Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Most people when they come back from a trip abroad take it easy for a couple of days, the possible jet lag alone enough to make the thought of entertaining a vocally enjoyable crowd make some turn their back on the day and lay down in a darkened room. Not for Kevin Critchley though, if there is such a thing as having another wind, then this young man must have stored them up and let them infuse his body to the point of dynamic delivery.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is so much good talk about Alex Hulme that it is surprising to find the young man doesn’t go round Liverpool and the further afield towns with a permanently embarrassed demeanour. The compliments keep coming, the platitudes deserved and well served with grace and refined considered opinion and above all, none of it goes to his head, not a single piece makes him to be arrogant or supposing and that marks Alex Hulme out to be a genuine and well thought of performer.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
Where ever you were on Sunday 20th September at a certain point in time it’s very doubtful you were being treated to a possible golden future for Rock in the same way that the crowd at District were being shown. Visions can come, dreams of greatness may go but somehow something every so often comes around and marks itself out as being so tantalising, so big, that a stage might not dare be able to hold it for long.
Sophie Anderson on stage at Distrct, Liverpool for Hope Fest 2015. Photograph by Lis Garrett. Photograph used with kind permission by Lis Garrett.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The Philharmonic Hall may have had 2,000 souls looking on in praise and devotion in July when Sophie Anderson took to the stage in support to Rosanne Cash, however the voice that haunts and cuts through any atmosphere with its sheer deep resonance is equally at home when performing to a vocal and happy crowd at District as part of the Hope Fest weekend.
Tommy Scott at District for Hope Fest 2015. Photograph by Lis Garrett. Photograph used with kind permission by Lis Garrett.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9.5/10
First night endings are normally off the scale as performers set, perhaps unconsciously, a bar for the weekend to attain and beat. For Tommy Scott at District, deep within the creative belt of the city’s pulsating heart, the applause, the sheer scale of intimacy that the venue bestows and the startling set made sure which ever artist performs at this year’s Hope Fest has a big wall to climb just to even equal this performance.
Jimmy And The Revolvers at District for Hope Fest 2015. Photograph by Lis Garrett. Photograph used with kind permission by Lis Garrett.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
There is so much in the heart of Liverpool’s ever growing abundant talent list that for many the thought of never leaving the city, never departing from the sound that comes so naturally to the heartbeat by the Mersey, is one that may be tempting. Of course that would deprive the listener of so much enjoyment from elsewhere, however listening to Jimmy and the Revolvers, it can be seen why that temptation would be whisper sweetly and the sense of lingering musical perfume would entice even the strongest and resistant of hearts into being lured in to the thought.
SisteRay at District, Liverpool. September 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is always that question that burns in the mind in the dead of night, when the lingering thoughts of the after gig nap or playful sleep bounding still with muscles twitching and brain whirring with what should be hopeful received pleasure, the query of, “Where have you been all my life” is one that never gets asked of music and musicians, only ever in the greeting of a first seen attraction.
Katy McGrath of Late Night Oil at District for Hope Fest 2015. Photograph by Lis Garrett. Photograph used with kind permission by Lis Garrett.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
When there are no more Yokos left, it could set a dangerous situation spiralling out of control, for when the ethereal Muse departs the world and the shadow of disappointing average song is allowed to fester, the world will surely crumble into a artistic dust…whilst bands like Late Night Oil are around though, showing the way by whatever means of solid illumination is possible, the Muse will always have something to consider worth enjoying and to be seen dancing, swaying and rocking out to in the full glare of the un-dampened stage light.
Simon James on Saxaphone for Dan Wilson at District 2015.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The message of Hope is plastered without impunity everywhere you look and the thought of the displaced and the homeless being made to suffer such indignity in the 21st Century is one that should cause society to feel absolute shame. Hope though is one thing that can never be taken away; in no matter what form hope should present itself, then hope survives.
As part of this year’s Hope Fest line up, a new hope for the ever growing pool of talent that Liverpool shares with the world is felt in the music supplied by Dan Wilson.
Edgar Jones at District. Hope Fest 2015. Photograph by Lis Garrett. Picture used with kind permission by Lis Garrett.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Back in March of this year the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool was treated to the re-emergence of one of its most favourite musicians in the form of Edgar Jones on the stage as he opened the evening for the musical colossus that is Dr. John, it was a return to which many in the home grown audience could, if propriety had been thrown out of the window, have wept with solemn joy at the sight. Many it was to be seen, were certainly on the verge of letting such stifling actions go and no one would have blamed them for being so honest and in touch with their feelings over such a talented man and his much missed voice.