Luka Bloom's a Soul Man

When I told my sister in law that I was off to see Luka Bloom live, she went all dreamy. “He’s got lovely eyes” she said down the phone from her home in Scotland. It turns out that she has had a secret crush on him for twenty years. “You just know by looking into them that he is a good man,” she went on. “And you know that there’s nothing sexier than a man and a guitar.”

Obviously it is not my place to confirm or deny that statement. After all the sexism resignations from Sky Sports earlier in year, the last thing I want to do is offend all those men out there who do or don’t play the guitar. I took along my ten-year-old daughter and dear Patsy who had been stuck in her house all day while the gas man was fixing her fire. She needed a good night out.

The venue for Luka Bloom’s much anticipated homecoming gig was Ryston sports hall in Newbridge. It’s a place that I know well from the boxing, gymnastics and badminton classes that I’ve dragged one or more of the children to over the last ten years. But on Saturday night, it was transformed. Ivy and lanterns with candles hung from the walls, bog oak stood proudly on the stage and, whilst we waited for Luka Bloom to make his appearance, beautiful photos of Ireland were projected onto a large screen on the stage.

I heard sniffing noises from the seat next to me. “OH GOD! I CAN SMELL MARAJUANA” whispered Patsy in my ear as we sat down. It wasn’t marijuana, the smell was emanating from incense sticks that were gently burning and adding to the cosy atmosphere.  She covered her head with her latest purchase, a black ‘Snood’ that she pulled over her head and half her face, which had cost her all of eighty cents in TKMaxx. “That incense plays havoc with my eyeballs,” she complained, coughing and rubbing her eyes.  “Do I look like Peig Sayers?” she asked. She did.

Just as the lights were going down, a latecomer made his way to his seat. He was tall and bald and walked straight into one of the hanging lanterns with a loud ‘BANG’. Half the hall winced for him; it must have been agony.  Luka Bloom took to the stage and we forgot about the man’s pain. Luka reached for his guitar and started playing ‘Don’t Be Afraid of the Light’.  “OH GOD!” Patsy was off again. “His AMP IS ON FIRE!” She had pulled down her snood and was pointing at the stage.  I nudged her and pointed out that it was more incense being burnt on the stage.  Luka Bloom went straight into another song, ‘Primavera’. We were all beginning to melt. He was mesmerizing.

This was our first Luka Bloom concert. For some reason, neither of us had previously made it to one of his gigs. I got the impression that we were the only ones in the room who hadn’t seen him play live before. Around us, fans had travelled from all around the world: America, Holland, Belgium and Germany. Those who hadn’t flown in had come there from their homes in Newbridge and the surrounding towns and villages. Everyone knew the lyrics to the next song ‘Tribe’. The hall was filled with people singing along.  Patsy joined in and, thanks to her experience gained with Newbridge Musical Society, she belted it out with all the gusto of Bette Midler.

We were all settling into the gig now and no one more than my ten-year-old daughter. She was transfixed. When Luka started singing ‘Let You Feel My Love’ she could not take her eyes off the stage. It is a song that her generation know from the likes of Leona Lewis and Adele, but their versions did not compare to the one we heard coming from the stage on Saturday night. “He’s amazing Mum” she whispered, cuddling into my shoulder. This music was having a wonderful effect on our mother-daughter relationship. I made a note to myself that we should do it more. This was an evening filled with soulful songs.

“He’s looking at me again!” whispered Patsy, tears welling up in her eyes. She wiped them off with her new ‘Snood’. “That was beautiful wasn’t it?” she said between sniffs. It surely was. Then next came arguably his most famous song, ‘City Of Chicago’ which had the whole hall singing along. But when he introduced his version of the ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’, Patsy started blushing. “I tell you, he is looking at ME,” she said, as Newbridge’s most soulful son sang out his heart-wrenching version. I think he possibly was looking over at us, I think Patsy’s sniffs and ‘Snood’ were a distraction.

But I was beginning to fall under his spell and understand what my sister-in-law was on about.  Here was a man and a guitar and a room filled with people who were, like us, feeling much happier for being in Ryston on a Saturday night. “He could sing ‘Row Row the Boat’ and make it sound good couldn’t he?” said Pasty, eyes glued to the stage, still convinced that every single word that he sung was being directed at her alone. But she was right. His voice, rich and beautiful, made you believe that he really had lived every single song. 


Luka Bloom live in Kildare? That is one thing that I have crossed off my personal list of 100 Things To Do In Kildare Before You Die.