Category Archives: Live

The Corridors, Gig Review. The Cavern, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2016.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When a band comes from out of the late spring warmth, the haze of the sun stretching deep into the bones and the fabric of a city that unquestionably is the finest in the world for its musical appreciation and welcoming stance to outside acts, and is able to grab you by the shoulders and dares you, challenges you, to look away for the entire time they are on stage and does so with complete trust in your sense of perspective, then you know just what a great group you have stumbled upon.

The Corridors, Gig Review. The Cavern, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2016. full post

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

Mylittlebrother, Gig Review. The Cavern, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2016.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The Lake District is arguably one of the great and unspoilt places within the whole of the U.K., alongside Dartmoor, the areas of Snowdonia, the lochs of Scotland and the banks of the furthermost reaches of The Mersey. The Lake District revels in its beauty, is not ashamed of its splendour and like a grand woman of any age, celebrates in its attractive qualities and injects that appreciation into anyone who has a heart that cannot contain the words in which to espouse or promote.

Mylittlebrother, Gig Review. The Cavern, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2016. full post

(367 words, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Bryan Adams, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Bryan Adams, perhaps more than ever, knows how to take an audience on a ride of musical exuberance and heart beating songs; always entertaining live, Bryan Adams has become one of Rock’s elder statesmen and he has done so without losing the gift of youthful expression and the energy of a man possessed of charm, confidence and undoubted skill. To lose such attributes would be to diminish the truth behind the musician, to lose them would be depriving one of the great entertainers of his time.

Bryan Adams, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. (2016). full post

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

Manic Street Preachers, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Time has only has its own void to fill when you realise that a decade has gone past, when the thought of a great concert in the city by one of the most proficient, unambiguous and staunchly determined groups of their era, becomes once more a biting and tenacious reality.

Manic Street Preachers, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

Yes, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It was perhaps fitting that the spontaneous applause, the sound of appreciation and love, would fill the vast expanse of the Philharmonic Hall before a note was even played, before the band appeared on stage and took their customary glances and smiles out to a sea of known faces and the curious at heart. This was Liverpool’s night to say thanks to the memory of Yes own heart, its own beating machine of 45 years and the applause was enough to recognise that whilst Yes were in the building, Chris Squire was going to be missed on stage.

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

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

Gary Edward Jones, Gig Review. Constellations, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Even the spectre of near biblical sounding April rainfall and destructive wind whistling round the building couldn’t deter the sound that Gary Edward Jones and his band were making in Constellations. If anything, as the heaviest of raindrops fell upon the roof of the building and the wind roared down the Mersey River and into the heart of the Baltic Triangle, it was almost if the elements, the drive of nature was applauding and cheering on The Cabinet Maker. Each droplet heard in time as if the polite ovation of a classical music audience had somehow been thrown into the mix of the night; it was one that was most welcome and assuring.

Gary Edward Jones, Gig Review. Constellations, Liverpool. full post

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

Eleanor Nelly, Gig Review. Constellations, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision 9/10

It seems to be that the phrase for Liverpool’s Eleanor Nelly is “always continues to impress and astound”; for when you see this young musician perform you forget about many things, Time gets swallowed up, Time finds a way to be its own destructing agent without decaying the fragile and sensitive beauty that is bonded between audience and performer. It is almost as if Time understands the special nature that comes with Ms. Nelly and wants to make sure that those that see her perform now in Liverpool enjoy, take pleasure in and bask in the enormity to come, for six months on from turning 16, Eleanor is surely earmarked to go to the stars.

Eleanor Nelly, Gig Review. Constellations, Liverpool. full post

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

Grace Eliza, Gig Review. L.I.P.A., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Paul McCartney auditorium may have been still and as quiet as a family of gently snoring mice as they snoozed under the duvet before the arrival on stage of Grace Eliza, however they soon joined in the loud appreciation for the young R&B singer as she blistered through a set at the L.I.P.A showcase with tremendous ambition.

It is an ambition that will serve her well in the coming years and it is one that also matches the depth of beauty that is very much in evidence as the audience almost scrambled to the front of the stage to get a full look at the raven haired songstress.

Grace Eliza, Gig Review. L.I.P.A., Liverpool. full post

(375 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Muse, Gig Review. The Hydro, Glasgow.

Muse in Glasgow, April 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

You cannot fault the effort that Muse put into their show, the production values are simply out of this world, the sound magnificent and the extras that make it always worth attending one of their performances just something to behold with slight awe. What can let it down as you watch the whole evening unfold is when the audience don’t seem to want to join in the fun and the absolute pleasure until very late in the day; the odd mosh pit opening aside, until the old storming favourite of Time Is Running Out presented itself to the crowd, there was hardly a peep of mass voice joining in.

Muse, Gig Review. The Hydro, Glasgow. full post

(438 words, 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Jeff Lynne’s E.L.O., Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It might have been shock, it was more than likely reverential, but the early applause for some of rather ear catching songs played by Jeff Lynne’s E.L.O. was certainly building up to the cascade, the utter crescendo of wall to wall sound that would eventually come pouring down upon the Echo Arena, would be one that would have justified completely the decision by the much loved man from Birmingham to bring back his version of E.L.O. to the arenas and venues of the country.

Jeff Lynne’s E.L.O., Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(513 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)