Luka Bloom showcases new songs from his most recent album, Innocence with an intimate concert in Whelans.

Luka Bloom was born Barry Moore in Kildare in 1955, the youngest of six children. A dedicated guitar player, his first live gig was at 14 years of age, playing support for brother Christy on a tour of English folk clubs in 1969.

From then on Barry spent all his spare time writing songs and practicing on the guitar. It was in those years that he wrote "Wave Up To the Shore" which Christy covered on The Black Album, in 1976.

His first album, Treaty Stone, was released in 1978. This first album contains a number of Barry Moore classics such as 'Lonesome Robin', 'Jenny of the Sun', 'Girl' and of course 'The Treaty Stone'.

The album was performed in the finger picking folk guitar style, like all of his music before 1979. In the middle of that year, tendonitis caused serious harm to his picking hand, forcing him to change his style and learn to play with a plectrum.

Barry Moore moved to Holland that year, and recorded two albums over there, In Groningen  (1980) and No Heroes (1982). He returned to Dublin shortly after, and from '83 until '86 he moved away from folk music altogether, fronting the band Red Square. Like so many other bands in Dublin at the time, buoyed by the success of U2, Red Square had aspirations to Rock'n'Roll stardom.

This punk-pop outfit was a far cry from his soulful folk days. And he loved it; he says of his time with Red Square that it "got me off the stool, out of the folk clubs, taught me how to roar." He did not stay long with them though; used to being his own man, the infighting and squabbling of a bunch of young egos was not worth the hassle for the older Barry Moore.

In 1987, after realizing that drinking was getting the better of him and his career was stagnating, Barry decided it was time for a serious change. He packed up his guitar and $200 and headed for America, leaving behind a longtime lover and his young son Robbie.

Perhaps tired of his elder brother Christy's long shadow, he decided to change his name too. He wanted something catchy, like Iggy Pop or Bono or Sting, something people would remember. The name he settled on was Luka Bloom, after the Suzanne Vega song ("My name is...") and the character from James Joyce's Ulysses.

After arriving in Washington DC, Bloom set about building a new career and a new life for himself. He began with a new fan base in a Georgetown University bar. Over the following years, his popularity would grow, greatly enhanced by touring the country as opening both The Pogues and The Hothouse Flowers.

Shortly afterwards, he signed to the Reprise label (Warner Bros.) and began work on his US debut, Riverside, the definitive work of his career, released in 1990.

Over the following years, Luka Bloom often traveled back to Ireland to record his music, working with producer Brian Masterson and sound engineer Paul Ashe-Browne to try to capture the sound and feel of his live performances. The Acoustic Motorbike was released in 1992, followed by Turf in 1994.

Then came a five-year break until Salty Heaven in 1999. While the quality of his performance was unwavering much of the early inspiration found in the composition of Riverside seemed to have evaporated.

In 2000, Bloom released Keeper of the Flame, an album of covers from a broad range of artists, including Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, U2, Radiohead, The Cure, Bob Marley and ABBA. It is a sure sign of his talent that he could cover such a diverse range of styles without either monkeying the originals or mutilating them needlessly as so many other covers have done in the past.

On the contrary, Keeper of the Flame marked a definite return to form for Bloom, which he capitalized on for Between the Mountain and the Moon (2002), original compositions with a renewed vigor and a strong lyrical commitment.

Luka has released an album revisiting his early career, The Barry Moore Years - Earlier Works and a live album, Amsterdam. This concert in Whelans promises to be a musical treat.

Luka Bloom
Whelans
Buy Tickets

Win an I-Pod Shuffle !!
 
Time: 8pm
Tickets: €25

Whelans

25 Wexford St,

Dublin 8

Tel: + 353 (0) 1 4780766

Whelans