Summer of Music: Nealo – "There were times where I played or attended five or six gigs a week. For that to be gone all of a sudden has been such a huge loss"

Nealo

“I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve gone to at least one gig a week for the last 20 years. There were times where I played or attended five or six gigs a week. For that to be gone all of a sudden has been such a huge loss. I have four sold-out socially-distanced shows in The Workman’s Club, Dublin that have been rescheduled about 15 times. Every time it’s a massive head fuck and a disappointment, so I’m just dying to play them at this stage.

"The people who have invested time and energy in doing livestreams will have levelled up as performers, and will now be way more comfortable playing to a crowd. I feel that way about myself: performing to just a room full of blokes holding equipment is really hard, because artists feed off the energy of the crowd. I’ve just announced my biggest headliner to date. This is the one-year anniversary gig for my debut album All The Leaves Are Falling that I never got a chance to celebrate in a live setting.”

Nealo plays Roisin Dubh, Galway (October 2); Cyprus Avenue, Cork (8); Imagine Festival, Waterford (24); The Button Factory, Dublin (29); and Voodoo, Belfast (30).

Read all of Part Two of the two-part Summer of Music special in the current issue of Hot Press – out now: