Tag Archives: London

Rosmersholm, Theatre Review. The Duke Of York’s Theatre, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Hayley Atwell, Tom Burke, Lucy Briers, Jake Fairbrother, Giles Terera, Peter Wight, Gavin Antony, Ebony Buckle, Piers Hampton, Maureen Hibbert, Robyn Lovell, Alice Vilanculo.

Love and grief go hand in hand, without one, arguably, you cannot have the other, both are so intrinsic to the human condition that our aspirations to find purpose, to propose revolution and swim against the tides and fears that are continuously placed before us, that threaten to drown us, are instead the welcoming release when all is lost.

Rosmersholm, Theatre Review. The Duke Of York’s Theatre, London. full post

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

All My Sons, Theatre Review. The Old Vic, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Bill Pullman, Sally Fields, Jenna Coleman, Colin Morgan, Sule Rimi, Gunnar Cauthery, Kayla Meikle, Bessie Carter, Oliver Johnstone, Theo Boyce, Ruth Redman, Russell Wilcox.

For those that seek the truth, the shame of it is that it ends in tragedy. If there is any 20^th Century playwright to whom tragedy is a gift that deserves to be exposed into the broad light of day, it is Arthur Miller, an expert who saw the American dream as a symbol, not of goodness and righteousness, but of fear, perhaps corruption, of the willingness to do whatever it took to keep humanity locked in a cycle of calamity, of refusing to see that the recklessness of one simple action would be visited upon our children forever.

All My Sons, Theatre Review. The Old Vic, London. full post

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

Betrayal, Theatre Review. The Harold Pinter Theatre, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Zawe Ashton, Charlie Cox, Eddie Arnold.

The act of infidelity is one that causes infinite pain, but also brings a state of war within the soul of the people affected, regardless of whether they are the instigator of the close-knit treachery or the one left behind, unknowing, blissful in their ignorance, loyal to the ideal that they have in their mind that their world is safe from such corruption.

Betrayal, Theatre Review. The Harold Pinter Theatre, London. full post

(488 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Gig Review. Indigo At The 02, London, Stone Free Festival 2017.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The Crazy World of Arthur Brown at Indigo, Stone Free Festival 2017.

To be in the presence of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown is to understand what showmanship is truly like, it is like a magic trick that you cannot see unravel or become clear until it has set you in the mood to watch closely at the quick hands and the sharp, intelligent wit; the magic trick is not one to dismiss as flim flam or as the idle workings of those out to fleece the punter of money. In The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, the magic is there to thrill you, to make you feel something different from the everyday or the run of the mill; this is Arthur Brown at his finest and long may he continue to be that erudite and sensational showman at the head of a three ringed, awesome, circus

The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, Gig Review. Indigo At The 02, London, Stone Free Festival 2017. full post

(473 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Billy Joel, Gig Review. Wembley Stadium, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The lights may have been seen to go out over Broadway, but as the sound of the piano keys crashed down and the echo of thousands of racing hearts fulfilled an ambition in the home of national sports greatest heroes, the illumination from a thousand cameras, of what seemed like a million cell phones capturing the event, Wembley was lit up in spectacular style. This was the honouring of a man for whom so many had perhaps waited a lifetime to watch perform and who now bathed in the glare of flashbulbs and love.

Billy Joel, Gig Review. Wembley Stadium, London. full post

(550 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Theatre Review. Haymarket Theatre, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Pixie Lott, Matt Barber, Victor McGuire, Katy Allen, Robert Calvert, Naomi Cranston, Charlie De Melo, Tim Francis, Andrew Joshi, Melanie La Barrie, Sevan Stephan, Andy Watkins.

Forget the comfortable situation employed by Hollywood, the sight of Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard turning the pages of a novel upside down so it almost becomes unrecognisable to the readers who made it much loved in the first place. When it comes to bringing a story to life, most of the time the truest form of sincere adaption comes from the theatre and the actors slogging their guts out, feeling the character’s skin and with the chance that that well loved story might turn out to be received as fickle and as erratic as electricity captured in a vacuum.

Breakfast At Tiffany’s, Theatre Review. Haymarket Theatre, London. full post

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

Joe Bonamassa, Gig Review. The Old Naval College, Greenwich, London.

Joe Bonamassa on stage in Greenwich. Photograph by Dafydd Owen.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

If there is royalty around that is still to be admired in the 21^st Century then surely it is those who take a genre of music and revive it to the point where it actually becomes a living breathing entity again. The Blues, arguably considered by many of a certain age and below had had its day, it was just quietly wheezing under its own lethargic weight, under its once bloated self importance and slowly dying of excess; the dreaded and fatal disease to which all must it seems eventually succumb to.

Joe Bonamassa, Gig Review. The Old Naval College, Greenwich, London. full post

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

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Gig Review. The Old Naval College, Greenwich, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

On the grounds in which the stage stood inside the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, not far from the ruler of the high seas and one of the nation’s much loved ships, The Cutty Sark, now spends her well earned retirement in perpetual adoration, once roamed and played the childhood Queen Elizabeth, arguably the finest monarch the nation has ever had on the throne of England, came the sound of the reign of the new sovereign as she played her guitar in such a way that across the Thames, in the deep vaults of The Tower of London, they were looking up the line of succession into which Midland’s born Joanne Shaw Taylor was now and undisputedly the Queen of British Blues.

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Gig Review. The Old Naval College, Greenwich, London. full post

(420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett, Gig Review. O2 Arena, London. Stone Free Festival.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Progressive Rock royalty comes in many different forms, many distinct tastes and moments that in the end the fans list could so wildly dissimilar that they would surely encompass the whole colourful spectrum. It is in the nature of such lists that one name would positively stand out, would always grab the attention of the crowd, Steve Hackett, the quiet man of Progressive Rock but also arguably the most prestigious and creatively entertaining; it is no wonder that he was amongst the headline musicians for the inaugural Stone Free Festival.

Steve Hackett, Gig Review. O2 Arena, London. Stone Free Festival. full post

(389 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Alice Cooper, Gig Review. O2 Arena, London. Stone Free Festival.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The master looks down from the pulpit on high and sees the heaving throng, the swelling mass of humanity, writhe in a perpetual rhythm before him, and the scene registers visibly as one to make experienced eyes well up with pride. For Alice Cooper, the veteran of the shock rock musical hall extravaganza, this may have been the only performance in the U.K. during the whole of 2016 but it was one that was steeped in glory, in beauty and dripping with excitement from the off.

Alice Cooper, Gig Review. O2 Arena, London. Stone Free Festival. full post

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