I missed the knock
on the train’s dirty window as the young poet
frantically tried to catch my attention as I mooched past
in a reluctant poem of my own.
The blonde haired girl with glasses, wide-ever appreciating eyes,
skipping heartbeat,
who sat across the void of space and expanse of tables
in the café, missed the chance for true adoration as she fell head first
into the eyes of the wildly passionate and sincere man
with eyes only for her ignorantly blessed friend,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Only All We Are could be magnificent enough, dare to be different enough, to play venues in Liverpool that nobody else might ever think of. If a night in Williamson Tunnels on the edge of town, a venue more in keeping for the wake that was held for the much missed British horror writer James Herbert, was taken with as much seriousness and endeavour as performing for others might approach a night at the Echo Arena, then to play a selection of songs inside a hotel is to be considered just as different and inspiring.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The lands of Scandinavian thought might not come shamefully readily to the attention of the British public when it comes to being considered the home of great Rock bands in the last thirty years. However, raw and sublime talent keeps being unearthed and especially in Rock and Metal circles keeps pinning down the British contribution of late in a near one-sided bout.
The river runs deep if it is allowed to flow freely
and the clutter and wreckage of the abandoned shopping trolley
covered in slime, the mess of one generation passed down
to another in shrink wrapped, tightly wrapped, always trapped;
is removed and placed far out of sight.
The free flowing river, the conscious of independent thought
should not be stunted, diverted and allowed to stagnate in some form
of pruning cultivation, the flower should be allowed to grow
and take over the muddy ground that lays along the bank,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Neil Dudgeon, Gwilym Lee, Fiona Dolman, Tamzin Malleson, Sabrina Bartlett, Max Bennett, Claire Bloom, Mark Bonnar, Rosie Cavaliero, Wayne Foskett, Ruth Gemmell, Selina Griffiths, Tom Rhys Harries, Jaye Jacobs, Naoki Mori, Lloyd Owen.
There seems to be a fascination with the art of British wine making and the artistry of sensational jealous murder, it’s almost as if wine brings out the worst in those with evil nefarious intent and there is a subtle unsaid notion that the more natural drinks of the islands just leave you worse for wear, that there is no jealousy over a 40 year old Balvenie Malt apart from who gets the last amber drop.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
For the purists of such things, it takes at least a long weekend to get lost in the thoughts and melee that Amsterdam has to offer before time spent there can make the foundation of songs in which to be immersed in. One night surely cannot be enough, it’s barely enough time to find the mayonnaise at Schipol Airport for a plate of chips, take in the pleasantries that the cobbled stones provide the abundance of cyclists as on road entertainment or to savour the well founded truth that the Dutch are arguably some of the nicest people in the world and yet One Night in Amsterdam is all that is needed to understand that Ian Siegal’s second live album in under a year is an absolute belter.
The Rapper smiles at the free soap box he is given
and he uses it, controls it, manipulates and exploits it,
until the box irrevocably falls to pieces,
joist by rusted nail, plank by frayed duct tape…
yet even when his vitriol makes no sense, when the fans
take the shit he spouts to be gospel and they don’t even
question music history and the small cog in a connecting wheel
he plays, admittedly a hundred times bigger than the mechanism
I run at full speed upon and forever going backwards,
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Memories of our youth are perhaps the greatest we hold onto. They are the ghostly images in which form and shape the future and they are the ones that remind us of how far we have come. Youth though also works to remind us that every day we wake up and put our feet on the cold hard floor that we have a debt to owe our former selves and the need to better our position, spiritually as well as mentally, is burned into the back of a black and white photograph hidden somewhere in an insect nibbled box.
The War On Drugs, Liverpool Academy. February 2015. Photograph by John Johnson.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The audience’s ears would still arguably be ringing days after the event as The War On Drugs assaulted the senses of a rammed Liverpool O2 Academy. Overdriven guitars, FX-laden keyboards and a bass with more bottom end than Loch Ness all contributed to a night of aural frenzy for the 1000 or so that jammed the big room in the venue on Hotham Street.
…and there is no grand gesture of acknowledging the audience’s applause
as the violinist stands perfectly still, watching,
waiting,
for the small, unseen blazing wink
that tells her to slowly, without mercy, break some hearts.
It matters not at all, what the violinist wears, for the assassin’s bow
gently pierces the skin and boils the blood of the victim
and she slowly places the breathe
in play in which the body can bear no longer, the beauty contained within.
The long drawn out note, the gentle scream that drives me mad