Do things and do them well, says Jack L, ahead of Cork concert 

Jack Lukeman, also known as Jack L, has been a regular visitor to Cork over the years and his return to The Cork Opera House this weekend brings back many fond memories for Jack of playing different parts of the building. 

Jack drew on the footage of one of his recent gigs a lot for inspiration.

“I played Cork Opera House on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2019, going into 2020. I used to look back at the video recordings of that during the lockdown… seeing us all celebrating what was to come and little did we know that a few weeks later we’d be all in lockdown for so long. It's fantastic to watch that footage.”

He has another long-standing New Year’s Eve connection to the overall building too. “When I first started playing Cork regularly in 1995/96, it was with The Black Romantics and where we performed was literally the backstage area of the old Cork Opera House before they did it up, dusty ropes hanging down, everything. 

"They turned that place into an actual venue called The Half Moon Club, I played that stage on the Millennium, on the eve of the Millennium. My gigging has built up over the years and now I’m able to play Cork Opera House’s main stage. I always remember that, to strive and work hard at something, it was a hard nut to crack but there was a core audience I’d built and I got there.”

While looking back Jack also finds constant connections to Cork and family in his work. 

“My dad passed away last year, it was his first anniversary recently. He loved music and he was very passionate about it and gave me my voice, so it's kind of like I’m carrying that flame. 

"He really gave me that ethic that when I go out I really do want to give 100%, I want to lift people the way with music in the same way it has saved my life a hundred times. Just by the very presence of it, by just hearing songs that make you suddenly think ‘Wow, yeah, life is worth living’. 

"I’m so inspired by the finality of somebody leaving the planet for the next plane, you realise that you only have a certain amount of time to do the things you want to do, so do them and do them well.”

The drive down into Cork particuarly triggers memories for Jack. 

“I get especially reminded of him every time coming down to Cork because we used to go on holidays every year down to Rosscarbery, so we'd always stop in Cork City and it was exotic as a kid because it was ‘A CITY’, you could get things you couldn't get in the boondocks of Kildare. So being in Cork reminds me a lot of my parents as a kid… but also as an adult because my parents always came to the New Year's Eve shows, so they were at the ones I played in Cork Opera House. 

"When someone passes, they're everywhere, you know. I was even walking down Maylor Street a few weeks back and I smell it! The smell of chips on the street in Cork smells specifically like Cork to me from remembering it as a child, it's a weird thing. Cork is a special place for me anyway, you know, not to ham it up too much, but it genuinely is.”

Cork features lyrically in his songs too. “My latest album is called ‘Echo On’, the first single from it is a song called ‘Sun Dogs And The Moonshine’, its about travelling around in the early 90s going to Thailand and places like that and doing those full moon parties, dancing all night on the beach till the sun comes up, there's a line that “I met a girl from everywhere, flowing from the Lee in Cork”. 

"Also, there’s another song on the album called ‘I've Forgotten’, which I wrote in Bantry when I was down there teaching songwriting at the Writers Festival a couple of years back. So Cork features twice on the ‘Echo On’ album and here I am talking about it for the Echo website! It's funny there's all these things.”

During lockdown times Jack hosted very ambitious live streams from his home, with instruments strewn around him and projections behind him, with specific themes such as ‘The Leonard Cohen Songbook’ or ‘classic 80s song’; as a result there are three distinct Jack Lukeman shows you can witness, he regularly tours arenas on tour with Jools Holland’s live big band; he plays solo shows in more intimate venues and then his headline shows with the full band. Jack thrives from having all of them in his creative life, “you only learn how to do all the different things as you go along. it's a continuous learning curve. Opening for somebody in a big arena is like half an hour to speed date with an audience. 

"Obviously playing smaller venues on your own around the place is lovely. It's very freeing because you can do whatever set you feel and you almost have to use the audience as part of the band. Then I have the bigger shows, like in the Cork Opera House, with the band doing all the hits and the big tunes, and you have that kind of energy behind you. 

"I couldn't choose one but ultimately the bigger shows with the band are great because you're not carrying the whole thing, and you have the firepower of the music behind you. Every gig is different, every day is different, its success or failure is up to you. That's the thing that keeps you going, because every day is like a page that turns when you're doing gigs. It's nice to have that diversity. I mean, as you get older and more experienced as a performer, you know how to enjoy it yourself, and that kind of hopefully transcends into the audience.”

• Jack Lukeman plays Cork Opera House on Saturday 4 May at 8pm.Tickets are available at www.corkoperahouse.ie or at their box office.