The Monday Night Thing is BACK!

Share this with your friends

It’s Monday night, and the Monday Night Thing is well and truly back.  It returned last week with a stellar show from acclaimed Americana duo, My Darling Clementine.  Building on two highly successful seasons last year, Perth Theatre have put together an enviable roster of acts who will perform at the start of every week until the middle of May.  Acts like hometown jazz funk masters Helias, modern renaissance man James Yorkston and singer songwriter and frontwoman of the Throwing Muses, Kristen Hersh.

This week though, it is the turn of Irishman Jack Lukeman.  Lukeman has long been extremely popular in his homeland.  However, he has devoted most of his time lately to winning over a UK and international fanbase. To this end, he has toured Britain as special guest on tours by artists as varied as Imelda May, Jools Holland, The Proclaimers and Neil Sedaka.  Tonight, he is promoting ‘Magic Days’, his latest album of idiosyncratic original songs that has already found favour with critics and fans alike.  It’s a great album and it has been on constant rotation on my phone the last couple of days as I go about my day. 

He is a great performer, a real song and dance man. 

I’m sure I’m not the first person to compare Jack to Scott Walker but the comparison is unavoidable.  It’s partly the voice, a rich baritone that is a real treat for the ears.  The similarity is reinforced by the big production on ‘Magic Days’, with songs like ‘You Are the Sea’ with Lukeman’s voice enveloped in lush strings.  I was curious to see how the songs would be handled in a solo performance.

As the audience sit looking at the stage waiting for the show to begin, the man appears in the back corner of the auditorium without fanfare, clutching a ukulele and serenading us with the title song for his album.  He stops and plays directly to different pockets of the crowd as he makes his way to the stage. He is a great performer, a real song and dance man. 

Of course, the support act, Lucas and King, have done a great job of getting the audience in the mood.  A female duo hailing from Brighton, consisting of Bo Lucas on vocals and acoustic guitar and Hayleigh King on guitar.  Lucas has a great sultry, breathy voice, that puts me in mind of one of the greatest female vocalists ever, Mama Cass. This along with King’s reverb drenched telecaster is pure Americana bliss.  More importantly, the pair have the songs to back up their talent, songs like ‘Moonshakes’ with its moody descending guitar and torch song vocals.

Lukeman reaches the stage just as his first song concludes.  ‘You can turn down the lights now’, he instructs the back of house, ‘I look a lot better in the dark’.  His voice sounds even better live than it does on the album, the sparser arrangements really allowing it to take the limelight.  ‘Sweet as Freedom’, the anti -fascist love groove from ‘Magic Days’, is transformed from its original lush orchestral arrangement to an acapella version of just vocals and finger clicks.  My girlfriend Jo leans over to me and whispers to me, ‘his voice is so rich, it’s like chocolate’.  We even get a touch of falsetto on the outro that gives us an idea of Lukeman’s range.

GALLERY

The between song banter is top notch too with a bit of a Father Ted reference ‘the money was just resting in his account’, as he introduces my favourite song of the night, ‘The King of Soho’.  It’s a rocky blues and a great slice of storytelling with a catchy, sing-along chorus.  Like Scott Walker, Lukeman is a huge fan of the incomparable Belgian songwriter, Jacques Brel.  Tonight, he delivers a stunning performance of Brel’s ‘Amsterdam’, a melancholic and poetic account of sailors exploits on shore leave.

The between song banter is top notch too with a bit of a Father Ted reference... From here Lukeman moves over to the keyboard, playing Superman 2, another of my favourites from his latest album that works really well in a stripped back, live setting.  Even better is a cracking cover of Tom Wait’s ‘The Piano Has Been Drinking’.  It’s a song, I’m ashamed to say that I’m not overly familiar with, but it’s funny, surreal and brilliant, benefiting from some artfully bad piano playing.  Weirdly evocative lines like: ‘As the bouncer is a sumo wrestler cream-puff Casper milktoast, and the owner is a mental midget with the IQ of a fence post, Cause the piano has been drinking, the piano has been drinking’, elicit joyful laughs from the audience

The final song, the sardonic ‘Sky News Blues’ is a bit of a change of pace.  It is poppy tale of woe detailing Lukeman’s futile attempt to escape the pervasiveness of the 24-hour news cycle.  This extended version benefits from a couple of extra verses and some cracking B.V.’s (that’s what we call backing vocals in the industry!) from the audience.  It’s been a great show and I can’t wait to be back here next Monday for singer-songwriter legend and Throwing Muses frontwoman, Kristin Hersh.  See you then!

***

Visit Perth Theatre Website for more information on The Monday Night Thing >

See & Make Comments
Share this with your friends