Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are times when Williamson Square can seem like a veritable oasis, calm in an ocean of the oncoming Christmas storm. Whilst shoppers make the most of the last weekend before the festivities begin, Williamson Square’s bandstand plays host to some of the great talent that not only braves biting cold but can grab people’s attention as they bathe beneath the neon lights of The Playhouse Theatre and shadow of the Radio City station and its imposing beacon.

Fresh from their triumphant night supporting The Blockheads at Eric’s, Joe Symes and The Loving Kind capped off an astonishing year of great reviews, a fantastic debut album and being played in radio stations far and wide by going back to the roots. The earthy appeal of playing to a live outdoor audience as the darkness spread over the city and lagging shoppers thinking of a toasty fire and hot toddies as they made their way past Williamson Square must have been a great reminder to the band of why they started it all. To capture the imagination, to be up close and personal to an audience, too gauge their reaction in the raw and away from blistering spotlights, is something that occasionally surely all artists require.

Even the encroaching cold which slivered in quietly into the joints and muscles couldn’t stop the enjoyment of those braving the freeze as Joe Symes, Colin White, Dave Skilling, Paul Hetherington and Chris Giblin ploughed their way with great fortitude, artists feel the cold too after all, through a set which contained several numbers of the debut album and some new songs which look as though will make the new album due out in 2014.

With tracks such as Fine Line, To Be The Best That I Can Be, Too Little Too Late and Falling Down thrown to the crowd like flowers lobbed to an audience at a wedding, which included the impressive sight of one young woman walking across the square, catching the band performing, placing her heavy shopping on the cold stone pavement and stand perfectly still with a look of enjoyment plastered over her face, quite a feat bearing in mind that it was colder than an Eskimo’s fridge.

Despite the cold the band were on top form and Dave Skilling on keyboards in particular was having the type of gig in which it was possible to make comparisons to the late great Ray Manzarek as he stormed away on the keys and yet making the kind of delicate adjustments for which the comparison bears fruit.

The days may be short, the darkness all too lazy to disappear in a hurry but no matter what, Joe Symes and The Loving Kind seem to bring out the thought of light along with them and the long fruitful days ahead.

Ian D. Hall