Lankum

The Roundhouse, Camden, London
Wednesday 13 December 2023

Reviewed by John Earls. Picture (c) John Earls

I first saw Dublin-based folk band Lankum (Radie Peat, Cormac MacDiarmada and brothers Ian and Daragh Lynch) in a small Brighton club in November 2019. I described them at the time as bleak and beautiful and encouraged people to go and see them live.

Four years on, this year has seen their fourth album False Lankum shortlisted for a Mercury Prize and their batch of December 2023 UK concerts conclude at a sold-out Roundhouse in London’s Camden.

There is something about Lankum that is both traditional and utterly contemporary. The scratches, scrapes, clicks and bangs that accompany the drones and airs also give an industrial feel to much of their music which seemed particularly fitting given the history of this fabulous venue (one of my favourites) with its 24 cast-iron Doric columns supporting the roof.   

The set begins with their unique take on The Wild Rover, more plaintive than others’ interpretations not least on account of Radie Peat’s vocals which were also magnificent in the chilling Go Dig My Grave. The latter also features a huge drum augmenting their usual instrumentation (fiddle, acoustic guitars, harmonium, concertina, uilleann pipes, tin whistle).

There’s a lovely rendition of Cyril Tawney’s On a Monday Morning introduced as a song about hangovers and how each generation thinks theirs are the worst. It features some beautiful delicate guitar playing by Daragh Lynch as well as great delivery of the somewhat droll lyrics including the line “too soon to be at this bus queue caper”.

Other highlights include a moving The Young People (introduced in solidarity with the people of Palestine), a fierce and powerful The New York Trader and humorous The Rocky Road to Dublin.

There are a couple of tunes from 2014’s debut album Cold Old Fire. The first is Lullaby dedicated to Sinéad O’Connor who we are told gave the band a “follow that!” moment at a 60^th birthday concert for Shane MacGowan (of whom more later).

The second was a beautiful rendition of the title track (composed by Cian Lawless and the Lynch brothers) acknowledging the value of true friends in difficult times. It featured at the start of a three-song encore, the second of which was a cover of The Pogues’ The Old Main Drag and played in tribute to its writer Shane MacGowan. For the London-Irish amongst us it was a particularly poignant moment.

The show ended with a cracking Bear Creek, bringing an element of joy at the close of proceedings.

I have seen quite a few concerts at The Roundhouse and many have been lively affairs, but I don’t think I have seen an audience captivated in such a way as that for Lankum.

John Earls is Director of Research at Unite the Union and tweets at @john_earls

You can listen to the new Lankum album False Lankum on Spotify below: