Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It is perhaps the act of melodrama, the memory of what has passed in the spaces we call, home, work and the venues we have held close to our hearts when the love of art and the artistic comes calling, but to feel the shiver of the beautiful instruction of the haunting vibe, that is perhaps a moment in which to savour, in which to pursue the past and implore it to be part of the future, that is the basis in which love takes root.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Southbound Attic Band, Constellations, Liverpool. June 2018. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
The Southbound Attic Band may have recently given the people of London a run for their money with a deserved display of Merseyside passion, they may have taken on what may seem like to be the world, its wife and those to whom have not had the pleasure of their company in the past, but where do you go from there, for the pleasure of their company and the wonderful outlook of the true-life observational lyric, it is to know that Ronnie Clark and Barry Jones will always stay humble, will always be the epitome of the honest raised eyebrow and have the wit of a thousand people chugging through their hearts.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Thom Morecroft at Liverpool Calling 2018. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Life is busy, we have made it our mission it seems to fill the hours in such a way that to sit still for a while and take in the sound of a local great might raise a few eyebrows on the faces of those who believe we should always be expending energy; that you are not actually being productive if you not moving a muscle.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Michael Bennett at Constellations, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
It seems only right after all that the velvet tones of Michael Bennett should be on show at some point during this year’s Liverpool Calling, a weekend of music held across several venues and with even greater scope than perhaps had been imagined when the team behind the festival started out. What has always been a certain fact though is just how good Mr. Bennett has become over the years, the sound of velvet doesn’t come by accident, it takes dedication and hard work, the muster of any serious and patient performer.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Life doesn’t have to have drama sewn through its inner skin and clothing, but it surely must have the theatrical, it must have the strength to embrace the flamboyant, the emotional and the sometimes over the top, a life filled with drama sounds staged, an exercise in false control and manipulation; a life that holds onto the colourful and the passionate on the other hand, surely makes you smile, and in some quarters allows you to Pray For The Wicked.
…and the silence in the glitter ball
above our heads
speaks volumes
about the way you dance
when no one is watching,
no judgement passed,
just unspoken respect,
only daring to reflect the agony
of your two step, two move ungainly approach
when you dare show your other face to the public…
Ian D. Hall 2018
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
A force of nature that cannot be dismissed, absolved or found wanting, it is the very nature of the humanity that we strive to find a way to beat it, but in doing so the only thing we have achieved is to free ourselves of Earthly constraints but perhaps losing our soul along the way; Gravity is too strong a force, it is binding, all-consuming and for Bullet For My Valentine, it is brutally exquisite.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
You can quote the Bard as often as you like, for arguably nobody has captured the human condition as well as the man from Stratford-Upon-Avon, no person will perhaps understand the frailty, hate, suspicion, love, despair and mischief in a person’s heart as William Shakespeare. If you know that he recognised that we prevaricate between the choice of light and dark, of proud assurance and tame compliance, then it is hardly surprising that we as a species find it a pleasure to see the fortune of Slings and Arrows as they hit home and the way we overcome them, that we can, should the heart be true, oppose all obstacles that come our way.
Falling over in stages, a man goes down
one moment at a time, a second per inch passes,
the ticking of ridicule commences,
for even via television
the lover of the game
can be heard muttering, casually screaming
as the hands come out imploring,
looking to the referee with whistle in hand
as a penalty first won,
is cruelly, in his eyes, taken away.
He is not the first to sully
the memory of the game I loved
playing, too many, too often,
exposed, a hand of God,
Ms. Ellis-Bextor will headline the Barclays Main Stage on Saturday 28th July at Tithebarn Street.
Sophie shot to fame as a vocalist on Spiller’s huge number one single Groovejet and then followed it up with Take Me Home and her worldwide smash hit, Murder on the Dancefloor.
Her solo debut album, Read My Lips was released in 2001 and reached number two in the U.K. Albums Chart and certified double platinum by the BPI. The album sold more than 2 million copies worldwide. Her subsequent album releases include Shoot from the Hip (2003), Trip the Light Fantastic (2007), Make a Scene (2011).