Luka sings at Birnam Arts Centre

Review of Luka Bloom at Birnam Arts Centre

Jun 8 2010 by Alison Anderson, Perthshire Advertiser Tuesday

IRISH troubadour Luka Bloom has toured the world for the past 20-plus years, enjoying success as a fine singer-songwriter and musician.

So his first gig in Perthshire was long overdue – an admission he humbly made – yet it was certainly worth the wait.

To a large and certainly appreciative Birnam audience he energetically sang and strummed for two solid, scintillating hours, just one man and his guitars captivating his audience with his own songs and superb covers.

Add to this a liberal helping of Irish charm and craic and the result was pure Luka Bloom magic.

In some ways he is the County Kildare equivalent of Perthshire’s Dougie MacLean, his evocative lyrics sitting beautifully within gorgeous melodies. And like MacLean, Bloom has worked and developed his skills over many years to deliver a true master of live performance – his rich and heart-melting tones surrounding the senses like velvet.

And thus it was at Birnam where he played material spanning three decades, including his own City of Chicago (sung also to great affect on numerous occasions by Bloom’s big brother Christy Moore), the topical June, the jaunty You Couldn’t Have Come at a Better Time and his spine-tingling Primavera.

Impeccably interpreted covers among his play list of some 20 songs included a singalong of Mike Scott’s Sunny Sailor Boy; a tribute to the late Kate McGarrigle with her and sister Anna’s Mendocino; a tribute to another late, great singer-songwriter, and Bloom’s hero, John Martyn with May You Never; and two Ewan MacColl songs The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and the closing song of this lovely night – The Joy of Living.

Alison Anderson