The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Leah Brotherhead, Garry Cooper, Aruham Galieva, Guy Hughes, Amber James, Charlotte Mills, Dharmesh Patel, Fred Thomas.

William Shakespeare is arguably the pinnacle of the English language, the most brilliant observer of human behaviour and the writer of some of the world’s finest plays; from Hamlet to Richard III, from Macbeth to A Midsummer Night’s Dream and onto Henry V and Love’s Labour’s Lost, all are instantly recognisable and charged with experience. Yet even the Bard had to start somewhere, even Shakespeare had to grind out an initial play that even in modern times is under produced, labelled problematic and one that even the B.B.C. in its infinite wisdom has shied away from repeating more than once.

The Two Gentlemen Of Verona, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(416 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Lloyd Cole, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

For the unexpected, the unforeseen droll and beautifully humorous, sometimes you have to go that extra mile, you have to put yourself into the path of the genius and let their song cleanse your spirit.

Lloyd Cole, Gig Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(438 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

The Mormon’s Smiling Face.

Their smiles were well meaning

as they outstretched their hands,

on that I could not fault them,

I will not, after all, denounce anyone

unless they have been a dick

to me or tried to blacken my name

and even then I only rarely

forget my standards and actually

talk about them

but why give them the satisfaction.

On the corner of Hardman and Hope

I talk briefly with a magical lady,

poetry is the order of the conversation

and my regret of not being able to attend

The Mormon’s Smiling Face. full post

(275 words, estimated 1:06 mins reading time)

Level 42, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Level 42’s Mark King at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. October 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There was always something about them that was so right, the sound that was different to the pop dominance of British music in the 1980s and 90s. It was enough to make sure that their style of performing, the hard swish of the distinctive bass and funk undertones, was guaranteed a special status in the hearts of music fans; Level 42 were always going to be a positive influence upon the ears.

Level 42, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(395 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Locker Room.

Trash talk, locker room banter,

hard to recollect

but perhaps,

I am sure

I never heard it

outside of prepubescent nonsense

and the surge of hormones

that flood the body,

as I stood drying myself off as quickly

as possible because I just

could not stand

being in the room;

I used to run the school cross country

as fast as I could

because I wanted to get

in that locker room

and get changed, get out and be on my way

Locker Room. full post

(115 words, estimated 28 secs reading time)

Herringbone John, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

Herringbone John knows how light up an audience, how to get them started before a long luxurious day of music, there are very few that have that sense of calmness deeply imbedded into their souls.

We Shall Overcome had been the talk of the town all week, the abundance of bands that have made their way to be part of one of the most loved festivals but one with the most ideal of purest thoughts behind it was a staggering and sobering thought. The message spread, the word passed round that the music is a sure fire way to let people know that the world we live in at this moment in time is nothing short of rotten, a shadow of what a should be, a national disgrace that we have allowed people to get away with for too long.

Herringbone John, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

(394 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Pete King, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

To have one King in your life is to have good fortune, to acquire a second, that is the sound of destiny calling, of the riches of father-son genes and love for music being passed down and it is one that unfolds and reveals that talent is blessed and prosperous.

The sensational Derek King had already paved the way for Liverpool Acoustic’s contribution to the Saturday of We Shall Overcome, and as the day hurtled towards its natural end, as the music began to drift to the more electric sound elsewhere in the city, the final flourish, the flag raised high on a fantastic and well conducted afternoon of music inside Sound Food and Drink was unfurled by the next generation of King, the creative and magical Pete King.

Pete King, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

(395 words, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Lauren Davenport, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

There is a point in which all the music in the world, all that you have ever listened to all boils down to how it makes you feel, you can analyse the guitar, the fretwork, the notes, the absolute genius of it all, all you want. In the end though it comes down to the way the writer, the player, makes you feel and in Lauren Davenport there is an emotion waiting to pour itself out onto the page that is wonderfully unique.

Lauren Davenport, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

(329 words, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)

Three Minute Hero, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016.

The element of surprise, some handle the responsibility, some faint at the prospect, some surprise, some last minute addition just make the whole experience so complete that it is hard to have imagined the day without it ever having been so. Last minute surprise to the bill at Sound Food and Drink for the We Shall Overcome was the ever impressive figure of Three Minute Hero, the champion of the lyric, Stuart Todd, and as always the man and the musician was on top form.

Three Minute Hero, Gig Review. Sound Food And Drink, Liverpool. We Shall Overcome 2016. full post

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

Lauren Davenport, E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The act of yearning is one that can never be ignored completely, you can try to shut it out, you can dampen the effects, mask them with other issues in your life, however the ache to experience whatever set your heart aflame in the beginning will always find a way to sneak back in an unguarded moment and take the craving on further, deeper and become more entrenched in the psyche.

Lauren Davenport, E.P. Review. full post

(379 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)