The Ego Ritual, Chakra. Single Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You cannot help but adore the strut, one of humble pleasure, but still a song and belief born of assuredness, of the Lincolnshire parade to which has been part and parcel of the last decade and which has meant that across from The Pop Dogs to The B-Leaguers to this new single, Chakra, from The Ego Ritual, proves that there is an enormous amount of energy coming out of that east coast county, one driven with absolute conviction by Jim Styring, William James Ward and Gaz Wilde.

The Ego Ritual, Chakra. Single Review. full post

(351 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

The Merchant Of Venice: Radio Drama Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ray Fearon, Colin Morgan, Hayley Atwell, Andrew Scott, Ryan Whittle, Neerja Naik, Ryan Early, Chris Lew Kum Hoi, Lauren Cornelius, Luke Bailey, Kerry Gooderson, Stefan Adegbola, Javier Marzan, Neil McCaul, Clive Hayward, Rupert Holliday-Evans.

Long regarded in the first folio of William Shakespeare’s works as perhaps nothing more than a romantic comedy, it is with fresh eyes in this more discerning and in part justly cynical age to look upon The Merchant of Venice as a problem play, one that deals with the idea of outspoken racism, of anti-Semitism and even inward contempt and intolerance towards a man of another faith, using his debt in which to berate him consciously for his words and supposed lack of loyalty to his God.

The Merchant Of Venice: Radio Drama Review. full post

(431 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

The Relentless Guilt.

It is a sense of guilt,

a Methodist instruction

or perhaps

a reminder of my own pound of flesh

owed, measured

and found to be in

continuous debt

if I plan some time away,

even from just doing

the pressing down of keys,

there is the voice in my head that whispers,

no, no, no,

you must, you owe your time

to everything else but you, for you,

the voice whispers,

have nothing else to do.

 

Ian D. Hall 2018

The Relentless Guilt. full post

(84 words, estimated 20 secs reading time)

It’s Snow Joke At The Everyman As Comedy Duo Adam Keast And Francis Tucker Return For This Year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto: The Snow Queen.

Regular writers Sarah A Nixon and Mark Chatterton return with new script.

The legendary Everyman Rock ‘n’ Roll panto is back for another year with a frost bitingly funny adaptation of The Snow Queen from 24 November to 19 January.

The theatre welcomes hilarious dame Francis Tucker and the mischievous Adam Keast back following another year of panto anarchy, giving audiences ‘freezons’ to be cheerful…armed with their trusty water guns.

Regular writers Sarah A Nixon and Mark Chatterton – whose work for The Little Mermaid was nominated for Best Script at the 2018 Pantomime Awards – are aiming to ‘sleigh’ audience members young and old with hilarious jokes and puns.

It’s Snow Joke At The Everyman As Comedy Duo Adam Keast And Francis Tucker Return For This Year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Panto: The Snow Queen. full post

(228 words, estimated 55 secs reading time)

The Voodoo Sheiks, Unstoppable. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

From the first spark of the Big Bang through to the inevitable decline of the Universe, some entities in this crazy world just have the aura of absolutely being Unstoppable, that their momentum carries them across the threshold of every door possible, each one may as well be kept ajar, open wide and off the lock, for the relentless and seemingly inexhaustible have a point to prove, that they understand to stem creativity is to kill the dream.

The Voodoo Sheiks, Unstoppable. Album Review. full post

(419 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Kashena Sampson, Wild Heart. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

If you desire something enough, you will go to the end of the Earth to find it, you will sacrifice almost everything in the pursuit of that dream, you will shatter preconceptions and build walls around you to protect that dream, that vision. Uncomfortably and sadly, often those dreams fade, the relentless chase too strong, too lofty, too high off the ground to reach with both hands and the opinions of others too forceful to stand up to close and perhaps insidiously jealous scrutiny.

Kashena Sampson, Wild Heart. Album Review. full post

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

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hogarth of Marillion, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, April 2018. Photograph used with the kind permission of Gordon Fleming.

It has been a long time since Marillion stepped over the Merseyside border, that near international boundary that separates the city of Liverpool from the U.K., not built in myth but in the very nature of its home grown and adopted sons and daughters strength of purpose and identity. As Steve Hogarth was heard to say during one enjoyable exchange of banter and nicely placed heckle, “We really are in another country now”.

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of Liverpool’s own, a performer who has been long associated with the city, a musician of high integrity and blushing music, one who for quite some time has deserved the accolades that come with a night at the Philharmonic Hall; in Roxanne de Bastion’s supporting of Marillion on this tour, to come back to Liverpool, to immerse herself within the friends she made and in the city where her latest album is held as an example of the heights that can be reached, that is now the position that all should be attaining.

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

Magnum, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When we were younger…a mere step or the beat of a chord from where Magnum used to practise in the fabled Rum Runner Club and within the shadow of memories of being arguably the finest of bands to have the Birmingham stamp placed upon its history and resume, the Symphony Hall played host to the band, and in a reversal of fortunes of weather, no longer put off by the snow and devastation of postponed music, instead it was the heat and sheer intensity of the homecoming gig to which the end of the tour will always be remembered.

Magnum, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. full post

(430 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Rebecca Downes, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

With a little help from your friends, you cannot ask for more in life except having the drive to be the very best version of yourself possible, both of these states of mind are there to remind you that you have a responsibility to perform and take in the very immense situations that you may find yourself within, that the song, the smile and the swagger, are there because the world demands beauty in the face of possible oppression.

Rebecca Downes, Gig Review. Symphony Hall, Birmingham. full post

(464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)