The moment Jack Lukeman enters the stage, it's clear this is going to be a fantastic show. Lukeman’s a very talented musician and singer and his Late Night Phantasmagoria is an utterly brilliant performance and one hell of a night out.
By the end of the night almost everyone was on their feet dancing and singing along.
It was a small audience on the rainy Tuesday night of Lukeman’s first performance at the Fringe. A turnout of around 50 people hardly filled the Famous Spiegeltent at St Andrews Square. That usually impacts on a live gig. It can be hard to grasp energy from a small audience in a large venue. But this doesn’t trouble Lukeman.
He enters the stage with a vibrant and enticing energy, his belter of a number, King of Soho, setting the tone for the night. You know you’re in for a treat as the energy sizzles throughout the venue. Lukeman performs with the passion and showmanship of one of history’s great musical legends. His voice has the soulful quality of Nick Cave and his performance bounces with such vigour that it makes me think of a young Tom Jones.
The energy ramps up further for the electrifying number Money, which gets the audience joining in and clapping to the smooth rhythms of Lukeman and his band, who are all fantastic. It soothes and gets intimate when Lukeman abandons the mic to join the audience for the concertina number, Stardust, before vamping up the volume for the rest of the night. There’s not a dull moment in Lukeman’s diverse and somewhat vaudeville set. This performer is something special. By the end of the night almost everyone was on their feet dancing and singing along.
I’d love to see this again with a completely full crowd. Let’s hope Lukeman gets the audiences he deserves for the rest of the run as that can only be even more spectacular.
