Performer Liam O’Brien has garnered support from fellow Limerick locals including Mayor John Moran to perform alongside the global superstar Michael Bublé next summer. O’Brien is fan is a “massive fan” of swing music, growing up listening to “Sinatra and Tony Bennett, Dean Martin.” He stated that Bublé is “really one of the few people who does the stuff that I do” on a global scale in the music sphere.
After seeing the announcement that he was coming to Thomond Park, he decided to have “a bit of fun with it” by putting himself out there. He was surprised that “within a few hours, hundreds of people had liked, retweeted and shared it.”
One of which was Limerick Mayor, John Moran. O’Brien shared his thoughts saying, “the mayor is somebody who can make things happen and is trying to do positive things for the city. So, I thought that was great.”
“I kind of thought, oh, maybe there’s traction in this”
“It would be hugely important for me to just have that opportunity, but also just the sense of like that you’d be representing the city. I remember going to see Ed Sheeran there a couple of years ago, and local singer Denise Chaila was up with Ed Sheeran, and you’re kind of going, well, that’s so cool to see like a local artist who’s, you know, on that massive stage” in front of “tens of thousands of people,” he revealed.
“The more people talk about it, keep talking about it, and maybe, like you say, it could happen. Look, if nothing happens, I’m absolutely fine with that, it’s a bit of fun, and it’s been a bit of craic, and I really enjoyed the bit of buzz about it, and put it this way, if something did happen, you know, it’s like if you’re not in, you can’t win,” he said proudly.
O’Brien encourages people to forget the mentality that if you are “not successful by 27, now I just give up. I mean, if you give up, nothing will ever happen”
“I think that’s the key message, there is no time limit on things like this and that you should be pursuing what makes you happy. They don’t have to be global success or money or fame or those things, but you should be pursuing what makes you happy every day, and I have to say that’s something that I’ve done my entire life,” he asserted.
It is safe to say that Limerick is rooting for Liam and hope to see this happen. You can find out more about Ireland’s ambassador of swing here.