Gig Reviews
Opening night 5 star reviews for Jack at Edinburgh Fringe 2011
First a few organisational details. Jack Lukeman is from Ireland and his show in Assembly 2 does not appear in the Fringe booklet because he is a very late addition to the Assembly schedule. He will be appearing up to 29th August; 21.10 - 22.10.
Now on to his show. I have not seen him perform before, but quite simply he blew me away. Within seconds of appearing on stage, I know he has a confident stage presence. As he is performing his first song 'Lonely at the Top', I realise he has a powerful and melodic voice with a tremendous vocal range. After a few songs, it is obvious he can put a song across and can convey such meaning to the lyrics.
When he says he is going to perform songs including selections from Randy Newman and Jacques Brel, I know I am in for a treat because these are song writers whose lyrics demand an assured and stylish performance, and this he delivers.
There is one huge surprise in that half way through his act he dispenses with his three piece band and walks around the auditorium as he sings a slow and moving sea shanty accompanying himself on a tiny accordion.
He is also able to strike up a great rapport with the audience. We are joining in the choruses, clapping along and even clicking fingers. His final number is a brilliant extended version of Brel's 'Jacky'.
This week if you have the chance, take the opportunity to see his show. His performance oozes class
Ben - one4review *****
Jack L at the National Concert Hall
If ever there was a natural-born showman, Jack Lukeman (aka Jack L) is he. Taking to the stage in the National Concert Hall to perform any number of classics, forgotten album tracks and even some new material, the performer managed a two-and-a-half hour set list which even included an impromptu version of The Stranglers Golden Brown performed during the intermission. Yes, thats right, Jack L sang his way through his own intermission.
For those foreign visitors who might not be familiar with the artist, Ive embedded a version of Georgie Boy below, the crowd-pleaser that he used as the final song in his encore last night. Its powerful stuff, even when not backed by an orchestra.
will concede I am not a huge Jack L fan. Ive always admired and respected the performer, who also managed to seem both immensely talented and readily approachable I recall a phase during the early point of the decade where he was a regular guest on Irish television and radio performing his own arrangements of modern pop songs, all of which somehow sounded intensely classy coming from the mouth of the Athy-born singer. I was there with my better half, a dyed-in-the-wool Jack L fan
And, as a person with no special investment in the artist, knowing a few random lyrics and struggling to name his biggest hit, I had a fantastic time. Part of it was simply the fact that, as a stage performer, Jack L was giving everything he had. From subtle pantomime to the more theatrical lyrics to the use of the space on the stage, he knew how to maximise the impact of his performance. He also knew how to play to his audience, displaying a warm and charming sense of humour about himself and even the gig in honour of the events primary sponsor, the ESB, he turned off the lights, electronics and even his microphone at one point to take to the stage with an old accordion for a rendition of Stardust Falling From Your Eyes.
At other times, he was working with a string section and pianist to create a rather powerful ambient sound. His voice is, simply put, incredible. My defining memory of the singer comes from listening to the Ray Darcy Show on Today FM. I remember that he was discussing Brel, and he performed his own rendition of The Port of Amsterdam. I was just blown away by it its a powerful song, but it would take years until I discovered a version which came close to matching Jack Ls intensity, in the David Bowie version from his oft-ignored Pin-Ups album.
The crowd surged with energy despite a few early hints of hesitation when invited to sing along to the final lines of one of the first songs, the entire auditorium was on its feet and clapping along to the final few numbers by the end of the night. If we were still allowed to smoke indoors, I reckon we might even have seen a raised lighter or two swaying along to the singers words as he played. By the time hes snuck out to the John Field Room (as much as the star of the nights entertainment can sneak out to the bar area at his own concert), the audience was safely in his thrall.
I really enjoyed the evening. Id been unable to get tickets to the surprise film at the end of the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, so this concert served as something as a finale to a fairly hectic (but highly enjoyable) weekend. And it certainly was a fitting one. Despite the exhaustion of trekking around the city centre for two days (after five days of work), the Kildare singer managed to energise me to the point that I was clapping along with the best of them sure, I was out of rhythm, but at least I was trying.
