Tag Archives: Gig Review. Leaf

Dan Owen, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A headliner’s duty is to make his presence felt, to set the seal on authority, and for Dan Owen the presence is so powerful that when a howling, brooding harmonica punches the audience with immediacy into Willy Dixon’s Little Red Rooster. It is evident to all those upstairs in Leaf that this sand-toned guitar and pounding stomp box have seen their fair share of theatres, blues bars and gig venues across Europe. One thing is for certain: Dan Owen is a truly relentless performer with a roots-shattering vocal that would make Gregg Allman blush.

Dan Owen, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(384 words, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

Harry Miller, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

No performer should be afraid to lose themselves in the beauty of the epic; what is good for the unknown poet who scribed the tale of Beowulf, for the symphony of expression that encompasses Progressive Rock, is more than an illusion for us all, we can all claim to partake one way or another in the pursuit of the grand scale of song, of the art, few though readily rummage deep in the hearts to make it happen; no matter the subject, no matter the detail or the genre, the epic is a virtue which is lofty and sincere.

Harry Miller, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(352 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Eli Smart, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The ambience, the fizz of bohemian cool never changes inside the upstairs chamber at Leaf, and for that audiences should forever feel grateful, for there is something special about the venue, a sense of tangible distinction which radiates from out of the woodwork, from behind the carefully styled curtains and ideally decorated style that magnifies itself in the musician or act on stage. In that moment a truth opens up before the audience who sit or stand and congratulate with rightful passion and encouragement, that this is how all artists should be treated, with honour, and not with the taste of Saturday night innuendo thrown about like loose confetti at a fourth attempt of marriage.

Eli Smart, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(417 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

People tend to confuse themselves sometimes, the Universe is spectacular like that, believing that to be the best requires the finest of everything, the largest venue perhaps, the abundance of both food and drink on tap, and in this day and age either all for nothing or they are willing to brag about in the Netherspehere of social media that they paid thousands of pounds to a tout outside and that makes the evening perfect.

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2017). full post

(547 words, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Thom Morecroft, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Thom Morecroft at Leaf. May 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

If ever there is a poll for the greatest artist to come out of Shropshire, there had better be a vote included on the ballot sheet for Thom Morecroft, not that such things in the end are important but for the man who made Liverpool his home and produces the type of music in which the veins inside the body crackle and pop with shuddering excitement, to which the nerves glisten with the sweat of anticipation and the joy of the smile is never far from the lips, such an accolade is always awaiting to be said with great sincerity.

Thom Morecroft, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2017). full post

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

Anaïs Vila, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Liverpool will always throw open its arms to the adventurous, to the talented and the seekers of more enlightened thought, it is the nature of the city to do so, it is in entwined in the D.N.A. of its people to share it, to talk about it and not keep it a secret. To travel across Europe, perhaps in the most awkward of times to hit the continent in an era of peace, to play in the home of British popular music is to be saluted. It is the side effect of the vote to leave Europe that people forget that art cannot exist without an audience, to have the conversation and to learn is a prerequisite of being human, the inquisitiveness to learn something new from another culture an unalienable right to the open minded.

Anaïs Vila, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

Me And Deboe, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a reasonable and compelling argument to be made to compare the tantalising work of Me and Deboe with the greatest of all musical partnerships, the phenomenally outstanding Simon and Garfunkel. The comparison isn’t in the voices or the appearance, but where it matters most in the defining action of the duos appreciation towards their audience, the way they are received and the true mastership of both their lyrics and of the beat they generate.

Me And Deboe, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. (2016). full post

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

Limerance, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is an art to fall in love for the first time, the expectations are actually lower in the first minutes of any attraction than if you spin out the desire for a lengthy period; the pedestal only grows higher the longer you take to see the art in someone and the joy in their eyes in an up close and personal way. The quicker the introduction, the sooner it is you can let the infatuation with their song begin.

Limerance, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(397 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Astles, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Live music is important, everybody, the world, his wife and their sometimes ignorant children knows that the live arena is the most important approach for music in the 21st Century. Almost killed by rampant commercialism, the despicability of some streaming services not paying what an artist is due in full for their songs and the process of creativity being turned into a product rather than a little piece of their soul being turned into something beautiful and worth a lot more than money can buy; the live arena is the last natural place in which musicians of any standing get to feel appreciated.

Astles, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

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

Tiz Mcnamara, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a cheeky, admirable quality to Tiz Mcnamara that crowds just cannot but help enjoy as he performs on stage in front of them. Having suggested with a glint in his eye and with the voice of pleasurable mischief coming through Leaf’s microphone, that he had swam all the way from Dublin to open for Rosenblume’s E.P. launch, there was no chance that he was going to leave Leaf’s packed audience without a smile on their face and a song in their already packed hearts.

Tiz Mcnamara, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(424 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)