H

HE HAS years and years of happy memories of gigging in Killarney so it didn’t come as a huge surprise when Luka Bloom confided in Killarney Advertiser that he is “jumping at the bit” at the idea of performing in the town this evening.

The artist will be commencing his first Irish tour in many years when he takes centre stage in the INEC Acoustic Club at The Gleneagle.

Kildare native Luka was cheering on his home side as they contested the All-Ireland minor football semi-final which they lost to their Kerry counterparts last Sunday. “There’s not many times in the year that I am not shouting for Kerry!” he said.

Luka is also excited about his new album, Frúgalisto, which was released earlier this year and is available in cd and vinyl at www.lukabloom or at Tower Records, Dublin. “In these times of people streaming music and in this era of Spotify I still hold on to this idea of that making a record is the thing to do. I am so excited about the release of this album,” he said.

Having produced 20 albums since the 1970s, Luka continues to push the boundaries of what his music can do and has the power to bring audiences to a hush as his poetic lyrics bounce over melodies in a beautiful, captivating way.

The same artist can rouse the spirit of the audience to the ceiling when he changes the tempo.

Describing himself as “lying low” in the Banner County in the run-up to the tour, he added: “When you’re living in Clare it’s not really lying low as such….there’s too much divilment here for that! My idea of lying low is simply not having to go through airports!”