Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is a salute, a score with destiny which must be paid in full, a dignity that is a duty to be acknowledged from the fans that have been thrilled by the Scottish band Deacon Blue, thrilled and electrified by their presence on stage, and that duty is perhaps, outside of Glasgow, never more settled than when Ricky Ross, Lorraine McIntosh, and the group come to Liverpool, a city dear to the hearts of many, cherished responsibly by Deacon Blue.
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The air and atmosphere inside the Echo Arena was still, a feeling arguably of the uncertainty of time in which the overbearingly hot, sweat-filled and almost distaste of a lack of summer breeze coming off the Mersey, ran riot with the emotions of the thousands who were there, milling around, some hand in hand, others clutching the only means of cooling down they could find, a full circle reached, in a way that only Roger Waters perhaps could achieve.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
We all cannot be rock stars, we all can not all be heroes to the world, yet we do something that is heroic and takes real guts and determination, it can be a rock star choice, we can stop the hate, not just on certain genres but on people too, countries, individuals, we can bring an end to the practise of self proclaimed abhorrence to that which we either don’t understand or which we confess to never listening to in the first place.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It is with the ferocity of a warrior’s heart to which we acknowledge that the world is not right, that it has always had its priorities wrong and the sense of balance that we are urged to seek to uphold the so called natural order, is nothing but a misaligned scale, weighted in the favour of the few, prejudiced by decisions taken long before we even had the chance to understand.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It could be Rotterdam, Rome or anywhere but as December’s cruel thoughts turn to the end of the year, as the office parties began to stack up and the songs from karaoke machines began to rotate on mass, there is in amongst the freeze to come the knowledge that it is Liverpool that Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott once again find themselves in and producing a night of music in which to dance and reflect the night away.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Adam Lambert at the Echo Arena, Liverpool. November 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
The entrance tickets would have been smouldering away in the pockets of the audience for months, they would have been hidden in secret draws and in the realms of closets, opened every so often just to make sure they were still there, not squirreled away by jealous borrowers or fanatical fans who had not been able to secure a ticket of their own. On a night which temptation was possible, in which the heat of the performance would have burst into raptures of flames; Queen and Adam Lambert made good on a long standing unspoken promise and came to Liverpool to raise the roof.
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Iconic perhaps doesn’t do Suzi Quatro justice, the word somehow refuses to roll off the tongue properly, it gets caught up in the mesh of images, in the crossfire of youthful explosion of 70s teenage dreams and admiration of the first woman of Rock, through to the status she truly deserves today.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
When you’ve never experienced a phenomenon it can be quite easy to scoff, to take a look at the moment from outside the pull of the dedicated fan and believe that no matter what you would be immune to sultry tones of the supposed magic which casts its eye over all who linger too long in the mercurial light.
The phenomenon you shy away from, is a perhaps the one that catches you out the most, you ignore it arguably at your own cost and whilst we embrace many a facet, many a band, artist or individual, some we lose sight of, we openly mock or just plain forget.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
https://www.facebook.com/davidmunnphotography, Photograph kindly reproduced from David Munn.
It might have been some years since Blink 182 had ventured to Liverpool, that they had taken The Echo by storm and left an indelible mark, the vibrant tattoo of youth, creative exposure and the insatiable pounding in the heart, for all to wear like a badge of honour for the following weeks as knowing glances and excited conversation took place around town and in the infancy of social media.
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Perhaps it was the sense of occasion, the bugle and drum pattern of history that could be felt amongst the Echo Arena crowd that signified a return, the memories of all who attended the first Phil Collins gig in many years, the first time that even without the other members of Genesis by his side that the drummer, the front man of many a music hit of his generation had stepped out in front of a crowd and sang a note of implication and beautiful awareness; perhaps it was the occasion, more likely it was the city and its people, for this was a welcome never to be forgotten, never to be anything but fantastic.