Erin Rowlands, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You can plan your day, your week or even your life with the studious dedication normally reserved for the serious and the serial horse race gambler. You can study the form, you can see an outside bet that just comes across as being a terrific deal and one that blossoms in front of you, or even just continue to play safe and follow the absolute favourite around forever and yet from out of nowhere someone comes along and upsets all you know and perhaps believe in and gives a superb performance least when you expected it.

Erin Rowlands, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

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

Eleanor Nelly, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Eleanor Nelly at Zanzibar in Liverpool. January 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Holding back from praising an artist is perhaps arguably the hardest job when it comes to comes to reviewing, you want the whole world to see what you have seen for a couple of years, the flourishing and blossoming of a musician before your very eyes, you can’t wait to tell those around you just how good they are…but you wait until it’s appropriate to do so; it is only the right thing to do and they in turn reward you with a performance that is measured, controlled and full of illumination.

Eleanor Nelly, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

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

Shaw, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The concept of moving away from a place where you may be settled, where the richness of your life is measured in local appreciation is perhaps an idea that some cannot face for the understandable fear of not capturing the soul of it again.

That feeling is universal, it breathes at the heart of humanity’s reason to find roots, to grow and yet if the chance is taken, if you move with belief then the appreciation for the artist grows and in Shaw, a young man for whom the south coast of England was his stomping ground, moving to Merseyside and offering his wonderful voice to Merseyside maybe seen as a huge stepping stone in his life.

Shaw, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(393 words, estimated 1:34 mins reading time)

B-Leaguers, Death Of A Western Heart. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The Phoenix may be a creature of legend, of implausible birth and dramatic happenstance but it is a being to whom much is owed, especially when describing a band to whom out of various embers have arisen and offered a glimpse of the new Power Pop/Pop Punk sensation that will surely blow the socks off and enthuse the minds of those that come to hear of them over the next couple of months and beyond as their album Death Of A Western Heart takes hold.

B-Leaguers, Death Of A Western Heart. Album Review. full post

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

Opbergdoos, Theatre Review. Lantern Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating: * * * *

Cast: Richard Weston.

Amongst the scattered cardboard boxes, half empty spirit bottles and dodgy looking white powder dusted liberally on a side table, is Atticus, sat upon a chair looking slightly the worse for wear in his stained white vest, dirty bare feet and marked jeans. A young man looking to escape from the outside world and who locks himself up in a room where he is surrounded by his memories, all stored around him neatly in the cardboard boxes.

Opbergdoos, Theatre Review. Lantern Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Gravy Boats And Dish.

Tell me your tale

of what it meant to venture

out in the dark

and hang with the kids who smoked

and looked cool as the whisper of ash

mixed freely

in the stilted and peach like air

and then glided towards

the beckoning heavens

as your eyes naturally found the excuse

to drift slowly downwards

and look at the black tram seam

that ran from the top of their

unpolished and ungainly shoes

to the bottom of the pencil

lined grey skirt,

Gravy Boats And Dish. full post

(157 words, estimated 38 secs reading time)

Anne And Eva, Theatre Review. St. George’s Hall, Liverpool.

Cast: Justine Saville, John Gorman, Sam Teller, Sue Boardman, Isobel Balchin.

Some moments in history defy Humanity’s reason, they challenge us to rise above the savagery and disgrace placed upon our collective shoulders and become better, to come back to a place of sanity and rational thought; history repeats these lessons because it seems we constantly need to be reminded just how low we can quickly descend back into the mire, of how we can lurch and play into the hands of Fascism if we do not keep vigilant.

Anne And Eva, Theatre Review. St. George’s Hall, Liverpool. full post

(536 words, estimated 2:09 mins reading time)

Midsomer Murders, Breaking The Chain. Television Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Gwilym Lee, Fiona Dolman, Majinder Virk, Tessa Peake-Jones, Joe McGann, Julia Sawalha, Edward Akrout, Hari Dhillion, Sophia Di Martino, Richard Graham, Rebecca Grant, Ben Lamb, Derek Riddell, Jack Staddon, Olivia Vinall, Tom York.

Competitive cycling has had its detractors over the years, it has its champions, its heroes and its fallen idols, the gold body supported by the lead base and the fragile Earth beneath and yet the spanner always finds a way to throw itself into the works and take the sport down a slippery slope in which one could not easily fathom.

Midsomer Murders, Breaking The Chain. Television Review. full post

(373 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

The Nerve…

Steady,

breathe deeply,

hold your nerve

and dive right in…

For whilst it was the most ungainly

entry into the wet,

shivering warmth,

I at least gave it a go

and the laughter of two

hundred, the attempt of early

humiliation was nothing, for

only having learned to swim

at ten, twenty lengths for a charity

later, diving in the deep end

held no fear and whilst failure

was the option grasped,

scoring one

point for the class,

out of sympathy,

The Nerve… full post

(102 words, estimated 24 secs reading time)

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Gig Review. O2 Academy, Liverpool.

Doogie White from Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock at the o2 Academy, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

As the sweat of a many a Liverpool rock fan glistened in the neon lights of the Academy, as the thunder of the well timed clap echoed round the room and the hint of the monumental started to take place in the minds of those in attendance, the smile of a master beamed down across the floor of the venue and the guitar, slung low, howled with joy at the response; if 2016 has been a kick in the teeth for music so far, if the feeling of loss has been verging on the unbearable, then Michael Schenker’s Temple of Rock was the antidote for the evening and a more magnificent display of raw musical prestige could a crowd ask for in such mesmerising light.

Michael Schenker’s Temple Of Rock, Gig Review. O2 Academy, Liverpool. full post

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