Fleming gig almost sold out

AFTER a difficult 2012, Tommy Fleming is hitting the road again and will perform at Glór later this month.

“We’re playing in Ennis on January 26 and it’s nearly sold out. There are only about 20 seats or so left. Then we’re going to UL on February 9.

“We’re starting on January 24 and it’s doing brilliant. We thought we’d have to do a huge sell on it but we’ve virtually sold out the first five shows. We’re thrilled with that and the Opera House in Cork is gone too. It’s going in the right direction,” he said.

The tour follows on from the release of a long-awaited album late last year. “The new album came out on November 18. It’s stayed in the top 25 for the last seven weeks. It’s the first new album I brought out for six years and people had been waiting for it. It’s been received really well.

“I went more folky with it, went back to my roots. I took the orchestra out and went in with four musicians and a fifth to do guest spots. It’s kind of back to where I started a good few years ago.”

Both of his parents died within a couple of hours of each other last spring and he said that in a roundabout way, it led to him releasing the album and an autobiography, Let Me Begin, as he sought to fill in his time.

“I hadn’t intended to record an album last year and I certainly hadn’t intended to bring out a book either. I took so much time off. After my parents’ funeral I took April, May, June and July off and after the first two weeks, I had nothing to do and I found myself not being able to handle having nothing to do so I just said I’d have to go back and do something.

“I didn’t want to go back on the road so I started writing the book first and got that nearly finished. A friend of mine, Paul McAteer, who’s the drummer was sent a song called Begin to give to me. I listened to it and I thought it was amazing and I decided it’d be on an album and it fitted perfectly to be the first song on an album and it became the title of the album.”

Of his book, he says, “It’s an autobiography but one with a difference. It’s very much a pictorial one. It’s kind of a coffee table book, eight inches by eight inches and it’s the kind of one that you can pick up, read a chapter, put it down and then read another chapter a week later.”

He is looking forward to touring again, with 2012 behind him. “I’m looking forward to going back on the road and I was looking forward to closing the book on 2012. Obviously I’ll never forget it but I just need to move on and grab something else in my life while I can. I’m looking forward to getting back to work and doing what I do best.”

He says he has always been well received in Ennis. “This is our ninth year in-a-row doing Glór and every time I’ve done it, it has sold out, thank God. Ennis has been really, really good to us. Every time we’ve come down we’ve had a great reaction,” he concludes.