Liam’s ready for a new challenge

Ahead of his show in Killarney next month, Fergus Dennehy sat down to chat with the hugely talented, multi - instrumentalist and Killarney favourite, Liam O’ Connor, about his career, his children and everything in between.

SITTING across the table from Liam O’ Connor, the one thing that stands out above all else about this Killarney based musician is his character.

Simply put, for a man who has been described by the legendary Michael Flatley as someone whose “pure talent and charisma are unmatched in the accordion world”, there were no airs and graces about him and so it was hard not to feel at ease with the chatty, friendly and humble Newmarket native.

Holder of the Guinness World Record for ‘Fastest Fingers in the World’, an original accordion player in Michael Flatley’s ‘Lord of the Dance’ and an internationally renowned musician of 20 different instruments who has performed in Croke Park and at two different Ryder Cups, Liam is certainly not short of a few stories to tell.

I’m chatting to him ahead of his upcoming show in The Friary Church in Killarney on Sunday October 1, where he will be joined by guest Moya Brennan and, as expected, our conversation is as wide and varied as Liam’s own illustrious career.

“I’m coming from the Sliabh Luachra background and while I’m rooted in Irish music, my songs are so eclectic now and they cover so many different genres. I’ve lots of influences in my head these days. I suppose you could say that my music is full of very high octane energy.”

“We had a very creative household back when I was growing up. My mother, who died quite very young, was fantastic and driven to the last. Dad too of course was brilliant but I, as the youngest of the seven children, at about 12 years-of-age I took Mom’s torch and drove on with it big time.”

Having achieved so much in his lifetime, it’s hard then to put a finger on when Liam got his first ‘big break’ in the industry. By the time he was first noticed by Michael Flatley and asked to perform as the accordion player in ‘Lord of The Dance’, Liam had already secured his very own record deal with Universal Music for his album ‘ The Awakening’.

Speaking about touring the world with what is now a legendary show, Liam refers to it simply as a “great experience” working with the “master of his craft” in Michael Flatley and one who helped to put him on a world stage.

Very much his own man who says he is – and who always has – been determined to do things his own way, Liam is probably best known around Kerry for his Killarney performances, where he performed in The Killarney Avenue for 12 years.

“It was great. I’ve some great, great memories from my time there, it was near home so there were no long tours, but I’ll say this, it was very hard. There were some brilliant nights there and we had a lot of success but, again, it was a tough business at times,” he continued.

“The shows were geared towards an American audience and because of this, a lot of the shows were dependent on tourism and tourist numbers and buses and all that, so it was tough in that sense, but, overall, it was great to do it and experience it.”

“That’s over now though and I’m ready to take on the next challenge. I’d be very driven, you know. I’d be my own type of musician and do things my own way as well, because the way I see it, people will either like it or they won’t, you can’t please everybody. I’m ready to do things now that I want to be doing and I’ve actually just finished recording a