Spiegel Tent (Edinburgh Fringe Festival)
There are Fringe favourites who return, like clockwork, every year, and whose fans eagerly await their chance to buy their annual tickets. In a world where this is true, it seems a travesty that there is even space for a humble reviewer (who had never heard of Jack Lukeman until this month) to attend this gig. With only five performances at the Famous Spiegeltent this month, Jack L's "Month of Mondays" should have long ago sold out.
Stalking round the Spiegel Tent like a deranged elf, Jack L oozes a unique blend of menace and charisma. The woman swoon, the men sigh: this is what cool looks like. And indeed sounds like- Lukemans voice fills every corner of the Famous Spiegel Tent, wrapping his audience in a swirl of silken sound til they sit, hypnotised in the face of this most elegant aural assault.
In this state of rapture, the audience are powerless to resist Jack L's requests. When we are asked to clap, we clap. When Lukeman urges us to let loose any primal noise lurking in our depths as part of the chorus, we wail and stamp our feet and scream ourselves hoarse. When Lukeman bids his audience to gather close so he can whisper the secret of life, every member of the audience and the bar staff press forward to the centre of the tent, surrounding the singer who is perched on a chair. When the show finishes, we stumble into the rainy night, slightly stunned at what we have witnessed, knowing we have been part of something very special indeed.
It is to this reviewer's eternal shame that Jack Lukeman has stayed under her radar until now, but the good news is that he still has one more Monday left at the Spiegel Tent, and there is still a chance to close your Fringe with this most magnetic and talented of performers. Buy your tickets now, if there is any justice in the world they will not be easy to come by in future.
Julie Dawson - Edinburgh Spot Light
The Evening Herald (Vicar Street, Dublin)
It's a rare thing these days
to go to a gig and be blown away by an act that leaves you dazed and
confused about the whole experience.
Nevertheless, that was the abiding impression after seeing Jack Lukeman. That and his all-black
attire (even his signature acoustic guitar matched his dark, spiky
locks). "Feel free to sing along" chuckled the Athy man. "But preferably in the right tune, and
preferably the same song that I am singing!"
Performing classics along
with belters from his latest album Broken Songs, Lukeman was
soon making his way through an excited crowd and climbed onto one of
the tables on the floor. Armed with nothing but a small accordion, he asked for total silence and launched into what
was probably the most surreal moment of the entire night. "This is the way they used to do it back in the 1800s," laughed the man, with
a voice that penetrates you like a bullet.
Back on stage, the rock show truly got off to a start when every seat of the venue was ignored
when Jack sang Folsom Prison Blues and Gnarls Barkley's Crazy.
Returning for one last encore, he kept everybody captivated again as he sailed through
Hallelujah completely unaccompanied. Tears were shed and spines were tickled. I am still baffled as to what I saw and heard, but I know it was something special.
CHRIS WASSER Evening Herald, Herald AM.
The Examiner (Rosin Dubh, Galway)
If you were cranky about such
matters you may have found one or two of the venues
at this year's arts festival less than absolutely
ideal for some of the music on offer, but the
recently extended (and still intimate) Roisin Dubh
was the ideal setting for the talented Mr. Lukeman,
who can temper his powerful voice to fit the demands
of a room with a low ceiling and a 'whites of their
eyes' type proximity to the audience.
Interestingly, the singer had to enter the room via
a back door that can only be accessed from the alley
which runs along the nearby canal; a little
idiosyncrasy in the new design, that chimes perfectly
with the demimonde influence of L. Dressed head to toe in regulation black, the singer
started things off quietly enough with Broken Songs,
strumming his guitar and crooning the chorus that
served as a manifesto of sorts: "I'll fire up my
voice and sing you these broken songs".
Things were then cracked up when the four-piece band
of cello, bass, guitar and drums joined him to fill
the place with stories of defiance, lust and life's
seedy underbelly. Open Your Borders has blossomed into a great belter
that shows off Jack's musical DNA (Scott Walker,
Jacques Brel, Tom Waits) while remaining his own
man; I've been Raining and Georgie Boy blew the roof
off, as did a smashing cover of Gnarles Barkley's
ubiquitous Crazy.
