wanted to practice 🙂 OMG! Yes I know that Turkish TV shows have been making  a lot of buzz all around the world from Latin America to Europe to Asia for the last couple of years. And now I am thinking that Damian may be into Turkish TV shows, too! 😀 😀 😀 I seriously  doubt it but I just want to imagine it and laugh loudly!)

When I decided to go to London for Hoxton Hall gig, I had a custom mug made for Damian which you can see from different angles below. It has his gig  picture and the first three London gigs’ locations and dates on it. This would be my only gift for Damian…

 

…but then things changed when Damian announced, only a few days before my flight to London, on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that Bobby Axelrod would be back to Billions!

Ha! So come the extra gifts to properly celebrate The Return of the King: A Bobby Axelrod Funko Pop, a Gordon & McPhail Single Malt Scotch, and Single Malt Scotch Whisky truffles (Damian immediately notices they are from Fortnum and Mason :D) to go with the Scotch!

When I give him the Bobby Axelrod Funko Pop, I tell Damian that we knew he would return to Billions even before he was spotted on the set in London because…

“We knew you would return to Billions because you had the Bobby haircut.”

“I know. I’m reading the blog. You’re following very closely. “

He would not have made me happier if he had told me he loved me 🙂 And yes we are following a bit too closely from afar!

And the video you see below has been made out of the 95 (yes, 95!!!) images that Tsveti took during the gift giving ritual 🙂 I added the music and I think  it goes very well with the video 🙂 And notice that, in addition to the gifts I have, I give Damian green socks with golf balls from Darlene and a Martenitsa (a traditional Bulgarian bracelet that would bring our guy health and happiness) from Tsveti!

Oh and talking about socks… Darlene asks Damian about his purple socks that we have recently seen him wear everywhere from his gigs, to the Keane screening at Film at Lincoln Center and even to his CBE ceremony! We ask whether he is wearing them today but his boots are tall enough to hide the socks 🙂

I am also so proud to finally have Tsveti with Damian in a shot because she is too shy that she has never been able to ask for a photo before… and so when Damian indicates he now has  to leave to go out with his friends, I put my foot down and make sure everybody goes home HAPPY!

Damian blows us kisses as he leaves, and he takes the fridge magnet that Ellie, our London Spy, offers him. And I subconsciously intervene…

“But it’s not for you.”

(Damian gives it back): “It’s not for me.”

Ellie very kindly gives it to him and I am happy to report I have already put another magnet in the mail for her! I will make sure there will be more magnets at the next gig 🙂

Given that Damian and his band have now conquered South London (Omeara), West London (The Tabernacle) and East London (Hoxton Hall), the next London gig may actually happen in North London. And I will try my best to be there! Tesekkur, Damian. Till next time!

Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history!

13 thoughts on “A Magical Evening with Damian Lewis and His Band at Hoxton Hall”

      1. Rachel – hahaha thank you Rachel! I was just telling Bahar I already have an autographed photo of Damian from Rachel so now I need a poster or setlist.

    1. Consider it done given that I get to see him <3 But I so wanna be there with you! If there is someone who really deserves to have some of his time, it's you!

  1. Holy crumblies!!! I didn’t realise, it came up soooo soon!! didn’t even get myself tickets or anything! gutted I’ve missed out!, and even more gutted I missed meeting you too Bahar!!! very sad now! lol but love that it was an amazing show and you all had, it appears the most fantastic time ever!!! Brilliant!! sending you all huge hugs!!!

    Best time ur in UK, buzz me ok…..
    luv. x

    1. No worries, there will be more gigs! It’s just me – the crazy one! – who tries to be at every single of them 🙂 I’m so scared of missing out 🙂

  2. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I can not thank you enough for the magical night that I have! Thank you for being there with us! Thank you for this recap! Every word brings me back then! We had so much fun and excitement! I am now addicted to Damians’ concerts
    Sending much ❤️ and hugs!

    PS Can I ask you if you have time, to write down the lyrics of the songs we now have for those of us who don’t speak English very well? I’m humming the songs all day long.

    Tsvetie

    1. THANK YOU!!!!!! I typically say “we did it together!” and we did but also I think I pushed for you to finally have a photo with him! These memories are so precious. I think you will smile every time you see that photo. I had those magnets made also for that reason. I just wanted fans to see them on their fridge and smile 🙂 We had so much fun, excitement, and let’s face it some stress! He’s never disappointed us but we’re still scared that it may happen… I am as addicted to the gigs as you are!!!!! And I hope we get to spend more time together next time. I’m skipping the festivals though. It’s a different vibe, and a different set of audience, I think… But I so much want to come to the next London gig if I can.

      Ha! Great question about the lyrics. It’s easy with the covers – I can find them easily. With the originals, like you do, probably because I’m not a native speaker, I can’t get every word… but I will try! I’m humming the songs, too… especially Soho Tango and Down on the Bowery!

      1. Bless you for pushing me!!!
        We definitely must spend more time together next time. We can go to see some musical or a play.
        The magnet you gave me it’s so precious, that I still keep it in my inner pocket next to the ❤️.
        As for the stress and ecsitment, I’m still so moony that I forget things like keys everyday.
        She comes, Zaragoza and Never judge a Man are now in my repertoire. They should put the lyrics on the CD cover. I can’t wait for it.
        Tsvetie

        1. She comes as a blackbird, she comes as a fox
          She sits at the window, she sings from a rock
          She’s the moon in the day, she’s a sun that shines in the dark
          She rests in me and she rests in shade
          She swells like an ocean, she howls like the sea…

          I’m sure they will release the lyrics with the album.

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