Tag Archives: Gig Review. 02 Academy

Lost Society, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It seems that every day we inch closer to an abyss in which a society, a species that was born for greatness, is to be lost, vanquished off the face of the Earth by its own ineptitude and disorienting values, thankfully till that moment in which the next great extinction comes along there is always pleasure to be had in Finland’s Kings of the Thrash Metal genre Lost Society. Civilisation may be teetering, the position of leader of the Western world may about to put into the hands of a man who wants to build walls and a leader in Russia that fancies the idea of a Nuclear Middle East party but Lost Society know how to fill a room with music driven scorch marks and ear bashing, heart thumping Metal groove.

Lost Society, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(460 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Deified, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The deep rumblings of discontent, the explosion of a megaton bomb and the urgency of a siren warning of an impending attack, all fade into the ether when the growl of Thrash and Heavy Metal gets going, when it breaks loose of society’s moorings and allows itself the free range in which to catapult its quarrel and blistering beautiful argument into the ears of those receptive to a different kind of outbreak.

Deified, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(440 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Darline, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The rigours of the day, the small, petty and the otherwise inconsequential can mount up to the point where the meaning of life is clouded, it becomes fogged up with bruising and baffling irritation that it can offend the very sensibility of music and it can something very unexpected to soothe the day over; something that might have been missed.

Darline, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(437 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Steve Thompson And The Incidents, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Steve Thompson at the 02 Academy in Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are bands performing in Liverpool that to be brutally frank, you would climb off your sick bed to go and watch, or at least make sure the venue would let you take in a bed, a team of nurses and a glowering doctor, full of self-importance and unhappiness, as part of the ticket price. For Steve Thompson and the Incidents, sick bed or not, the chance to take in the sincerity and prized affection for the music on offer is perhaps enough to tempt even Lazarus out of retirement and have him storming the barricades, the arm pumped in appreciation and singing each well delivered line as though his very life depended upon it.

Steve Thompson And The Incidents, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(459 words, 1 image, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

Last Line Out, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Summer evenings can be a time of quiet introspection surrounded by friends. Amongst the jokes, hilarity and loud musings between acquaintances, mates and lovers, the calm of summer’s heat can get in your head and considerations and plans are laid out in a row of certainty. You could do that, you could sit there as the sun finally burns itself out and the crispy smell of human bacon stirs into enough life to meander lazily home, or you could make your way to a gig given by Last Line Out and really enjoy the evening.

Last Line Out, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(375 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Mike Peters, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Birmingham.

Mike Peters at the Birmingham Academy, March 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The message of the night was simple, that the power of love, hope and strength is an overriding force of nature which can help overcome the widest of chasms, the tallest of mountains and can hold the attention of a sold out audience right down to the newest of fans who weren’t alive when the century started, let alone those that have been on board The Alarm train for over 30 years.

Mike Peters, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Birmingham. full post

(731 words, 1 image, estimated 2:55 mins reading time)

The War On Drugs, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

The War On Drugs, Liverpool Academy. February 2015. Photograph by John Johnson.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The audience’s ears would still arguably be ringing days after the event as The War On Drugs assaulted the senses of a rammed Liverpool O2 Academy. Overdriven guitars, FX-laden keyboards and a bass with more bottom end than Loch Ness all contributed to a night of aural frenzy for the 1000 or so that jammed the big room in the venue on Hotham Street.

The War On Drugs, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(376 words, 1 image, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Hayseed Dixie, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Hayseed Dixie at the o2 Academy in Liverpool. January 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Coming to Liverpool on the back of the immensely popular new album, Hair Down To My Grass, there is only one way to describe the banjo loving, Tennessee loyal awe-inspiring sight of Hayseed Dixie and that’s committed, unpretentious brilliance.

Hayseed Dixie, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(561 words, 1 image, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

The Jokers, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Review 8.5/10

That rare showing of charisma, you either have it or you don’t. If you don’t you can get by being truthful, unabashed or even by smiling, all of these bring out the sunshine in a performer. To have charisma though and to have it so far ingrained into every single member of the band that the sweat pouring off them can be cloned and sold off as new aftershave or perfume, is to have magnetism and every single pair of eyes looking at you as if you were some sort of Demi-God taking a break, well that’s enough to know that the formula is exciting, raw and beautifully wild.

The Jokers, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(555 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

The Wonder Stuff (Acoustic), Gig Review. 02 Academy, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Time is a tremendous healer; it can also be a jailer. It can tie you down and deliver a quick, unexpected slap and shock the system to the point where unless you are willing to change the way you present yourself every now and then, or at least the fundamental part that everyone sees on a daily basis, then Time is quick to stagnate and be repulsed.

The Wonder Stuff (Acoustic), Gig Review. 02 Academy, Birmingham. full post

(588 words, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)