David Keenan

David Keenan

Monday, 3 October 2022, 9.00pm

David Keenan is an Irish Poet, Songwriter & Musician. Early life in the border town of Dundalk where he grew up between the family home and his grandparents house is where he first absorbed stories, music and poetry and nurtured a need to express himself. After failing most of his final year exams in secondary school and having spent time working in nightclubs and bars he decided to take the ferry from Ireland to Liverpool, busking by day, soaking up gigs by night the then still teenager developed a deeper sense of life experience and human nature, all of which went into a constant stream of new songs and writings.

After a stint living in London resulted in a mugging and some creative frustrations he returned to Dublin with determination and began relentlessly playing live while releasing EP's through his own label Barrack Street Records. A musical tribe spanning two generations of Irish musicians grew around Keenan which led to the release of "Evidence of Living" in 2018 followed by tours in the run up to the recording of his debut album "A Beginner's Guide to Bravery" in 2019. In September 2019 Keenan signed with Irish Independent label Rubyworks Records "[2] before the release of A Beginner's Guide To Bravery, which reached number 1 in the Independent charts and was the biggest selling Vinyl record in the country during the week of it's release in January 2020. The release was marked by headlining Dublin's Olympia Theatre which later became the concert film and live album "Alchemy & Prose".

Shortly afterwards Keenan moved to Paris as artist in residence in the Centre Culturel Irlandais, where he wrote and later published a collection of Poems entitled "Soundings of an Unnamed Bird". It was also during this time of pre lockdown isolation and introspection that stirrings of a new album began to take hold and having returned to Ireland once again, plans were put in place to record what later became his second studio album "WHAT THEN?" with American musician / producer Jonathan Mooney (Other Lives (band)) in Black Mountain studios, just outside his hometown of Dundalk. "WHAT THEN"? was released in October of '21 to critical acclaim and is widely considered a maturing record where Keenan grew both lyrically and musically. Keenan has toured extensively across the UK, Europe, North America and his native Ireland, building a reputation for incredible, personable, live performances where nothing is left behind. He has lives in Barcelona.

Keenan states that he was mainly influenced by Writers, Poets, Painters & Musicians such as Brendan Behan, Robert Tressell, Merce Rodoreda, Arthur Rimbaud, Ema Berta, Jack B. Yeats, Hieronymous Bosch, Nick Cave, Billie Holiday, The La's and The Dubliners.

TOUR

OCT 3 MON
Maison Musique @ 9:00pm
Rivoli, Italy

OCT 10 MON
O2 Academy Birmingham @ 7:00pm
Birmingham, United Kingdom

OCT 11 TUE
O2 Apollo Manchester @ 7:00pm
Manchester, United Kingdom

OCT 13 THU
O2 Academy Sheffield @ 7:00pm
Sheffield, United Kingdom

OCT 14 FRI
O2 Academy Glasgow @ 7:00pm
Glasgow, United Kingdom

OCT 16 SUN
O2 Guildhall Southampton @ 7:00pm
Southampton, United Kingdom

OCT 18 TUE
3Arena @ 6:30pm
Dublin, Ireland

OCT 20 THU
Eventim Apollo Hammersmith @ 7:00pm
London, United Kingdom

OCT 21 FRI
Eventim Apollo Hammersmith @ 7:00pm
London, United Kingdom

OCT 24 MON
AFAS Live @ 8:00pm
Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Published by Journal of Music on 26 September 2022

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