One of city’s oldest churches now Cork’s newest venue

It was built in the 1870s, but St Luke’s Church in Cork became the city’s newest venue Friday night when it hosted the first of its series of August gigs.

Local electronic artist Talos shared the bill with renowned left-field classical group the Balanescu Quartet for a concert that drew a decent crowd for the 15-minute walk up Summerhill North from the city centre.

Deconsecrated in 2003, the former Church of Ireland premises also managed to be one of the stars of the show on its opening night. The impressive Romanesque design is one of Cork’s best kept architectural secrets and the atmospheric sounds of both acts on the night were well suited to the church acoustics.