Gary Lucas with l to r The Niro, host Micaela Nasca, and Francesco Arpino
on national Italian tv TGCom24’s "Check Point” program 12/23/19
GARY LUCAS just wrapped up a nearly 5 week European tour which took him for shows and recording in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, His tour began at the end of November and extended right up to the end of 2019. While in Northern France he gave 3 well-well-received Masterclasses in Lille, Oignies and Dunkerque:
https://bit.ly/2MR6Wih
and appeared on the legendary radio station of Lille University staffed by former ’68 student revolutionaries now tenured faculty members. Lucas also recorded an EP of new acoustic songs with French singer Yass Body engineered by David Konopnicki at NOA Studio in Forge-Les-Eaux Normandie for the WTPL label.
Then on to Genk Belgium where on Dec. 13th Gary performed as part of the Naked Songs Tribute to Jeff Buckley’s iconic 1994 “Grace” album, which opens with two songs co-written by Buckley and Lucas, “Mojo Pin” and “Grace”.
For this show Gary was joined by the creme de la creme of young Belgian and Dutch musicians and singers, including Portland, Anneke van Giersbergen, and Ruud Fieten.
The troupe repeated the show in Holland the next night at the Eindhoven Muziekegebouw, which received a rave review in the Dutch NTC Handelsblad national newspaper:
https://bit.ly/2rW0gs0
Gary then journeyed to Nick Vollebregt’s famous jazz club in Laren Holland to tape an acoustic set for Dutch producer Co de Kloet’s long-running NPO show Co Live!:
https://apple.co/35grC9D (scroll to 12/15 show)
The heart of the tour commenced with 9 shows in Italy beginning Dec. 19th in Pordenone featuring Gary Lucas with Italian vocalist The Niro and keyboardist Francesco Arpino performing songs from their new Esordisco album THE COMPLETE JEFF BUCKLEY AND GARY LUCAS SONGBOOK, which is garnering rave reviews internationally.
Interview with Gary Lucas in Italian Rolling Stone:
https://bit.ly/2MRBcJT
English translation:
https://bit.ly/2MPMsGy
Relix review (US):
https://bit.ly/35mXTMg
LongPlay-Recenzje review (Poland):
https://bit.ly/2FoLoFv
English translation:
https://bit.ly/39E52v1
A holiday gift for Italian Jeff Buckley fans, the trio performed new versions of songs co-written by Lucas and Buckley in Rome, Torino, Taranto, Milano, Pordenone, Perugia, Bologna, and Correggio.
They also covered songs by Edith Piaf and Van Morrison as originally performed by Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas, and as an added treat they performed an incendiary version of Tim Buckley’s “Pleasant Street” before full houses, and received several rave reviews for their live show.
Review in Nonsense Mag:
https://bit.ly/37HShhx
English translation:
https://bit.ly/37HShhxhttps://bit.ly/2QkfKPD
Review in Mescalina:
https://bit.ly/2QmTLaM
English translation:
https://bit.ly/2MQNbYc
The trio's impromptu live acoustic performance of the Buckley/Lucas song “Story Without Words” was also filmed in a hotel lobby during the tour, the clip appearing on the front page of Italian national newspaper La Repubblica’s website:
https://bit.ly/2ugDziX
On Dec. 23rd, Gary Lucas,The Niro and Francesco Arpino appeared live during prime-time on national Italian tv channel TGCom24 Mediaset.
The trio were interviewed and performed live on the long-running “Check Point” program hosted by Micaela Nasca:
https://bit.ly/36no1rE
Gary and the Niro also performed live during the tour on Radio Popolare from Milano and on Rome’s Radio Rock.
2019 closed with news that France Inter's national radio station FIP have added The Niro and Gary Lucas' version of the Lucas/Buckley song “In the Cantina” from their new Esordisco album where it is currently in heavy rotation on the “Tout Nouveau Tout” daily show.
https://bit.ly/35gyfsx
Video clip for “She is Free” from THE COMPLETE JEFF BUCKLEY AND GARY LUCAS SONGBOOK:
https://bit.ly/2ZTEz8k
UPCOMING GARY LUCAS SHOWS:
Wed. Feb. 19th
7PM
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, New York
Gary Lucas & Frenz
featuring Ernie Brooks, Billy Ficca, Jason Candler, Feifei Yang
and special guest all the way from the UK singer Pierre Roxon
Tickets: https://bit.ly/2SZRYun
Wed. March 4th
7pm
Cornell University, Ithaca NY
Gary Lucas Plays "The Golem"
Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of Gary;s celebrated live score (co-composed with Walter Horn) accompanying Paul Wegener and Carl Boese’s
1920 German Expressionist masterpiece
Lucas will be playing to a new restored print of the film courtesy of the Cinémathèque Royale de Belgique and Kino-Lorber.
https://vimeo.com/195206916
MORE DATES TBA
