Category Archives: Live

Joe Bonamassa: Gig Review. M & S Bank Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Joe Bonamassa at the M & S Bank Arena. April 25th 2025. Photograph by David Pickles.

The air is filled with the sound of expectation, the faithful 3000 inside the M & S Bank Arena that adds an extra sense of gravitas to the historic view of the skyline of Liverpool’s waterfront can feel the intensity of solemnity radiating from the back of the stage as the momentum and the drama of music that emanates from the guitar of Joe Bonamassa is ready to deal all the aces in a night of high value and atmospheric pulses that went on to rock the space inside the venue with passion and the sound of freedom.

Joe Bonamassa: Gig Review. M & S Bank Arena, Liverpool. full post

(395 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Chris De Burgh: Gig Review. (2025). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The appeal of Chris de Burgh thankfully never wavers, the consummate professional on stage, the twinkle in the delivery between songs, the genuine affection of his fans as they elevate the mild mannered star to the threshold of immortality…this is no glib statement, but an observation as the singer songwriter returns to Liverpool on the first night of his latest tour, and seeing him work the sense of the common man into an artform; and he endeared himself to the crowd, you could feel the drama of his songs play out, as he intends, as the audio cinematic touch overwhelms and passionately throws hearts into a flutter.

Chris De Burgh: Gig Review. (2025). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(476 words, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

The Classic Rock Show: Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2025).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Greatness for many abound when they hear the signature chord of a song that grants them a superpower of memory, of instant recall and evoking of clarity, the weekends spent in a pub of choice and deciding between friends the ultimate juke box serenade in which the change scraped together would be exchanged for songs that broke and mended hearts, that pushed the sense of exploration from the mind and soul and taught the multitude what it meant to sit in the same company, relish the same ideals of taste, and become in the end, a better person for understanding just exactly how Meat Loaf and The Eagles, how Fleetwood Mac and Heart can exist in the same genre and be rightly glorified for their presence on Earth.

The Classic Rock Show: Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2025). full post

(465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Wendy James: Gig Review. Rough Trade Records, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The show must always go on, the dedication to the cause despite all that life may casually throw at you must continue unabashed and with sincerity be held up for all to witness; for you never know who you may inspire with just a simple acknowledgement of your time in the spotlight despite all that has happened, and how your life is one of creative cool.

Wendy James: Gig Review. Rough Trade Records, Liverpool. full post

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

10cc: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Gig Review. (2024)

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Ever the consummate professional, Graham Gouldman requires no introduction, the music he and the rest of 10cc created is understood from the first bar, and universally enjoyed; and once more the band of merry, and talented groove setters rolled into Liverpool as part of their Ultimate Ultimate Tour, and the result was one that was the sense of perfection, sweet, accomplished, complete and exact proof of the legendary status of the music, and of the longevity of spirit of those that created them.

10cc: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Gig Review. (2024) full post

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

Toyah And Robert’s Sunday Lunch: Live. Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Toyah has never lost her sense of fun and style, and her husband, the legendary Robert Fripp, exudes such an air of gentlemanly grace that to be in their presence can often feel measurably overwhelming.

For to watch two of Britain’s most experienced performers on stage can lead to the listener being comforted and dominated in the same breath; and when they are together on the back of their hugely successful Sunday Lunch show online that sartorial elegance on stage for a Liverpool crowd is one that is to be acknowledged as being performed by a king and queen of Prog and Punk.

Toyah And Robert’s Sunday Lunch: Live. Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(490 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

Iron Maiden: Utilita Arena, Birmingham. Gig Review. 2023.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Time is its own master, we are its servants, we are the victims and playthings in which the illusion of freedom is sought as a compromise, in which the future has its own set rules and inevitabilities, and the past is written either in dark forbidding ink or ruled with glory in hues worthy of memory.

Iron Maiden: Utilita Arena, Birmingham. Gig Review. 2023. full post

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

The Christians: Gig Review. Usher Hall, Edinburgh.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a calming effect on the audience to which takes a sense of the pure soul in which to capture when they are on stage. Many have this quality, but it is in tandem with the exuberance of the immense, the industrial like performance which whips up a frenzy in the aisles and leaves the heart thumping, sometimes out of time with the message in the set.

The Christians: Gig Review. Usher Hall, Edinburgh. full post

(393 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

The Classic Rock Show. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Gig Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For many the sound of various anthems, hits, and obscurities that came their way via the beauty and inner workings of the local pub juke box, was an introduction to a memory that would inspire, stimulate, move and arouse in equal measure, and be the backdrop to the days when the world was cast in shadow; it only takes a line, a moment on the drums, a scintillating vocal, that guitar – that instrument of expression which to many a rock sound would simply not exist, for the world to make sense.

The Classic Rock Show. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Gig Review. full post

(542 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Clannad, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Award-winning band Clannad said farewell to Liverpool, and Liverpool said a reluctant sad farewell to Clannad.  

It’s been 50 years since this exceptional Irish band from Donegal bounced onto the music scene with their eclectic mix of traditional Celtic music and new age ethereal vibes. 

Legendary, influential and culturally important, the band was formed in 1970 by siblings Moya, Ciaran and Pol Brennan and their uncles Noel and Padraig Duggan. Unfortunately, Padraig passed away in 2016 and the band gave him a “shout out” at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall last night to the delight of a packed audience. For a short time, sister Enya had been part of the line-up but now ploughs her own path.  

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

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