Jack L

The only downer tonight is the layout of the venue; the expensive seats are at the dining tables arranged around the stage and the rest of us are massed in the gangways at the back, however, it's a Friday night and Irish fans make up a large proportion of the sell out crowd at the Pigalle Club which means that it's party night! Singer-songwriter Jack L (aka Jack Lukeman) is from Athy in County Kildare and many of his supporters have commuted from Ireland to see his much talked about show in London. Although you may not recognise the name, he's had a fair measure of success in his homeland with 5 albums and a couple of DVDs, and in Scotland where he sold out three weeks of shows at the Edinburgh Festival in 2005.

It is rumoured that he honed his vocal talents whilst serving an apprenticeship as a car mechanic in Athy. I can only think that they were vast noisy garages that he was working in because I've never heard such a big voice before - it's booming, deep, resonant and pitch perfect, and, although he’s completely unique of course, comparisons have been drawn with Frank Sinatra, Nick Cave and Tom Waits. Visually, the stocky and muscular Jack L, dressed in black with a battered black guitar, looks like a young Jack Nicholson except more handsome!

A chunk of tonight's set is devoted to songs from his latest album 'Broken Songs' which went platinum in Ireland within a month of release. He opens with the gentle title track which he plays solo "I'll fire up my voice and sing you these broken songs", and then the band joins him for 'Sweet Lowdown'. They play the naughty 'Open Your Borders' for "all the single folk" and the jaunty 'You Can't Get Bitter', as well as 'I've Been Raining', an emotional and vocally demanding song.


Jack has a powerful stage presence to go with his huge, crooning voice and is clearly a born entertainer, ensuring audience participation throughout the show. The diners are up dancing before the puddings have been served and there is a dining room invasion about halfway through the set (power to the people!). I'm not sure the dance-along was anticipated but there is also plenty of opportunity to sing-along to most of the songs - but the audience were especially vocal during 'Little Man', the sexy 'Wicked Way' and 'Lazarus' which segs into 'Doghouse' whilst the audience are still chanting the chorus. Great fun or "good craic" is probably the appropriate term tonight.

There is an intimate, hushed moment when Jack leaves the stage to wander amongst the diners with just a small unplugged squeezebox for accompaniment to sing the romantic 'Stardust' and prove that he doesn't need a microphone to project his voice! Other highlights are the popular 'Georgie Boy' and the beautiful and emotive 'Rooftop Lullaby'. As well as his own fine and timeless songs, there are a few splendid covers in the set - Gnarls Barkley's 'Crazy', Johnny Cash's 'Folsom Prison Blues', and the funky and rousing Jacques Brel song 'Jacky' (Jacques Brel is one of his major influences). He finishes with a simply stunning version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' sung a cappella which shows off his awesome rich voice and manages to silence the crowd.


Afterwards, there is excited chatter about a spot on Jools Holland's Later show and a residency for Jack at the Pigalle (there is a definite date planned for 27th April). Whatever the future holds, I hope he finds a place in British hearts as well as Irish for his music.

Set List:

Broken Songs
Sweet Lowdown
Open Your Borders
I've Been Raining
Lazarus/Doghouse
Stardust
Crazy
Little Man
Georgie Boy
You Can't Get Bitter
Folsom Prison Blues
Wicked Way

Rooftop Lullaby
Sungod
Jacky

Hallelujah

FUTURE GIGS

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