Category Archives: Live

Go West, Gig Review. Floral Pavilions, New Brighton.

Go West at the Floral Pavilions, New Brighton, November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Go West never have to send out an elaborate invitation for their fans to attend a night of music delight. The word seems to get out, made easier by 21^st Century social media, that Peter Cox and Richard Drummie are going back out on the road, that they will be touring their much loved songs and like the proverbial baseball slogan, the audience comes, and the aisles and the spaces provided near the now neglected seats having irresistible dancing and loud appeals for more thrust ever closer to the stage.

Go West, Gig Review. Floral Pavilions, New Brighton. full post

(446 words, 1 image, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Natalie McCool, Gig Review. Floral Pavilions, New Brighton.

Natalie McCool in New Brighton, November 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It may seem extraordinary, the type of story that even a seasoned publisher might balk at the idea of putting into print but the rise of Widnes songstress Natalie McCool is one that demands to be told over and over again and each time the narrative is accounted, the stronger it becomes and that is because like all good stories, it is, like her music, 100 per cent sincere.

Natalie McCool, Gig Review. Floral Pavilions, New Brighton. full post

(495 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Bryan Adams, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Bryan Adams at the Liverpool Echo Arena, Photograph reproduced with kind permission by Marie Dodd, November 2014.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

For the next few months the Liverpool Echo Arena will vibrate to the sound of the multitude of Rock acts that will come to the U.K.’s music city in a blistering undertaking to see out 2014 and to make sure 2015 is another vintage year to remember. With the likes of Peter Gabriel and The Who making their way to the Mersey shoreline, the Echo is getting the attention it deserves, with the Kaiser Chiefs, Korn and Slipknot all descending upon the music heart, it can surely only be time before other more established bands realise that the tour schedule doesn’t always have to stop at Manchester.

Bryan Adams, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(743 words, 1 image, estimated 2:58 mins reading time)

Tallulah Rendall, Gig Review. Coffee House Sessions. University of Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The gig goer will sit proudly on a stool and sometimes proclaim to any who listen about the time they once did two gigs in one day. It is an act that deserves respect; that they should be willing to travel to catch a show in one part of the country and then get back nearer home to revel in another show. It doesn’t happen all that often as time constraints are such that it just doesn’t fit into the 24 hours allotted to us to be able to pull it off.

Tallulah Rendall, Gig Review. Coffee House Sessions. University of Liverpool. full post

(563 words, estimated 2:15 mins reading time)

Justin Currie, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Justin Currie at the Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Nic Perrins.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The noise that greeted Justin Currie as he came out on stage at the Epstein Theatre could not have been louder had Concorde decided to drop in unannounced on Hanover Street and empty its passenger cargo full of Scotland fans celebrating winning the World Cup, Independence from Westminster and the Return of Take The High Road and Taggart to television screens onto the theatre’s front door step. With a smile which was as broad as a swish of the Loch Ness Monster’s tail, Justin Currie sped straight into the set and gave a performance that somehow was enjoyed more by the citizens of Liverpool than by those who made his show in Edinburgh in August such a phenomenally enjoyable evening.

Justin Currie, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(552 words, 1 image, estimated 2:12 mins reading time)

Ella The Bird, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Ella The Bird at the Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

How often can you honestly place your hand upon your heart and swear that you have uttered the word wow, that three little word that escapes like a phantom, never knowingly seen or oversold into the ether, as you have watched a support act on stage? It happens, like the rising of the sun, just because you don’t see it every day doesn’t mean that it has forgotten to poke its head above the misty horizon and bounce its rays straight into your eyes. It happens, perhaps once in a while, perhaps once in fifty gigs, but it does happen and listening to Ella The Bird performing on stage before Justin Currie made his own wow effect on the Epstein Theatre audience; the very sizeable wow was heard from somewhere in the audience and the small smile of contented reality bit home.

Ella The Bird, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited, Gig Review. Birmingham Symphony Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The invisible but highly audible Sirens that line up and down Birmingham’s glittering Broad Street area could have bayed and bleated all night long as they watched the neon lights fade and dim to obscurity, nothing could have torn the rapt attention of the audience inside the Symphony Hall away from Steve Hackett and the band as they recreated for the final night in the U.K., the songs that entranced a generation and beyond.

Steve Hackett, Genesis Revisited, Gig Review. Birmingham Symphony Hall. full post

(725 words, 2 images, estimated 2:54 mins reading time)

Crowded Scouse, Gig Review. Everyman Theatre. Regional Mersey Head & Neck Cancer Centre Charity Evening.

There are moments in life that no matter how great they are, no matter how impressive the sound, the action or the memory, it just cannot be assigned a number or a star rating. To do so demeans the experience and the reason why the event happened.

Crowded Scouse, Gig Review. Everyman Theatre. Regional Mersey Head & Neck Cancer Centre Charity Evening. full post

(543 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

Robert Vincent, Gig Review. Everyman Theatre. Regional Mersey Head & Neck Cancer Centre Charity Evening, Liverpool.

As part of the Regional Mersey Head & Neck Cancer Centre charity evening event at the award winning Everyman Theatre, the audience, who had danced and partied to Crowded Scouse as if was the end of the year and were just awaiting the signal to start counting down the seconds to bring in 2015, were given the irresistible sound of one of Liverpool’s finest musicians to further send them into orbit. Who really needs the chimes of Big Ben hammering through the speakers and the often false gaiety that comes with cheering a large alarm clock when the audience inside the Everyman Theatre can have the delicious voice of Robert Vincent soothing their passage towards daybreak?

Robert Vincent, Gig Review. Everyman Theatre. Regional Mersey Head & Neck Cancer Centre Charity Evening, Liverpool. full post

(502 words, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

The Barr Brothers, Gig Review. Hare and Hounds, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When The Barr Brothers were last in Birmingham at the 2013 Moseley Folk Festival, the merchandise tent had to send for extra copies of their self-titled debut album, such was the demand. Since then, the band have written and recorded their second album Sleeping Operator and quite rightly they were welcomed back to south Birmingham area for a sell-out gig, on the last date of their current U.K. tour.

The Barr Brothers, Gig Review. Hare and Hounds, Birmingham. full post

(423 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)