Category Archives: Live

Jared James Nichols, Gig Review. Indigo, London. Stone Free Festival.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Jared James Nichols, a name to which let the tongue enjoy the sensation of longing, of powerful beginnings and the concept in the mind of just what is to come over the period of time infront of us, for in Mr. Nichols lays the future and he is great company.

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.

Elton John, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Life is a distraction filled with the sometimes endless search for acceptance, love and experience; it should never be about fear, about wondering if you are going to go out and come home alone, that the music might suddenly stop in a heartbeat or if the lights will one day turn out because of someone else’s intolerable beliefs.

Adam Ant, Gig Review. Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are entertainers and there are showmen, there are the musicians and songwriters to whom artistic impression is everything and to which a brief single moment in time in their company as they strut the stage is enough to fall in love with them.

There is no doubt that Adam Ant, a darling of the British music empire, a man who broke rules and was loved for it, still has the ability to turn heads, to slay an audience with a single smile and to offer the feelings of youthful unfulfilled desire with a single bound of his incredible presence. The stage would not be anything without the man to whom personality is an overwhelming prospect and outlandish cool but a genuine request to stand in awe of.

James Wyatt, Gig Review. Strings And Things, Studio 2, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is easy to love James Wyatt, the young performer almost shyly stipulates such cool and terrific poise on stage that to not admire him, to not fall for the songs of bitterness, of despair and desperate longing in an unfair and charmless world, is to realise that your ears have long since given up the task they were appointed for, that this is music that sits very much in the same vein as some of the great performers at their most iconic and virtuous.

Esme Bridie, Gig Review. Strings And Things, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Being away from home does not stop people caring about you, it does not mean that you are able to shrink in stature or let the light of the song ever diminish; for by doing so, the light fades and allows darkness to fill the void. It is darkness that never once pokes its head above the trenches as far as the beautiful voice and song writing of Esme Bridie is concerned.

Brian Wilson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It is arguably impossible to calculate all the love in the world, you would be better off just trying to attempt collecting sand from a far off beach and turning into Cornish tin; some things are just physically impractical to do and hopeless to challenge.

Alison Green, Gig Review. The Cavern, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow (2016).

Alison Green at The Cavern, Liverpool. Iternational Pop Overthrow 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Alison Green at The Cavern, Liverpool. Iternational Pop Overthrow 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cut through the noise, reduce everything around you to a state of near silence, not so much pin dropping but that rare beat in which nobody breathes, nobody exhales or makes the slightest murmur at the exact same time, hack away at everything that detracts the senses and leave the bloodied corpses of indifference laying in their own pool of unreasonable understanding; for when Alison Green travels to the International Pop Overthrow, the event is one to savour for all its worth.

King Mojo, Gig Review. The Cavern, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow (2016).

King Mojo at The Cavern in Liverpool. May 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

King Mojo at The Cavern in Liverpool. May 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The area around Middlesbrough, the town to which clings to the edge of the North East and its old Yorkshire heritage for all its worth, has had many excuse recently to party in celebration and joy as its sporting heroes place the town back once more in its arguably rightful place. It is one that is deserved but also tempered by the reality of government inaction, of a feeling of bitterness and anger at the way the area has been left to its own devices and face ruination at the hands of the dirty side of politics.

The Theme, Gig Review. The Cavern, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The look may have altered slightly, the line up somewhat different, however, there should be no doubting that the aspiration and kudos attached to the London band The Theme, the sound of a million marching ideas and clean cut lyrics remains the same, remains compelling and clear; this is still The Theme, this is still life as lovers of the International Pop Overthrow would know and understand.

The Theme continue the good work laid down in the recent past and whilst the band have changed some personnel, the commitment to the scene, to the rush of truthful grandeur and roughly inspired life continues unabated and with strength in depth.