Author Archives: admin

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hogarth of Marillion, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, April 2018. Photograph used with the kind permission of Gordon Fleming.

It has been a long time since Marillion stepped over the Merseyside border, that near international boundary that separates the city of Liverpool from the U.K., not built in myth but in the very nature of its home grown and adopted sons and daughters strength of purpose and identity. As Steve Hogarth was heard to say during one enjoyable exchange of banter and nicely placed heckle, “We really are in another country now”.

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(497 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of Liverpool’s own, a performer who has been long associated with the city, a musician of high integrity and blushing music, one who for quite some time has deserved the accolades that come with a night at the Philharmonic Hall; in Roxanne de Bastion’s supporting of Marillion on this tour, to come back to Liverpool, to immerse herself within the friends she made and in the city where her latest album is held as an example of the heights that can be reached, that is now the position that all should be attaining.

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Magnum, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When we were younger…a mere step or the beat of a chord from where Magnum used to practise in the fabled Rum Runner Club and within the shadow of memories of being arguably the finest of bands to have the Birmingham stamp placed upon its history and resume, the Symphony Hall played host to the band, and in a reversal of fortunes of weather, no longer put off by the snow and devastation of postponed music, instead it was the heat and sheer intensity of the homecoming gig to which the end of the tour will always be remembered.

Magnum, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. full post

(430 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Rebecca Downes, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

With a little help from your friends, you cannot ask for more in life except having the drive to be the very best version of yourself possible, both of these states of mind are there to remind you that you have a responsibility to perform and take in the very immense situations that you may find yourself within, that the song, the smile and the swagger, are there because the world demands beauty in the face of possible oppression.

Rebecca Downes, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. full post

(464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

The Who, Live At The Fillmore East 1968. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are always holy grails in which the music lover finds themselves hoping to one day hear, elevated from the possible and tantalising, once exotic but dubiously sourced bootleg, and for the fans of The Who, the night at the Fillmore East in the aftermath of one of the most horrendous acts of murder in American History, is one that has long been wanted and relished of all of the great British band’s captured performances.

The Who, Live At The Fillmore East 1968. Album Review. full post

(450 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Niemöller Today.

 

First, they came for the homeless

on Britain’s streets,

because that’s what they do, pick

at the fringes and the easy targets, the vulnerable

and the uncomfortable on the eye,

and you did nothing,

then they come, excited

by the work already done, the first small ticked box

for the disabled and reduce them down

to figures of ridicule and suspicion,

do they really need to be seen,

salivating now, the painted smiles

of ministers as you tore yourselves apart

to say nothing,

Niemöller Today. full post

(232 words, estimated 56 secs reading time)

Manic Street Preachers, Resistance Is Futile. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

You can’t argue with the music, the sentiment and the ability, you can however feel that an element of what went before is missing, consigned perhaps to not being part of the moment or the future, and when that happens it calls into question the reasons and objections you may have in your own mind to how a band or artist will continue on in that vein.

Manic Street Preachers, Resistance Is Futile. Album Review. full post

(410 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Rampage. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Naomi Harris, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Ackerman, Jake Lacy, Joe Manganiello, Marley Shelton, P.J. Byrne, Demetrius Grosse, Jack Quaid, Breanne Hill, Matt Gerald, Will Yun Lee, Bruce Blackshear, Jason Liles.

The arcade game to which this film takes its name and part of its premise, has all but been lost to the depths of time, a classic of the back street shops that held deep fascination for those who were brought up in an era when gaming was social, your attention divided between the now retro classic, the music and infectious beat and doing your best in front of a crowded room and the urging of friends behind your shoulder to beat the score set by local and undefeated champion of the local arcade.

Rampage. Film Review. full post

(401 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

A Clockwork Orange, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

A Clockwork Orange, Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph used with kind permission by Marc Brenner and the Everyman Theatre.

Cast: George Caple, Nadia Anim, Richard Bremmer, Nathan McMullen, Phil Rayner, Zelina Rebeiro, Keddy Sutton, Liam Tobin.

Musician: Peter Mitchell.

A Clockwork Orange, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(529 words, 1 image, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)