The Louisiana, Bristol, GB
Tuesday, 28 October 2025
7:30pm
£12 + BF
16+ (under 18s to be accompanied by a responsible adult)
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70s influenced funkster and soft-rocker Joel Sarakula (AUS) presents new album 'Soft Focus' in his first UK tour in 15 years. Joel has graced the stages of Primavera, SXSW and Glasto over the years and has been championed by the likes of Craig Charles, Mary Anne Hobbes and Lauren Laverne on 6 Music and Radio 2, so don't miss this chance to see Joel Sarakula with band on a rare headline UK show. With local support from Xav Clarke who will bring his psychedelic indie-pop to The Louisiana for the first time.
Imagine if Ray Manzarek was the frontman for the Bee Gees... It’s a neat visual introduction to Joel Sarakula, a UK-based Australian artist who writes, producesand sings Soulful Pop, gazing out at a contemporary world through vintage glasses, vintage threads and long blond hair. His music is informed by a rich, 1970s-inspired palette, drawing on soft-rock, funk and disco influences: sunny, uptempo jams for darker times. Self-aware that he looks and occasionally sounds like the love child of Ray Manzarek and the Gibb brothers, his self-deprecating sense of humour is always there just below the fringe.
Born in Sydney, based in UK and international in outlook Sarakula is a songwriter who has travelled the world in search of his muse, experiencing everything from being a victim of Caribbean carjackings to performing in the remote fishing villages of Norway before finally establishing his career in the UK and Europe. Since then he has released albums such as “Island Time” (2023), “Companionship” (2020), “Love Club” (2018) and “The Imposter” (2015) that have racked up plays on rotation across national UK and European radio and got him noticed in The New York Times, The Independent (UK), The Irish Times, Rolling Stone Germany, El Pais (Spain) and Sydney Morning Herald. It’s- been a long road finding his current cult status starting out at the piano from a young age in suburban Sydney, writing and singing songs by the time he was a teenager and onstage by fifteen years old playing jazz standards in his local golf club. “I came from humble beginnings, it’s best not to mention” as he sings in his 70s boogie influenced song “I’m Still Winning”. Joel Sarakula is a fixture on the festival and club circuit having previously performed at SXSW, Primavera Sound and Glastonbury festivals. Ever the internationalist, he tours with pickup bands sourced from each territory he plays in: a Barcelona band for Spain, a Berlin band for Germany and so forth. This cross-cultural exchange is another echo of the 1970s when world travelling soul and pop artists from the US did the same and guarantees that his live shows remain fresh, exciting and absolutely contemporary.
