Category Archives: Live

The Corrs, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The closeness of the band often betrays just how well they are likely to be received on stage; the audience after all are no fools and their evening, their enjoyment stems from the harmony on stage or the desire that emanates from it and for that, and despite time away from the glare of a Liverpool crowd, The Corrs proved that they had lost none of their intrigue, polish or intimacy and that they could still hold a room, even a vast one, spellbound and breathless.

The Corrs, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

The Shires, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Like most good things, The Shires seemed to come out of almost nowhere. The puff of wind that gently brought them into the lives of the Country fans, not just delicate and pleasurable, but one with a hard edge, the British crush well endowed on a pairing suited to capturing the ears of the listener with their dramatic songs but laid back and sweetly divined innocence.

The Shires, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(403 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Paul Carrack, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2016).

Paul Carrack at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is a simple equation in the end, a matter of fact that should always be repeated wherever and whenever the mood strikes and the thoughts in the head turn to a more beautiful life than one recklessly being left to rot in the chains of musical absurdity. Paul Carrack does not come to Liverpool enough, especially for the army of fans he has made over a long and impressive career that packed out the Philharmonic Hall on sleet filled sky night in January.

Paul Carrack, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2016). full post

(426 words, 1 image, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Robert Vincent, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2016).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

In Robert Vincent, Liverpool has a giant of such lyrical repose, of such melancholic absolution, that he towers in virtue each time he steps out on to a stage, physically and musically. In his support to Paul Carrack, a man who also understands undeniably the truth that a song can bring to a person’s heart, Robert Vincent took the crowd on a journey, a sad one perhaps he may have joked, but one in which the legitimacy of melancholic praise and beauty was unconditional and pure.

Robert Vincent, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2016). full post

(409 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Hozier, Gig Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It feels as though it is only a short time that Hozier burst onto the scene and took a new army of fans under his wing. In that short time, fuelled by a rampant merciful and laid back attitude, of songs so strong that they find themselves competing in competitions on beaches with their musical muscles rippling in the off shore breeze and the bronzed tan glistening in the summer sweat, has not been wasted. It has been fully developed and brought to the point of flourishing abundance and as the crowd at the Empire Theatre gave thanks in their hundreds for each and every song that appeared Genie like before them.

Hozier, Gig Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Wyvern Lingo, Gig Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The warmth of the night inside The Empire Theatre was due mostly by the voices of excited chatter, of local fans hugging themselves in delight at the thought of getting tickets for the first big Rock act of the year to come to Liverpool. It was in that warmth, that glow of spirit to go beyond the enclosures of work and home for probably the first time this year for many, that the heat rose as the flush of thousand hearts made the theatre feel as homely, and as noisy as it did.

Wyvern Lingo, Gig Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Simon And Garfunkel Story, Gig Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Whilst Liverpool audiences have had the honour of watching the legendary Art Garfunkel perform within the last year, a night of beautiful appreciation for one of the defining voices of the 20^th Century at the Philharmonic Hall, the chances of both the harmony and the man with the guitar playing alongside him in the city of music are more than astronomical, they are virtually impossible. It is in to that melancholic fact that solace of any type must be sought and in The Simon and Garfunkel Story, solace, the comfort of New York folk and inspired lyrics, is offered and enjoyed by the entire Empire Theatre audience.

The Simon And Garfunkel Story, Gig Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Kate Rusby, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Kate Rusby at The Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. December 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It could be said that the first true sign that Christmas has appeared over the streets of Liverpool is when Barnsley’s Kate Rusby steps out on stage at the Philharmonic Hall and proceeds to bequeath presents out in the shape of the finest local folk music and musical renditions of popular festive songs.

Kate Rusby, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(411 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Black Star Riders, Gig Review. Genting Arena, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is the type of bill in which any self respecting lover of Rock might have to believe there was a possibility that Heaven might actually exist but it was to be found at the entrance to the motorways that surround Birmingham and be the spiritual home of the Rock and Metal extravaganza for the U.K. If the thought of Whitesnake and Def Leppard wasn’t enough to start salivating over then the opening act on the night, the exceptional Black Star Riders was surely enough to have the thought of a great Rock night out, arguably the last great one in the Birmingham area before Christmas, explode like the contents of the finest bottle of Balvenie onto the taste buds.

Black Star Riders, Gig Review. Genting Arena, Birmingham. full post

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

Def Leppard, Gig Review. Genting Arena, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is entirely possible to believe that the structure that holds the Genting Arena together had only just stopped quaking from the previous visit of Metallica, that the combined forces of Black Star Riders, Whitesnake and now Sheffield’s finest Rock act Def Leppard were about to dislodge the settled dust and explode it down to its constituent atoms, that Metallica, for all their glory, were just a warm up act a few years back up the line for what was about to explode in the centre of the Midlands.

Def Leppard, Gig Review. Genting Arena, Birmingham. full post

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