This week, French multi-instrumentalist FKJ has announced an extensive schedule of 2019 world tour dates including a lengthy run of performances in the U.S. The tour is set to begin in early February with a 7-show stretch in Europe including stops in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Cologne, Berlin, Copenhagen, and Hamburg. From there, FKJ will head to the U.K., where he’ll mount a four-night, four-city run through Glasgow, Manchester, Bristol, and London.
After a break from the road throughout the month of March, FKJ will head across the pond to commence a nationwide, 22-date North American swing spanning most of April and May. After kicking off his North American run in Vancouver, BC on April 5th, the French sensation will make his way to Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Phoenix, AZ; Austin, TX; Dallas, TX; Houston, TX; New Orleans, LA; Atlanta, GA; Orlando, FL; Tampa, FL; Washington, D.C.; Philadelphia, PA; New York, NY; Boston, MA; Montreal, Quebec; Toronto, Ontario; Detroit, MI; Chicago, IL; and Minneapolis, MN before rounding out his tour with a performance in Denver, CO on May 21st.
FKJ–short for French Kiwi Juice–is a multi-talented one-man band whose output is consistently riveting. The Tours, France native utilizes the most potent elements of a vast spectrum of styles to craft his “expanding grooves.” FKJ is a wonder to watch. He creates all the moving parts—the smooth guitar licks, the synths, the sax, the jazz-blues bass lines—and sets them loose as hip-hop beat loops and introspective jazz tangents, juggling the mounting melodies with effortless flow. He released his first official album, French Kiwi Juice, in 2017, and has begun to crack the insular jam audience with sets at large-scale festivals like Suwannee Hulaween as well as other high profile events like Coachella and Lightning In A Bottle.
If you’re unfamiliar with FKJ, you can get a glimpse of the power and beauty of his live performances with the video below. The 16-minute clip, shot by Le Sofa, showcases FKJ’s recent special performance at the Paris Modern Art Museum, staged in front of the massive mural “La Fée Electricité” by late French painter Raoul Dufy on the curved wall of Pavillon de la Lumière et de l’Électricité (“Pavilion of Light and Electricity”). FKJ’s enthralling live improvisation session in front of the massive, priceless mural is a fascinating study in the harmony of sound and sight, as the audio-visual spectacle of his morphing, meandering melodies plays off the vibrant thematics of the mural to fantastic effect. Do yourself a favor: set aside a few minutes, tune in, zone out, and thank us later.
FKJ – Live at La Fée Electricité – Paris, FR [Pro-Shot]
[Video: FKJ]
For a full list of FKJ’s newly announced tour dates, see below. Tickets for the upcoming tour go on sale this Friday, November 9th. For more info, or to grab your tickets when they go on sale, head to FKJ’s website here.
