Tag Archives: 02 Academy

The Bad Shepherds, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a moment when you are listening to The Bad Shepherds, whether it is on a C.D. or more importantly in the realms of the live performance that you realise just how important the music they have taken hold of actually is. What is more significant, is what they have moulded out of precious material and given new form to, the music remains, the lyrics don’t really change at all and yet somehow they have either given fresh impetuous to the song at hand or given a completely new radical meaning to the track.

The Boomtown Rats, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Newcastle.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For those that found themselves in the company of Simon Crowe and Garry Roberts in the Bilston Robin 2 as they thrilled discerning audiences as part of From The Rats  in August 2008 the thought that 4/5ths of The Boomtown Rats line-up would tour together during 2013 would have seemed like a dream that could never come true in a million years, an impossible fantasy you would have bet against from the start but slowly and surely the superb Garry Roberts and Simon Crowe have been joined by Bob Geldof and Pete Briquette and with the very talented Darren Beale adding a touch of youthful exuberance to the cause on guitar, The Boomtown Rats took the packed Newcastle 02 Academy and with just a couple of songs performed from a top notch set list, you could see that they had gone down a storm.

PIL, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Watching John Lydon on stage surely has to go down as one of the most singular pleasures you are ever likely to have in life.  For those who grew up with him as part of their musical heritage or simply because he made a certain television programme watchable for the time he was on there, John Lydon is an iconic man to behold on stage and in life. For those that made their way to the O2 Academy in Liverpool to witness PIL give a sensational account of themselves, that living legend grinned down at the audience and gave them a night to relish.

The Selector, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

To tour with PIL, you have to be good. No two ways about it, you have to be better than good you have to be of the calibre that the audience will take to immediately and have the presence of a Greek titan holding aloft the captured remains of an enemy at war. In Pauline Black and The Selector, both requirements were met with astonishing ease and for the crowd at the 02 Academy, to have this type of pedigree as support to PIL, to John Lydon and the fabulous set of musicians would have been like having dinner at Claridges and being allowed to have the desert, after dinner mints and coffee first.

All We Are, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It may not have been the sort of homecoming All We Are may had expected as they took to the stage at the 02 Academy in Liverpool but on a night when Everything Everything unfortunately postponed their gig at the last minute, there was no doubting just how fantastic the threesome of Guro Gikling, Richard O’ Flynn and Luis Santos have become

Opening up for Everything Everything on tour had been enjoyable; it was visible in the eyes of all three musicians as they played their music with an added exuberance, an extra zip in which they took full advantage of and above all shone as their self-belief showed for the audience to revel in.

The Endings, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

George Harrison understood the heartache behind it, so much so he gave his solo album the title All Things Must Pass, that feeling and despairing knowledge that something has come to a natural finish, no matter how much people might clamour for it not to be true. For The Endings, the run was superb, a Liverpool band with a very big heart at its core, some great and incredible sounds and above all a belief that what they were doing was just another step in a long journey.

The Kill Van Kulls, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Kill Van Kulls was amongst the extreme highlights of Liverpool Sound City during 2012. The positivity they showed, the intense joy they bought to the stage was matched stride for stride by their ability and infectious music.

The Fratellis, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The sweat had barely time to dry off in the 02 Academy from the previous night’s storming gig by Big Country than the re-emergence of one of the most popular and endearing bands of the last decade, The Fratellis, stoked up the pressure cooker inside the venue and the keen excitement felt by all spilled over and added further to the party atmosphere.

Big Country, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Some journeys are never meant to end; there is always time for a new chapter, even in the most long and incredible of stories there is always time for one more nugget of information to be told and savoured. Within the circles of rock, Big Country’s story could have ended when much respected former vocalist Stuart Adamson sadly passed on as the new century began. No one would have blamed anybody as Stuart was a colossus, a man whose presence can still be keenly felt by many as they listen to his voice through the back catalogue.

The Union, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Even if you knew the fact, to hear Pete Shoulder say with more than a hint of apology in his voice that it was The Union’s first foray into the Liverpool’s music conscious was still more than a little surprising. With two members of arguably one of the great British Rock bands of the last 30 years, the soul affirming and musically forceful Thunder, in The Union, it seems almost remiss that the o2 Academy or any of the other vibrant venues in the city have not had the honour of hosting this exciting group.