Category Archives: Live

DANI, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8/10

The eye of the storm is the most wondrous place, it is the moment’s serenity before the wall of sound assaults every sense possible and leaves you breathless and hungry for more. It is a storm of its own, it is the quieter but no less important, nor less impressive, time in which letting your guard down might just result in the surprise of your life and in the spirit of singer/songwriter Dani, that quiet repose was granted and yet with the power of a pre-rumbling earthquake, something seismic was unleashed inside Leaf.

DANI, Gig Review. Leaf, Liverpool. full post

(441 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

The Human League, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2014)

The Human League, November 2014. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are not many bands around whose music manages to be impossibly and wonderfully timeless and yet still sound as if it is as fresh as a newly plucked rose being placed into the hands of a loved one, there aren’t many but then there are not that many bands like The Human League.

The Human League, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2014) full post

(621 words, 1 image, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool. 30th November 2014.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

St. Andrew’s Day falls with the appearance of a widow placing her mourning garments around her as she prepares to bury her late and possibly foolish husband. Unlike the party atmosphere that surrounds St. Patrick’s Day or the feel of stirring independence in the Welsh national day or even the somewhat mixed feeling that surrounds the flag of St. George, passionate, inspiring and rousing in the right hands, a force for undisguised hatred, intolerance and shame in others, the Saltire anywhere outside its natural borders, seems to usher in the thoughts of the cold blast of air that comes with the dying days of the year that December holds fast to its bosom.

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool. 30th November 2014. full post

(513 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Kiki Dee And Carmelo Luggeri. Gig Review. The Atkinson, Southport.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To get to The Atkinson Theatre’s Studio in Southport you have no choice but to pass paintings by various artists, all in the Victorian mode. They are worthy of taking a lingering pause by, they capture the imagination and make you think; they nurture a blossoming idea of what the ideal should be, they might not be the first paintings you think of but then what is until you behold it for the first time and it takes your breath away.

Kiki Dee And Carmelo Luggeri. Gig Review. The Atkinson, Southport. full post

(607 words, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)

Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds, Live Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

It is one of the most profoundly moving and stirring pieces of music ever captured for posterity, taken from a story by H.G. Wells which has captured the imagination since it was first published and in which Jeff Wayne has for over 35 years brought to life in its deserved glory. However music aside, the death knell for The War of the Worlds has been sounded across the void of space.

Jeff Wayne’s The War Of The Worlds, Live Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(645 words, estimated 2:35 mins reading time)

The Searchers, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

The Searchers at the Liverpool Empire Theatre. November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

You are never too young to be spoken of highly, you are never too old to perform as if the world has always loved you and as long as there is an audience who responds to your music then never mind the detractors, forget those that decry the period as something that is no longer relevant, for the four men who make up The Searchers, every cheer, every moment of the long lasting applause between songs and every well played note was more than worth rolling back the years to headline a night of pure wonderful 60s music at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.

The Searchers, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(532 words, 1 image, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Spencer Davis, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It seems at times there are more living legends still placing one foot infront of the other and getting, mostly rightful, plaudits for their continuing appeal and depth of character. There well as may be a sign on a student’s door proclaiming that after all the defining era’s of the Earth’s evolution that the latest one may as well be named, the era of legends.

Spencer Davis, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

The Fortunes, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

The Fortunes, Liverpool Empire Theatre. November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The ties that bind Liverpool and Birmingham are deeper and stronger than many might realise or even understand. Politically both squeezed by the Westminster Empire and its mouldy London centric viewpoint, both devastated by unrest in the early 80s and both at one point claiming the title of second city of the U.K. They also share a people who took music to the hearts more than any other city during the 60s pop revolution and who have spawned some of the greatest musicians to ever play on a stage the length and breadth of the islands.

The Fortunes, Gig Review. Sixties Gold Tour, Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In Chevasse Park in Liverpool One, the first hopeful sounds of a Winter many will dread overpowers the senses, the heady aroma of Christmas is clinging in the air. The sound of children being treated by their parents to try their luck in the hope of winning an overstuffed bear or the thrill of a ride being undertaken with much glee follows suit and a cold November evening feels as biting and as forced as commemorating the end of the First World War with a supermarket advert for chocolate.

Live Lounge, Gig Review. Palm Sugar, Liverpool. full post

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

Julia Fordham, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Julia Fordham at the Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Virtually every artist that goes upon stage is highly regarded by those that wait patiently for their appearance in the local area. They are looked upon with a mixture of awe, the hope of being entertained and taken away from the lives the audiences have found themselves in but few seem as admired and longed for than Julia Fordham appeared to be by the crowd that filled the Epstein Theatre on a shivery and pitch black November night in Liverpool.

Julia Fordham, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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