FIRMLY solidifying her place in the hearts and minds of Scotland’s music fanatics over the course of the last 12 prosperous months, Be Charlotte made a bold decision when embarking on her first tour. Rather than taking the well travelled route of Scotland and England’s sleepy towns and metropolitan cities, the Dundonian singer/songwriter took her immensely catchy pop and thought-provoking lyricism to South East Asia. Having returned home via London, Strange Behaviours in Stirling and The Scottish Music Awards, Be Charlotte has given us a special photo diary of her expedition alongside her own unique insights.
We spent a few weeks at Karma Souns Studios in Bang Saray, Thailand before heading out on the tour. It was nice to take the creativity into a completely new place and I really enjoyed the calmness of the town we were staying in.
En route to our first gig in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was a lot colder than we thought it was gonna be so we purchased some cheap jackets to keep us warm. This photo was taken before the taxi driver started driving away with all of our stuff in the back!!!!! The gig in Hanoi was definitely a good start to the tour though.
The next day we flew to Ho Chi Minh City, we only had a day there so wasn’t much time for exploring. When we sound checked at the venue the owner told us that when we came back for the gig that we’d need to go up and over the building as it would be too busy to walk through – we didn’t realise just how full it would be. It was completely sold out and to be honest it was a little daunting to play to a room full of 200 seated Vietnamese people but was one of my favourite gigs we’ve ever done.
This photo was taken the day after our gig in Taipei, Taiwan. We had a day off so got to see a little bit of the city. It was so hot outside that we struggled to be out for too long and by this point were quite tired so was nice to just chill out for a little bit. Just before this photo we visited the Longshan Temple which was a truly special place that felt so comforting to be around.
Hong Kong. As soon as we arrived at the airport we realised how fast pace Hong Kong is. We were greeted by the very interesting taxi service – they have small blue, red and green cars all designated to different areas. We were heading to Causeway Bay so eventually managed to fit us and all the luggage into a blue taxi. John, who runs The Wanch (the venue we played in) is in this photo and he was one of the loveliest people we met on the trip.
On top of the world with my best friends. We had a day off in Hong Kong so got to visit some pretty amazing places. The Big Buddha on Lantau Island was one of our favourite parts of the whole trip. Its a very peaceful and refreshing place. I also managed to spot a Nike outlet and purchased some pink air max which was a definite highlight!!!!!!
Singapore felt a lot different to the other places we had visited, definitely a lot more slow paced. I liked it a lot though. We were all pretty exhausted by this point of the trip so didn’t get to do as much sightseeing as we hoped but it was nice to get a feel of the place. We did a live session for Bandwagon Asia, Soi TV and then went on to play a sold out gig at The Kult Kafe…so cool!!!!!! Loved this gig so much. In the photo are Jane and Mike (songs for children) who put on the gig for us in Singapore and made us feel very welcome.
This photo was taken on flight 11 of 13. At this point we were all definitely ready for some Scottish air but before heading home we stopped in London of a couple days. The jetlag didn’t defeat us too much and we managed to do a live session for Radio X and our headline show for the Great Escape First 50!!!
Over tired and very cold. Doing an interview after our last show of the tour at The Tolbooth in Stirling. We had been in 33 degree heat in Singapore so it was quite a shock to be met with -4 when we arrived home…I am enjoying wearing hats and scarves though to be honest.
It was nice to end a very long trip with a night at the Scottish Music Awards in Glasgow. It was the first time any of us had been at the event so it was very cool to be invited to it. Loved catching up with a few people that we hadn’t seen in quite a while. We also won the big apple award which was very surreal!!!!
