Category Archives: Live

Let It Be, Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Let It Be at The Royal Court, Liverpool. October 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Liverpool’s rich, almost exuberant, heritage for popular music has a long and proud history but it one that is missing a vital component to the story, one that history, fate and circumstance has seen fit to take away from the city that arguably gave popular culture to the U.K. after the Post-War austerity. The Beatles, the foursome who kick started a revolution, never returned to the city in their absolute pomp and ceremony in which to give the fans who propelled them to the top of the charts a sense of completion, of revelling in the majesty that the progressive nature of the band would have gone down a storm in at any of the venues in the city at the time.

Let It Be, Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(575 words, 1 image, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Dean Friedman, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. (2015)

Dean Friedman at the Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. October 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The city that doesn’t know how to stop singing is always enhanced by a visitor of repute from beyond its natural domain. Many of the greats from across the seas, from beyond the realms in which the Atlantic Ocean divides and sometimes conquers as it crashes into the cliffs and harbours and steals moment after moment of time and crumbling portions of land, have made their way to Liverpool to remind the city that America and the musical empire of Britain are forever linked and entwined.

Dean Friedman, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. (2015) full post

(503 words, 1 image, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Squeeze, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is something quite comforting about watching Squeeze perform their huge back catalogue of hits, particularly when their set is now liberally laced with tracks from their first brand new album in 17 years – that being Cradle to the Grave, the “soundtrack” for Danny Baker’s life story telling sitcom currently running on B.B.C.2 starring Peter Kay.

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

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

Dr. John Cooper Clarke, Performance Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are performance poets, there are whirlwinds of poetic infusion but rarely do the two ever meet, Allen Ginsberg aside, none really have the pulling power that the modern world and medium fully deserves with the exception of the very positive and wonderfully punk, the gracious Dr. John Cooper Clarke.

To open up a night of music offered by Squeeze with the whirlwind persona that resides in John Cooper Clarke, a selection of poems beaten out of thin air and which magically entranced and threatened to spill out and dominate, not just the night ahead, but the thoughts of the audience for a good few weeks, was one in which should be applauded with great nods of enthusiasm to see a poetry master at work.

Dr. John Cooper Clarke, Performance Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It seems hard to believe that Liverpool had never had the pleasure of hosting Joanne Shaw Taylor before, that in all the years the absolute blistering sound that comes from arguably the Queen of British Blues had never dominated the Liverpool skyline, had never been heard in a huddled teeming mass before and had only been cherished in various houses, in the front rooms and bedrooms of the enlightened and the reverential.

Joanne Shaw Taylor, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(471 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

Federal Charm, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Federal Charm at The Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. October 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

British Rock and Blues is in arguably the healthiest state that it has had the pleasure to be in for many years. The renaissance of the genres has perhaps come at the expense of the U.K.’s prime export of Heavy Metal and in many cases the once dominant pop scene and culture but for The Blues none of that matters; rude health it seems does come at a cost somewhere else upon the many lines.

Federal Charm, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(512 words, 1 image, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

The Southbound Attic Band, Gig Review. Write Blend, Waterloo.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

An evening with one of Liverpool’s favourite set of performers has arguably never been so laid back, filled with sensational imagery and the wonderful harking back to childhood reminisce as the sound of The Southbound Attic Band gently resonated though the pages of abundant books and the visibly moved audience at Waterloo’s cultural oasis of Write Blend.

The Southbound Attic Band, Gig Review. Write Blend, Waterloo. full post

(551 words, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Miles Hunt And Erica Nockalls, Gig Review. District, Liverpool. Hope Fest 2015.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is an elegance that just comes naturally with both Miles Hunt and Erica Nockalls, a sense of the Midland’s sublime that flows as vibrantly as the River Stour and is forever to be seen in both their acoustic pairing and in the wider circle of The Wonderstuff. They are a pair of musicians that just ooze quality, great stories wrapped in tremendous violin playing and angry yet serenely led guitar that at times it is possible to feel apologetic to anyone who has not come across them.

Miles Hunt And Erica Nockalls, Gig Review. District, Liverpool. Hope Fest 2015. full post

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

Michael Bennett, Gig Review. District, Liverpool. Hope Fest 2015.

Michael Bennett at Hope Fest 2015, District, Liverpool. Photograph by Lis Garrett. Photograph used with kind permission by Lis Garrett.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Michael Bennett will always be a star of the Liverpool acoustic scene; that much is surely certain after performing with authority and a sense of the cool that money would never be able to afford and in which only certain people can pull off without ever looking as if they have tumbled out of bed looking like a fashion magazine. Cool is not the sole preserve of the idealistic and fashionable, it is to be found within the strength of character to be exactly who you are and never waver from that commitment; if this is to be held true then Michael Bennett as he plays his guitar with solitude brilliance and a stance of a benevolent knight in shining armour infusing his performance.

Michael Bennett, Gig Review. District, Liverpool. Hope Fest 2015. full post

(419 words, 1 image, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Splintered Uke’s, Gig Review. District, Liverpool. Hope Fest 2015.

Splintered Ukes at Hope Fest 2015. Photograph by Lis Garrett. Photograph used with kind permission by Lis Garrett.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The humble ukulele has enjoyed such a renaissance of late that the New Romantic era, the generation of Punks and the Progressive era must be finding themselves suddenly believing there might be an avenue of opportunity to explore, to take their old hits and musings down off the dusty shelf and turn the world into their domain once more with the aid of the trusty musical instrument.

Splintered Uke’s, Gig Review. District, Liverpool. Hope Fest 2015. full post

(372 words, 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)