Category Archives: Live

The Jackobins, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015.

The Jackobins, Liverpool Calling 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The sound of thunder, the presence of future greatness and the unswerving, undeniable attraction of truth, theatre and showmanship; not the harking back to the early days of British Rock in which the likes of Queen, Genesis or countless others played their days out to adoring fans inside tightly packed, smoke filled rooms but to the inside of St. Luke’s Church and the arrival of The Jackobins to the stage.

The Jackobins, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015. full post

(509 words, 1 image, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Vynce, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015.

Vynce at Liverpool Calling, 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Into the arena must come the one who the Gods decree must be the seen as the fortunate and the brave, the audience acting upon the very whims of their Caesar and his ready to poise and give proclamation with a single turn of his thumb; it is the scene of many an epic battle, the young rubbing shoulders with the vastly experienced and the local favourites who carry the crowd with every move…it’s almost as if time never truly moves on.

Vynce, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015. full post

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

Gold Jacks, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015.

Gold Jacks, Liverpool Calling. 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

When Manchester based band Gold Jacks performed at Liverpool Calling in 2014 the result was a scene of effortless joy. The no nonsense approach thrilled the crowd and the day took on extra resonance.

Gold Jacks, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015. full post

(453 words, 1 image, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Michael Bennett, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015.

Michael Bennett, Liverpool Calling 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When the day doesn’t quite start in the way you imagined, confusion can momentarily rein havoc with the idea of pre-conception, it tosses aside what you know and offers instead, a dish that delights the palate further and gives off a glow that resonates against the slate gray sky above that threatens to engulf the point of the day’s existence.

Michael Bennett, Gig Review. Liverpool Calling, St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool. 2015. full post

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

Rosanne Cash, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Rosanne Cash, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. July 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The sound of a thousand silent pins dropping onto the patterned listed carpet could not have distracted the audience inside the Philharmonic Hall as the sight of time playing one of the cards in which memories are made and connections through history are enhanced.

Even the added sizzle of excitement that was seized upon by the elusive beast that Time runs with could not have wished for more as the Cash family legacy walked on stage inside the Philharmonic Hall and the time played tricks with loving affection on the audience.

Rosanne Cash, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(546 words, 1 image, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)

Sophie Anderson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Twenty-Four hours is a long time in which to go from one extreme to other in terms of music venues to perform in as a musician. In much the same way that someone who spent a month exploring the depths of life on the ocean floor somewhere in the middle of Atlantic Ocean and is suddenly given to chance to go up as high as possible in aircraft flying over the same site, the perspective is daunting and wonderfully demanding; yet it a challenge that is strived for and achieved because that is what it means to be Human.

Sophie Anderson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

Crowning Sky, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is something very cool, something very loveable that sits within the framework of Crowning Sky and for a band that stood out for being the only one not coveting the moody and brooding on a hot July evening. This tangibility of heartening spirit, that welcoming approach that sat with the brilliance on offer by the other three sets of artists at Zanzibar was enough to raise a smile of simple creative enjoyment rather than the grin and gob-smacked generosity that shook the hands of the other acts.

Crowning Sky, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

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

The Sneaky Nixons, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

The Sneaky Nixons at Zanzibar, Liverpool. July 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The sound of a lonely trumpet, mournful, respect inducing and being blown as if the last vestige of light was being snuffed out across the city and the rampaging hoards under the command of the Four Horsemen were clambering at the old walls, played out with a kind of skittish solemnity; for not everything in life sounds as though it is seen. Not every great explosion and brutally exquisite note is heralded by beauty in some eyes and yet as the dark shadows collected in the late July evening and the party revellers bounced to a incoherent beat somewhere in the distance, The Sneaky Nixons stormed the troops and the true beat of nature was there to be felt and admired in droves.

The Sneaky Nixons, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

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

Shamanarchy, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Shamanarchy’s Rowan Reid, Zanzibar, Liverpool. July 205. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is impossible to not love a woman with attitude, not the type of posturing of the insane found in either gender that has them starting fights and the tears before bedtime attitude but the type of the strong, down to earth, assured in their viewpoint and not scared to give a collected audience a show that sticks long in the memory. A performance made even more impressive because of how that woman has bought the male members of the band up to the same bruising and musically intellectual point that she has attained, that is true attitude.

Shamanarchy, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

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

Sophie Anderson, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Sophie Anderson at the Zanzibar in Liverpool. July 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There was a time when Sophie Anderson might have thought that the day had gone well to be called up at the last minute and asked if she was free to do a set at The Lomax. However, so much can happen in two and a half years, so much can take place and what was considered bountiful and awe-inspiring can undergo such transformation that the musical butterfly with a voice somewhere between Grace Slick and Marcella Detroit has become even more needed as a guide vocal, a motivation to young women everywhere and the voice; the voice has become rapturous.

Sophie Anderson, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

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