Black Diamond, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

It is a responsibility that must be faced with strength and humility that if you find a young group of musicians who have blown you away the very first time you see them, you have to go and find them again, give them another listen to just make sure that what you heard was a musical truth and not the first signs of sentimental middle age. You owe it to yourself to go along with a view of dispassionate attention and steel yourself to find that age has tempered your thinking.

Black Diamond, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(599 words, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

Rose Of June, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Iain Hopkins, Gemma Banks, Christopher Rae.

Nobody has the monopoly on grief, nobody feels the dejection in the same way as anybody else and nobody should ever dictate to another human being just how long grief should ever take to get through the system. When a person loses someone either close to them or someone they may have only known through the public eye of the media, what they feel upon that person’s departure is real to them and in the end it takes a friend just sit and listen and occasionally talk in which the inconsolable and heartbroken can work through the five stages of grief.

Rose Of June, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(484 words, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

New Tricks: Roman’s Ruined. Television Review. B.B.C.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Tamzin Outhwaite, Dennis Waterman, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Denis Lawson, Tracy-Ann Oberman, Liz White, Louis Emerick, Storme Toolis, Carol Starks, Hermione Gulliford, Gary Oliver, Alix Wilston Regan, Elliot Levey.

What did the Romans ever do for us? It might have been possible to hear John Cleese remonstrate with the three life-hardened detectives in New Tricks’ latest episode Romans Ruined but far from the nice simple case that perhaps Gerry Standing was expecting, what they find at the end of the investigation is a crime that, at least in the team’s hearts, is not the ending they would have liked to pursue.

New Tricks: Roman’s Ruined. Television Review. B.B.C. full post

(515 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Flockers (PS4), Game Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Flockers is a platforming puzzle game available from retail stores and for download from the PlayStation Store for the PS4. The game is a modern take on the Lemmings formula brought to PS4 owners by Team 17; the same developer responsible for such retro classics as Alien Breed, Superfrog and Worms, alongside the more recent retro revivals for each of the three popular and well loved games.

Flockers (PS4), Game Review. full post

(2581 words, estimated 10:19 mins reading time)

Kate Bush, “Before The Dawn” Gig Review. Hammersmith, Eventim Apollo, London.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Kate Bush’s songs root deep into the heart and soul of her fans. She is a genius, a strange phenomenon, an enigma and most importantly an artiste in her own right. Knowing what Kate and her music means to her fans, she does not disappoint from the first moment she steps onto the stage to thunderous applause and cheers taking the audience on a most incredible journey that ends in a most climatic explosion of rapture and delight.

Kate Bush, “Before The Dawn” Gig Review. Hammersmith, Eventim Apollo, London. full post

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

My Afternoon With Bruce Lee, Theatre Review. World Museum, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Joanna Moran, Andrew Di Tian, Rebecca Riley, John Purcell, Rachel Mckeown, Luke Sanders, Sheddie Broddle, Laura Jump.

It doesn’t matter what form it takes, physical, mental, sexual, domestic or nationalistic and governmental, bullying has to be one of the most reprehensible acts that one human can do to another. To usurp your alleged control over another person because you don’t like the way they dress, the way they speak, their mannerisms, their beliefs or culture, to belittle someone because they are different to you, because they might not agree with the way the world is and or even your own faults in which they keep quiet about is something that at times boggles the mind. It breeds self-loathing, introversion and can come to the most drastic of conclusions.

My Afternoon With Bruce Lee, Theatre Review. World Museum, Liverpool. full post

(442 words, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

Joanne Shaw Taylor, The Dirty Truth. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

For anybody who made their way to the Robin 2 about a decade ago, to catch sight of the talent that resided in Joanne Shaw Taylor must have been one of the biggest draws to ever come on stage in the small West Midland’s town of Bilston since The Robin 2 opened its doors. The Black Country and Birmingham soon grasped the importance of the outstanding woman who made the guitar sound like a spectre hunting down a soul to possess and whose charm and playing ability captivates all who come into contact with her.

Joanne Shaw Taylor, The Dirty Truth. Album Review. full post

(439 words, 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

The Avengers: The Lost Episodes, Dance With Death. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Anthony Howell, Julian Wadham, Lucy Briggs-Owen, Jaqueline King, Dan Starkey, Cameron Stewart, Anjella Mackintosh, Gemma Whelan, Derek Carlyle, Martin Hutson, Francesca Hunt, Penelope Rawlins, Terry Malloy, Michael Hrycek-Robinson.

There is nothing quite like the dance floor to bring out the murderer in the dark heart of the criminal mastermind, the quick step or the rumba to get the killer in the mood for a spot of the gamble and the gambol whilst they search for riches, no matter who gets in their way.

The Avengers: The Lost Episodes, Dance With Death. Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

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

Steve Howe, Gig Review. Capstone Theatre, Liverpool.

Steve Howe at The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. September 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Life is meant to be taken with equal amounts of pleasure and pain, of hope and despair and with a certain degree of unimaginable delicate beauty that filters through to the soul as if carried by a being with a great taste in music and who knows that television, has tried its best to destroy any type of sensuality and indulgence between artist and audience. Thankfully it hasn’t succeeded yet but there are times when you go to a venue, no matter where, and you know deep down in your heart that like those that try to feed the constant mantra of “The Economy” that somewhere, somehow, executives have managed to convince some that by staying in and watching the latest act it wants to promote for profit is good for music.

Steve Howe, Gig Review. Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(597 words, 1 image, estimated 2:23 mins reading time)

Hey Girl, Show Us Your Tips. Theatre Review, St. Helens Theatre Royal.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Cast: Mickey Finn, Clare Bowles, Charlie Griffiths, Lynne Fitzgerald.

As with many old, but undeniably great, habits and ways, the great British local pub, the bastion of native ways and hopes and drama, has for many years been on the road to serious decline. Cheap alternatives driven by greed and solitude have become the normal pursuit in some respects that the social constraints in which bound a community, a section of the communal population together has been driven headlong into a nearby abyss of soulless apathy.

Hey Girl, Show Us Your Tips. Theatre Review, St. Helens Theatre Royal. full post

(585 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)