Tommy Scott of Space at the 02 Academy, Liverpool. 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It had all been leading to this. The moment when the re-emergence of one of the great Liverpool bands kicked off touring again, being back in the studio for the first time in years, re-connecting with those that never wanted to say goodbye to them and the songs; the epic nature of tracks that more than ever had the ring of truth and perfection about them.
Saffron at the 02 Academy, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Just one look from the stage down at the heaving throng of fans said it all. The perhaps half missed wink from Saffron in the general direction of fans who clambered alongside Republica for the incredible ride suggested further hair raising times ahead and yet the manner of the performance was one of electric reminisance and a love rekindled for many in the o2 Academy in Liverpool. The wink, the strut, the pulse of a heartbeat growing stronger by the second proposed the adulation of a band that were cruelly cut off in their prime but who now in the form of the stunning Saffron, Tim Dorney and Jonny Glue, were back and sounding as terrific as they did in 1995.
The Stranglers at the o2 Academy, Liverpool. 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
This is the Gospel according to the Men In Black, to the musicians who have shaped more than one generation’s musical taste; the men who stuck two fingers up to the doubters, the unbelievers, the down-right miserable and doom laden and who have had the final incredible laugh for the last 40 years. The sermon to the already converted and to those who have come along in the intervening years, the thank you to all who gave The Stranglers room in the heart and who filled the room at The Academy in Liverpool to bursting. The Gospel surely reads, “Thank You.”
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
No matter how many years go by, nothing ever really ever seems to change at all. No matter how hard you try to see the difference, time has not erased any of the anxiety or difficulties that affect ordinary lives.
However, sometimes you can’t have enough of Too Much Pressure though and with ever graceful Pauline Black and The Selecter making their way to Liverpool to celebrate the bands 35th anniversary, the pressure is absorbed, danced too, sang with great gusto and with an abandon that you would expect as perhaps arguably the greatest Ska band of the period rolled back the years and showed that class is always permanent.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
March may have been blown in the back of the worst set of winter storms in living memory but the thought of sunshine, weather so perfect you could just turn on the radio and dream of Henry Blofeld delivering a perfectly delivered and seamless soliloquy in praise of a six by Curtly Ambrose and strawberries being placed in your mouth by a toga wearing Roman is never too far away. That dream of summer, of the lazy perfect day was bought ever closer by the Leicester band By The Rivers who were support for the legendary Ska band The Selecter on the opening day of March.
Mike Peters in Liverpool 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Almost 30 years to the day since the album Declaration was released, Mike Peters found himself once more inside the 02 Academy and was greeted by all who wouldn’t let a rainstorm get in the way of listening to one of the greats of British Rock. Not greeted, lauded perhaps would be a better word, even praised and rightly so.
Iconic Ska Legends The Selecter have announced that they will celebrate their 35th anniversary with an extensive 26-date U.K. tour in February, March and April 2014, performing their seminal debut album Too Much Pressure in its entirety for the first time ever, the tour will also take in 02 Academy in Liverpool on 1st March.
Released on the legendary 2-Tone label, Too Much Pressure was a Top five selling album featuring a host of timeless classics, including Three Minute Hero, Missing Words and course Too Much Pressure – all of which were released on Top 40 charting singles.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Sometimes as an audience member, it only takes the intro music, the sound of footsteps echoing across the floorboards and the flicker and change of light to realise that not only are you in for a gig of high quality but also that you are in the presence of greatness.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
In a world that becomes ever more complex and awash with more art being produced than ever before and from all parts of the globe, it is natural to miss something or someone in which when you do finally catch up with them can either be embarrassment or a blessing. In the case of The Dead Daisies, the performance they gave at the 02 Academy in Liverpool was greeted with an air of enthusiasm that befitted the occasion of main support to Black Star Riders and was firmly in the court of a band that should be appreciated.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
It may always come as a slight surprise that some people are quite willing to part with hard earned cash for a gig and then proceed to miss at least half of it. Of course there is work; that cannot be helped, it is part and parcel of being in the kind of society that we are. Then there may be child care issues to consider. However that surely still leaves a fair percentage, a sizeable chunk of a gig going audience who only ever turn up for the main act and perhaps don’t even want to take the chance on something new. For those that made their way to the o2 Academy in Liverpool in good time to see Western Sands and The Dead Daisies, there was a feeling of overwhelming nodding approval in what they saw.