
The pandemic delayed the celebrations for John McCusker’s 30th Anniversary as a professional musician but John is excited to get to perform music from across those years. The John McCusker Band will feature Ian Carr, Sam Kelly, Helen McCabe & Toby Shaer. John is also marking the occasion with the release of a ‘Best Of’ album, including three new tracks, and a book –’John McCusker: The Collection’ – gathering 100 of John’s compositions.
As someone who has won awards – including the coveted BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards Musician of the Year in 2003) – praise from reviewers and earned plaudits from fellow musicians – “a musician’s musician” in Phil Cunningham’s words – John McCusker has a lot to celebrate. He spent 11 years with Scottish folk institution the Battlefield Band from aged 17.
John’s most recent album Hello Goodbye (2016) was his fourth solo outing. Collaborations have included, Before the Ruin, with Roddy Woomble and Kris Drever (2008), Under One Sky (2009), and the enduring trio with John Doyle and Mike McGoldrick, producing two studio albums The Wishing Tree (2018) and The Reed That Bends in the Storm (2020), and three live albums. John is also a longstanding member of the annual Transatlantic Sessions house band.
Transcending musical boundaries is a skill John is renowned for. Since 2008 John has been a member of Mark Knopfler’s studio and touring band, performing on big stages in arenas around the world including Madison Square Garden and the Royal Albert Hall, and in John’s words: “turning my world upside down in the best possible way.” Variously live, as producer or as a studio John has also worked with David Gilmour, Paul Weller, Paolo Nutini, Teenage Fanclub, Idlewild, The Proclaimers, Graham Coxon, Ocean Colour Scene, Julie Fowlis, Kate Rusby, Heidi Talbot, Linda Thompson, Billy Connolly and Eddi Reader.
John is looking forward to the next stage of his musical career which will include recording a duo record with Helen McCabe and more live dates with John Doyle and Mike McGoldrick. Reflecting on his achievements over 30 years John says: “I’ve never had a plan. Good things have just happened, and it’s worked out as well as I could possibly have dreamed of.”
THIS EVENT WAS RESCHEDULED FROM SEPTEMBER 2021 – ALL TICKETS AND TABLES HAVE BEEN AUTOMATICALLY TRANSFERRED
Book a table for pre-concert dining
Acapela Studio provides pre-concert dining between 6.00pm and 7.30pm from our pizza oven. To view the current menu visit here.
Please purchase your concert tickets first before booking a table. We will not accept any table bookings that do not have a corresponding ticket purchase.
Then return to the event page to book your table, by selecting the date of your event, number of diners and time you require table. The times shown are the only vacancies left. Please complete your email and phone number as this is required to ensure your table is allocated. You will receive confirmation of your booking by email and text.
If on the date you have chosen no tables are available - no times will be shown and the booking system will revert you back to todays date - PLEASE ENSURE YOU BOOK THE CORRECT DATE!
PLEASE NOTE THE VENUE RELIES ON THE INCOME FROM DINING TO ENSURE WE CAN BOOK ALL THE GREAT ACTS PERFORMING.
Income from the provision of pizzas is very important to the venue and if you have booked a table it is a requirement that all people sat at tables order food - a salad alternative is available to pizzas. Please do ensure that all individuals will be ordering on your table - if this is not the case please cancel your table so others who are looking to dine can do so. Our apologies to raise this but recently we have had many tables (some very large) where less than 50% of those sat at tables have ordered food. Financially this is a real problem to the sustainability of the venue.
- All seating at tables must purchase a pizza - so please do not book a table if everyone is not eating.
- Please ensure that you arrive 10 minutes before the time slot allocated to order your pizzas prior to your booking time.
- Tables not seated within 15 minutes of the allocated time may be lost and allocated to other audience members wishing to order pizzas.
- If you wish to book a table for 6 or more please email info@acapela.co.uk
Please note that all of our pizzas are made fresh to order and cooked in an authentic wood-fired oven. It may take up to 45 minutes to be served during busy periods.
IF YOU ARE UNABLE TO BOOK A TABLE YOU CAN STILL ORDER PIZZAS ON THE NIGHT (USUALLY ON BUSY NIGHTS NO LATER THAN 7.15PM) AND WE WILL SERVE THEM TO YOU WHEREVER YOU ARE SAT IN THE VENUE - IN A PIZZA BOX.