Concert Review Asa Murphy and Friends Liverpool Irish Centre

 

Asa Murphy and Friends - Little Ken and Leslie Longley - entertained for three hours to help raise funds to support The Irish Centre’s decorating and improvement budget; the money raised is being used to pay for the plastering of the side stage in order to improve the space where artistes performing get changed.  Their goal is to raise £10,000 in total with £4,000 having already been raised due to the last fundraiser show which enabled the centre’s Heritage Room to be refurbished.

Host Asa Murphy introduced the show and promised an afternoon of song, poetry and laughter.  He opened the show by singing, ‘The Leaving of Liverpool’ followed by ‘Dirty Old Town’.

Asa shared some personal disclosures about his Irish heritage and his family, particularly about his father who had passed away recently; his father had enjoyed visiting the centre and he recounted how he had been in Dublin after his father had passed and had come across a pub, called Peter’s Pub, (Peter having been his father’s name), and after spending some time drinking to his father’s memory in there, he had written a song which he performed and dedicated it to him.

He followed it with another song, a ballad penned by himself, inspired by a visit to Portmarnock Beach, Dublin. Asa’s love of Ireland shines through his songwriting and vocal delivery which is heartfelt and endearing.

Little Ken followed with some of his quirky self-penned poetry, mainly humorous verse written with Scouse charm and idiosyncrasies which were well received and raised a smile.  Little Ken has had three books of poems published. He is also the sound man for Asa’s shows; the two friends met when Asa was 16 and joined Little Ken’s band.

After a short interval, Leslie Longley who played Porky the Postman in Asa’s Irish Annie's show, was centre stage next performing a tribute to his hero, Elvis.  Vegas really came to The Irish Centre as Leslie had everyone singing and dancing along to him singing a number of Elvis’s greatest hits.

Asa returned to the stage singing songs from the 1960’s which had nearly everyone up from their seats dancing and singing along. Asa is a polished entertainer and confidently engaged with the audience; he came down from the stage to sing personally to many attending, encouraging everyone to join in. He has a sincere personality and engages genuinely with everyone, his love of singing and entertaining is evident throughout his performance.  A great time was had by all and Asa announced that they had raised £750 from ticket and raffle sales plus there was an unexpected bonus of a very generous person making a large donation making up the money raised to £1,000 which received a warm round of applause.

Asa shared the news that he is currently working on a new album with local well-loved Merseyside artist, Charlie Landsborough; Charlie, having provided the lyrics and Asa will be providing the music to go with them.  He also shared news about his new show, Country Dreaming, which will be performed at The Epstein Theatre on 5^th July, and he performed one of the songs he has written for it.

The show had a very warm intimate atmosphere as most of the audience were regular members of the Centre and they gave Asa, Little Ken and Leslie a very warm welcome and standing ovation at the close of the show as they have performed there previously, being well-known at the Centre.  

The afternoon show was immensely enjoyed by all who sang along and danced throughout, it was a very  pleasant and enjoyable afternoon of music, fun and laughter.

There will be a further fundraising show later this year.  Further information may be found at https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Liverpool/Liverpool-Irish-Centre/Fundraising, https://www.liverpoolirishcentre.org/ and https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolIrishCentre.

Reviewer – Anne Pritchard

On  – 25^th January 2026