Crowded Scouse, Gig Review. Everyman Theatre. Regional Mersey Head & Neck Cancer Centre Charity Evening.

There are moments in life that no matter how great they are, no matter how impressive the sound, the action or the memory, it just cannot be assigned a number or a star rating. To do so demeans the experience and the reason why the event happened.

Inside the Everyman Theatre, recently award winning, always welcoming, Liverpool favourites Crowded Scouse took the over the evening in aid of their annual Head-On charity event in aid of the  Regional Mersey Head & Neck Cancer Centre Charity and by the end of their rampaging set there was more sweat hanging in the air, more faces plastered with the sense of pleasure and understanding than ever could be mustered on the Halloween filled streets of Liverpool. The ghoulish antics, the lines of interested fact dwellers in search of a fright as part of the Shiverpool experience, and the odd Dracula and partly decapitated monk looked through the windows of the Everyman and glowered with a sense of well preserved jealousy at the band on stage and were given a resounding beautiful sound in gracious return.

The charity is dear to the hearts of Crowded Scouse and having already raised over £35,000 pounds towards this very important charity and its research into why Head and Neck cancer cases has soared, exploded, in recent years, it can only be said that if only for each smile raised during the band’s set, they raised another £1000, then the charity itself would have been in for the type of surprise that other’s would clamber for.

A night of music from Down Under, the antipodes’ with the Scouse flavour and the charm of the Australian outback placed firmly as close to the Mersey as is possible without getting your feet wet or being able to see across to the bright lights that crowd the signal the far end of the Wirral and the Iron Men from Another Place keeping silent guard as the water rushes by in perpetual motion.

That perpetual motion was sought, caught and exploited to its highest sense by the band members of Crowded Scouse as they performed songs such as the opener It’s Only Natural, Inxs’ New Sensation, Just Like Fire Would, Never Tear Us Apart, the awesome Weather With You, for which the appearance of three Zombie women on stage really set the evening up the good fun intended, Don’t Dream It’s Over and the dramatic but ultimately heart warming track originally recorded by Mental as Anything, the wondrous Live It Up.

It’s not true that all the ghouls and boys who came out onto the streets of Liverpool had a great time, however for those who dug deep, for those who enjoy the music of Crowded Scouse, the night was enjoyed immensely and with absolute conviction of spirit. Some things cannot be given the simplicity of a star because the occasion demands that it should be taken for what it is, however for Crowded Scouse to be the first rock band to perform in the street café at The Everyman Theatre, delight, pride and adulation are enough of a recommendation to see them perform again and again.

A great night, an important night, which was enjoyed by all inside the Everyman Theatre.

Ian D. Hall