The encores were fantastic too, with Brel's Jacky
and the finale, Rooftop Lullaby proving that Jack L
does quiet and loud with equal aplomb. Just brilliant.
By Enda Kilroy
The Irish Independent (The Olympia Theatre)
Jack Lukeman - aka Jack L - is perhaps the most singular
talent to
have emerged from Ireland in the past decade. Although
he loathes the
comparisons, the Athy man's spellbinding performances
recall a blend of Frank Sinatra, Jacques Brel, Scott Walker and Nick
Cave.
His Little Universe tour from 2001 provided some of the
most arresting
live experiences from an Irish act in years - and helped
make him a
cult on the Edinburgh Festival scene. His unprecedented
69 consecutive cabaret shows in Dublin two years later, is a record
unlikely to be
broken any time soon.
Lukeman's new album, Broken Songs, has just been
released and offers further compelling evidence of his vocal prowess. It's a
more stripped
back affair than his more theatrical past work and this
Dublin show
reflected a new, spartan direction. Gone were the
feather boas, garish
make up and elaborate stage props. Instead, we got
Lukeman without the
mask where the music could speak for itself.
The new songs certainly held their own alongside old
favourites.
Broken Songs and Open Your Borders were greeted like
long-lost friends
- and Lukeman, aided by his fine five-piece band crooned
along as passionately and evocatively as ever.
There was a wonderful moment half way through when he
dispensed with
his band and walked to the side of the stage to play a
concertina and
sing without amplification. Few would have had the nerve
to try it.
Fewer still would have succeeded. Has a packed Olympia
ever been
silenced quite as reverentially as this?
They crowd were suitably boisterous for two of his more
rousing
compositions, Little Man and Georgie Boy. Lukeman had
everybody on
their feet - and eating out of his hand.
The Irish Independent (John Meagher)
The Irish Times (The Lisburn Arts Centre)
Jack L's voice can best be described
as an iron fist in a velvet glove but he leaves you
punch drunk in a most enjoyable way.
Snuggling up to his audience in the intimate
surroundings of the small black box theatre in the
Island Arts Centre, Jack is like a musical magician.
His set was brilliant and mesmerising and everyone left
the theatre not quite knowing how he did it. Now that is
real magic!
Showcasing tracks from his new album Broken Songs,
released last month, and including some old favourites
in his set, this artist proved that he is going from
strength to strength and like a good red wine he just
gets better with age.
He is definitely genre defying and to try to pigeon hole
him as crooner or storytelling troubadour is a pointless
exercise.
Jack's voice and stage presence are his main selling
points. His voice is three- dimensional in that he can
go from a seducing whisper to an internal organ-shaking
operatic top note effortlessly.
His impish, coy malevolence casts an unbreakable spell
over his audience and if you experience his show once
you won't easily forget it. That's why this guy sold out
the Spirit Club in Dublin for three consecutive months!
He may be less well known in the north, but after a
number of high-profile appearances on RTE and an opening
number in front of thousands at a recent international
rugby match, Jack L's band wagon is transforming into a
juggernaut that no one will be able to ignore.
He has had a long association with classic Belgian
singer/songwriter Jacques Brel but this new show marks a
departure for Jack in many ways as he is now including
more of his own songs in his set.
He has proved himself an accomplished songwriter and the
self-penned songs from his new album explore themes of
love, loss and lust. All the things that Jack is
emblematic of.
He has just embarked a quite an extensive tour around
Ireland to promote his new album and the gigs that he
has performed so far have mainly been in lively pubs. So
it was a bit of a shock to the system for both audience
and performer to be confined to the much more civilised
and sedate surroundings of the Island Arts Centre.
However, as a true professional with years of stage
experience he quickly won over a somewhat reticent and
reserved audience and literally had them dancing in the
aisles by his last encore.
He brings his amazing show to the Empire Music Hall in
Belfast on May 17 and my advice is get tickets now and
go along and experience this musical force of nature for
yourself.
The Irish Times 2006 (Joanna Braniff)