Category Archives: Live

Black Stone Cherry, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The devastating effect that a exploding volcano has on the surrounding earth and the serenity of the once peaceful air is never surely lost when a rock gig comes to town, especially one born out of a series of bands, one after each other that allows the intense heat and atomic like measure to flow evenly for a period of time before culminating in one final blow out, the landslide of love and affection overtaking the surge of rock endeavour. Volcanoes come and go, it is in their nature, however for Kentucky’s Black Stone Cherry, the impression they left on the minds who made their way to the Echo Arena on a cold January night will live on beyond the fertile cooling down of the Earth beneath the Rock lover’s feet.

Black Stone Cherry, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

Shinedown, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The Carnival of Madness tour picks its bands carefully, almost with grace and tremendous forethought, for how else is it possible to believe that the bands on stage at the Echo Arena in January’s dying whispers could quite easily host a night headlining some of the city’s other venues and the same cranking of intensive hard rock sound be felt quivering in the spine.

Shinedown, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

Halestorm, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The American railroad system was once upon a time a boon to the country, a piece of engineering wonder that straddled the distance between the Atlantic and the Pacific with pride and wonder, it helped put small towns on the map and paved the way for expansion that was unsurpassed for years. No sooner had it been completed than the great American love affair with cars began in earnest and small town America found itself strangled and cut off from the rest of the country, forced to join in or to become a back water of neglect and social abandon.

Halestorm, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

Erin Rowlands, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You can plan your day, your week or even your life with the studious dedication normally reserved for the serious and the serial horse race gambler. You can study the form, you can see an outside bet that just comes across as being a terrific deal and one that blossoms in front of you, or even just continue to play safe and follow the absolute favourite around forever and yet from out of nowhere someone comes along and upsets all you know and perhaps believe in and gives a superb performance least when you expected it.

Erin Rowlands, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(381 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Eleanor Nelly, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Eleanor Nelly at Zanzibar in Liverpool. January 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Holding back from praising an artist is perhaps arguably the hardest job when it comes to comes to reviewing, you want the whole world to see what you have seen for a couple of years, the flourishing and blossoming of a musician before your very eyes, you can’t wait to tell those around you just how good they are…but you wait until it’s appropriate to do so; it is only the right thing to do and they in turn reward you with a performance that is measured, controlled and full of illumination.

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

(475 words, 1 image, estimated 1:54 mins reading time)

Shaw, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The concept of moving away from a place where you may be settled, where the richness of your life is measured in local appreciation is perhaps an idea that some cannot face for the understandable fear of not capturing the soul of it again.

That feeling is universal, it breathes at the heart of humanity’s reason to find roots, to grow and yet if the chance is taken, if you move with belief then the appreciation for the artist grows and in Shaw, a young man for whom the south coast of England was his stomping ground, moving to Merseyside and offering his wonderful voice to Merseyside maybe seen as a huge stepping stone in his life.

Shaw, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

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

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Gig Review. O2 Academy, Liverpool.

Doogie White from Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock at the o2 Academy, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

As the sweat of a many a Liverpool rock fan glistened in the neon lights of the Academy, as the thunder of the well timed clap echoed round the room and the hint of the monumental started to take place in the minds of those in attendance, the smile of a master beamed down across the floor of the venue and the guitar, slung low, howled with joy at the response; if 2016 has been a kick in the teeth for music so far, if the feeling of loss has been verging on the unbearable, then Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock was the antidote for the evening and a more magnificent display of raw musical prestige could a crowd ask for in such mesmerising light.

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Gig Review. O2 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(481 words, 1 image, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Kaya Herstad Carney, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of the great successes of the last decade in the musical relationship between Liverpool, L.I.P.A. and the interestingly diverse culture of students that the city makes welcome every year is undoubtedly that that is the driving force of Science of the Lamps, Kaya Herstad Carney. One of the embodiments of Norwegian culture, of the tremendous ability to create atmospheric and delightful Nordic music which stands up to the heights of the story teller and the poetic nature of a people shrouded in the shadow of Northern Europe, Ms. Herstad Carney never sells herself or the audience short.

Kaya Herstad Carney, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Maddie Stenberg, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

One of the great pleasures of life is coming across the next wave of performers who you hope will go on to have success in the world. Like anybody, the young deserve to have dreams, others will go out of their way to knock them down, they will say it is for their own benefit and that old chestnut of a damning generation, “Get yourself a real job” ever hanging in the air over them like the sword of Damocles swaying just above their performing torso. It is a great honour to try and understand the next generation and their drive, their fears and their ways, by doing so you get to see and hear marvellous things.

Maddie Stenberg, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool. full post

(412 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

SheBeat, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are some that do so much for the city, for the community that they are part of and yet never seem to get to get the recognition they fully deserve. They get mentioned in dispatches every so often, the grateful nod of satisfaction from those whose hearts they have touched and that is all, except to those whose opinions may matter more, those who truly appreciate all that person does and in Jodie Schofield and her alter ego musical persona of SheBeat, that person should be lauded for what she brings to the cultural diversity and experience of the city.

SheBeat, Gig Review. Brink, Liverpool. full post

(418 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)