ALFIE BOE: ‘I NEED NOISE TO SLEEP – SOMETHING COMFORTING LIKE DAD’S ARMY’
How do famous names spend their precious downtime? In our weekly My Saturday column, celebrities reveal their weekend virtues and vices. This week: Alfie Boe
6am
I try to make the most of the morning. My usual routine is a walk round to Café Paolo in west London. It’s always a coffee and a bacon and bubble and squeak sandwich for me; not so healthy but delicious. Currently I’m on my solo tour [which runs until 5 July], so I’ll wake up in a hotel or on the tour bus.
10am
I’ve slacked off on the exercise recently because I don’t have time. I discovered the benefits of cold-water plunging after filming the BBC show Freeze the Fear with Wim Hof [in 2022], and I do it when I can. It is a meditative practice – I go into a zone and switch my mind off from the cold. It’s important to me to look after my mental health. [Boe spent five weeks in rehab after taking an overdose following his separation from his wife Sarah in 2020.] Life moves fast and there are real pressures in the world today – the cost of living crisis is bringing everyone down. You need the space to switch off from the noise – I call it my monkey mind. Talking to someone helps as it can provide support. It’s hard to say you’re fixed because everyone gets sad or has emotional breakdowns. We just have to keep a balance.
10.30am
On tour, I always take a walk into the town, chat to locals and check out the venue for the night. If I don’t have a show, I jump on my motorbike and ride into the countryside, for example to Windsor Great Park. It provides an element of freedom. I don’t listen to music, I just embrace the beautiful roads. I’m also incognito with my helmet on – until I stop for a coffee, then people have a chat.
1pm
If I’m out on my bike, I’ll stop for a pub lunch or pack a rucksack with a picnic. I’m opening my own Alfie Encore bistro in the Lake District next year. It’s where my eight siblings and I used to go on family holidays so I have lots of happy memories there.
3pm
Afternoon nap – either at home or in my dressing room. It might seem odd, but I need noise to sleep. I’ll put on an old BBC comedy like Dad’s Army, which I watched as a kid. It’s comforting I guess. Being on the road as a solo artist can be a bit lonely. I always ask to share my dressing room with my bandmates on the night. I’m used to being around lots of people.
6pm
I start warming up with my bandmates ready for an evening show. But if I’m at home, I’m happy to stay in and cook. I don’t go out that much, maybe to the local pub or the Groucho Club, where you always meet fascinating people.
7pm
My kids Grace, 16, and Alfie, 12, sometimes visit from America [where they live with Sarah], but usually we FaceTime every day. Alfie loves to cook with me – something tasty like a steak. If it’s just me, I’ll pour a nice Italian red – a Barolo – from Lea & Sandeman wine shop in Chiswick and make a classic British dinner such as sausage and mash or pie and chips, while listening to the Eagles or Elbow.
8pm
Action movies are my thing. Anything with Denzel Washington in it, like The Equalizer.
10pm
I like a bath with a wine before bed.
2024-06-15T10:34:06Z dg43tfdfdgfd