The Acoustic Den: Luka Bloom @ Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, Belfast

Black Box, Belfast
Sunday, 4 May 2008

Bit of a mad thing to do, to fly from London to Belfast just for the afternoon... just for a gig... but when it's a Luka gig? Well... and, as it happens, quite right too!

This gig was part of the 2008 Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, but when I arrived at 1pm, there wasn't much outward sign of a festival going on. It was raining and most of the events seemed to be taking place indoors, so perhaps the deserted streets should not have surprised me. The Cathedral Quarter is the oldest part of the city, near the docks, with narrow little cobblestone streets -- once the warehouse district, now home to a lot of artistic enterprises. Black Box is a fairly recent venture, housed in a converted warehouse. Outside, it is painted pristine white - though the ironwork e.g. gates are black -- but inside, it is indeed a "Black Box". The performing space is square, with entry coming in from the side, level with the stage. The lights were kept dim and the overriding impression is definitely one of Blackness. Seating for the audience was arranged around small tables but cosmetic decorations were absent: no candles, no flowers, the chairs being made of nasty perhaps-once-white resin ('garden furniture'), and the stage was likewise: just sound equipment, nothing extra. But it's the sound that's created in that space that's important, and wow, what a sound we got -- and made!!!

I met a few people outside before they started letting us in: Matt & Steph from Glasgow and Fiona from Tasmania now living in Dublin. Matt & Steph were the first to arrive at the venue and were waiting by the gate when I arrived. I'd never met them before but Steph greeted me by name -- shock!! Apparently the Forum and Facebook have made me famous! Once in the door in the 'holding area', we got to chatting with Fiona, another Internet booker without a bona fide ticket, like me. So the four of us sat together inside, right at the front in the centre. Perfect!!

Support for Luka was Ruby Colley, originally from Essex (I believe she said) but now living in Belfast. She's been playing violin since age 3, was classically trained, has a degree in Composition, now an experimental composer & performer & artist-in-residence for the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 2008, opening for many of the headline acts throughout the Festival. More info including downloads at www.myspace.com/rubycolley. She (and Luka too, later) were frequently stooping down to adjust the sound mix. [Luka didn't have Paul Scully, his usual sound man on the UK tour, with him and called out several times to the Black Box sound man at the controls, but didn't seem to get much real assistance. He made jokes about it -- as he did what he could with the controls on the stage -- but I don't think it was really all that funny for him...] Ruby seemed totally accustomed to doing it all herself. A very self-possessed young lady with an unusual sound. Not to everyone's taste but I was filled with admiration for her. She's creative, innovative and very brave to do what she does. And thankfully enough people seem to 'get it' that she is getting some recognition and support from both the public and other artists. Fair play t' her!

So, the Main Man.

Okay, this may be a girly thing to notice, but my first impression was that the ubiquitous black shirt from the UK tour is no longer quite so black and should now, in my opinion, be honourably but permanently retired! Though honestly, once he starts making music, who cares about the shirt!!

Luka Bloom

Set List
(Martin classical guitar)
1  Here And Now
2  As I Waved Goodbye
3  Tribe
4  Primavera
5  Make You Feel My Love
6  City of Chicago
7  No Matter Where You Go, There You Are
8  Sunday
9  Eastbound Train
(switch to Rudy)
10  Exploring The Blue
11  Gone To Pablo
12  Fire
13  I'm On Your Side
14  Every Man
15  Sunny Sailor Boy
16  The Fertile Rock

Encore
(Rudy)
17  You Couldn't Have Come At A Better Time
(back to Martin guitar)
18  Diamond Mountain
19  Don't Be Afraid Of The Light That Shines Within You (accompanied by Ruby Colley on violin)

A few songs into the set, Luka asked for either the air conditioning to be turned off or the stage lights to be turned up, because "okay, I'm sweatin' up here, as I'm sure you can see, but I'm feckin' freezin'!" He then looked to the audience for backup -- unfortunately, most people seemed to want the air con to stay on! The stage lights never did get turned up any brighter for him. :(

The songs that really stood out for me, both at the time and looking back now, were:

THE FERTILE ROCK
WOW! What a performance from the audience!! Dare I say, better than the audience in the Carre on the live Amsterdam album!! I had shivers!! And NOT from the air con!! I wish I could have got a picture of Luka grinning with pleasure & astonishment!! :)

I think it's been a while since this song featured live... Luka said he was heckled for it last Friday night in Belgium by a BIG man at the front "who had all the hippie gear on, but 'PSYCHO' in his eyes....better safe than sorry!" Well, I say 'thank you' to Psycho Man in Belgium ;)

EVERY MAN
Please please please let this be on the new album. Third time I've heard it this year and each time I find something new in it to love. This time, 'a butterfly leaves the room', leaving behind it, grace.

SUNNY SAILOR BOY
Perennial sing-along favourite, enthusiastically sung by everyone!

MAKE YOU FEEL MY LOVE
Again, how the audience sang along -- every word!

DIAMOND MOUNTAIN
Another fabulous old favourite, and an especially tender performance of it.

And lastly, the highlight (for me) of the entire day:
DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE LIGHT THAT SHINES WITHIN YOU
This is one of my all-time favourite songs by ANY artist. Luka described how he had been trying to write a song for St Brigid's Day and took inspiration from a line used by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural presidential speech: "it's not the darkness people are afraid of, but the light within".
Ruby's violin was an inspired accompaniment.

PURE MAGIC.

More shivers! :)

A few fragment memories of Luka's introductions and chat:

AS I WAVED GOODBYE
He explained how he wrote the song about the day the Dalai Lama left his home in Tibet on 17 March 1959 (to which he has not, to this day, been free to return) and how honoured he felt to be asked to play it for the Dalai Lama himself in Derry last year at the 10th anniversary of Children in Crossfire. Then Luka said that the Chinese government recently stated again that the Dalai Lama is a criminal - "Well, I have met him. He is NOT a criminal."

NO MATTER WHERE YOU GO, THERE YOU ARE
There were the usual lines Luka uses to make the transition from CITY OF CHICAGO (written 24 years ago about emigration) to this song about immigration - "Now Ireland is a destination for immigrants. This is a Good Thing! Because there are some places in Ireland, ladies and gentlemen, where the gene pool is a little too small."
And then he added: "Darlin', I'm so sad we're gettin' a divorce, but can we still be cousins?" (!!)

DIAMOND MOUNTAIN
His intro was about Australia (Fiona could not suppress a cheer!) -- and he was going on at some length about something, until suddenly he said "See, I should shut up and just sing!" Steff & I exchanged glances -- I am sure we were both remembering when the DVD came out in February (the documentary having, in Luka's opinion, "way too much of me talking shite.... maybe it is best to sing the song, and then shut up") -- which resulted in a post on his website entitled "The Man Is Waffling"!

Altogether a very memorable afternoon and one of the best -- if not THE best -- gig ever!!

And when we came out of the Black Box at 5.45, we found the rain had cleared -- the sunshine was absolutely dazzling off all the wet shiny cobblestones! On the bus ride back to Belfast International to catch my flight back to London, I got to see all the scenery that had been hidden by gloom and rain that morning, which was a glorious ending to a fantastic day.