- Music
- 02 Feb 18
The Gloaming will play seven sold-out shows at Dublin’s National Concert Hall, from March 5-12, their only live appearances of 2018.
To mark this occasion, Real World Records will release Live at the NCH - a live album recorded at the beautiful concert hall which has become their home from home - on March 2.
The Gloaming’s shows at the National Concert Hall have become an event not to be missed with each annual residency selling out quicker than the previous one, and indeed faster than new shows can be added. Their debut performance at the hall in 2011 is a gig that will always be remembered as ‘the one that sold out before they had written or rehearsed any music.’
The musicians of The Gloaming came together seven years ago to explore the possibilities of Irish contemporary music, and have since gone from strength to sparkling strength. And it’s too late to stop now. What began as an experiment has turned into something truly compelling, enthralling and thrilling. Something which never fails to lift the heart or lift a roof. Something which connects you to old souls and wild ways and fierce times. Something which certainly didn’t exist before, but which often feels as if it has been been part and parcel of the furniture forever.
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With two studio albums behind them - The Gloaming (2014) and The Gloaming 2 (2016), this is the perfect time to introduce a live album into the collection. To put Live at the NCH together Thomas Bartlett, the band’s producer, sifted through two years of performances and settled on six tracks: “The Booley House, “Cucanandy”, “The Sailor’s Bonnet”, “The Pilgrim’s Song”, “The Rolling Wave” and “Fáinleog”. Using the studio recordings only as points of departure, these performances stretch out and roam in unexpected new directions, incorporating new tunes and rearranging old ones, filled with the excitement and delight of five master musicians coming together as one.
The Gloaming concert experience consistently leaves audiences breathless. This band of trailblazers take contemporary Irish music into hitherto unchartered waters, enhancing the traditional rich, melancholic tones with modern hues of jazz, contemporary classical, post rock and experimental music. Away from home, their international touring schedule has been equally impressive, including such notable nights out as the Ceiliúradh at London’s Royal Albert Hall (a celebration of the Irish president’s first-ever state visit to Britain), Sydney’s Opera House, New York’s Lincoln Center, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, Mexico City’s Teatro de la Ciudad, and Philharmonie de Paris.