Southbound Attic Band, Gig Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool Calling. Liverpool.

Southbound Attic Band at Liverpool Calling, St. Lukes Church. July 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Coming on stage for Liverpool Calling 2014 inside St. Luke’s Church, the two members of the Southbound Attic Band made the self-effacing quip that they were the token oldies on show that day. Whilst it was a joke, what they bought to the event in the under threat Bombed Out Church was nothing short of genuine, panache ridden and on par with anything else played on a hot summer’s day in Liverpool.

Southbound Attic Band, Gig Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool Calling. Liverpool. full post

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

Gold Jacks, Gig Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool Calling. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Gold Jacks at the St Luk’e Church as part of Liverpool Calling 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Effortless, a joy to listen to, as naturally showman like as you want and uncomplicated, this pretty much sums up what it is like to hear Manchester based band Gold Jacks for the first time.

Gold Jacks, Gig Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool Calling. Liverpool. full post

(403 words, 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

The Next Life, Gig Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool Calling. Liverpool.

Mark McCullough of The Next Life at St. Lukes, Liverpool. Liverpool Calling. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

If there is one thing amongst many that Liverpool and its people can do, it is an unerring ability to make the most of any space going and turn it into a theatre, an arena in which something artistic can happen. You only have to take a discreet wander round town and with eyes obviously wide open to see this happening everywhere.

The Next Life, Gig Review. St. Luke’s Church, Liverpool Calling. Liverpool. full post

(555 words, 1 image, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)

Octainium, Suffer The Clock. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a new rage in town, one that sits beneath South Africa’s iconic Table Mountain and lets its musical thumping, beast like savagery and calm collected intelligence seep out across the sea. For Octainium there is better rage than what a set of guitars, the unmasking of a set of drum skins and the growling harmonic bass and vocals provides on their album Suffer The Clock.

Octainium, Suffer The Clock. Album Review. full post

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

Metal Castle, The Battle For Metal Island. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

Not even music can be serious all the time, why would it want to be? Everything needs a lighter side and music is ripe to have the light shone that little deeper than most. Cinema and theatre may rule the roost when it comes to placing a smile on people’s faces but music also has the unerring ability in which to have great music with a quirky edge and absurdly good narrative attached to it; it might not be what you are expecting but it works.

Metal Castle, The Battle For Metal Island. Album Review. full post

(400 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Doctor Who: Destroy The Infinite. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

Cast: Tom Baker, Louise Jameson, David Selby, Michael Felton Stevens, Hywel Morgan, Clive Mantle, Christine Roberts, Ian Hallard.

There is a new villain in town, Earth and its associated planets are under threat from a despicable evil and only one man can save them, one man, a savage of impeccable understanding and loyalty and a strange Blue Box who never takes the Doctor where he wants to go but always where he is needed.

Doctor Who: Destroy The Infinite. Audio Drama Review, Big Finish. full post

(509 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

Scene Change, Revue. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

There are some things that you just cannot attach a rating onto because what you see before you is worth more than a few stars or an out of 10 score in the collective conscious of all that took part.

Scene Change, Revue. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(983 words, estimated 3:56 mins reading time)

Three, Two, F*ck. Theatre Review. L.I.P.A, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Robert Hadden, Joshua Quigley, Craig McDonald.

When praise is duly served, when the press rave about you and proclaim you to be the next best thing, the only way to deal with life from there is realise that the dream is over; you have failed in the objective which was to change the world.

Three, Two, F*ck. Theatre Review. L.I.P.A, Liverpool. full post

(513 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Spunk, Theatre Review. L.I.P.A. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Grant Robert Keelan, Stuart Crowther, Morten Aamodt.

In an opening that could have had Monty Python’s Eric Idle applaud for the utter creativity employed in the many different words used to describe sex between two men, L.I.P.A.’s Stuart Crowther’s play Spunk was something of a revelation.

Spunk, Theatre Review. L.I.P.A. Liverpool. full post

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

Grace And The Sea, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Carl James Fowler, Carmel Skelly, Chris Douglas, Craig Sharkey, Dave Unsworth, Francesco La Rocca, Jim Welsh, Kirsty Taylor, Mike Mackenzie, Nicky Loftus, Pat Hart, Nathan Bates, Peter Bromilow, Rachael Reason, Rita Sharp, Robyn La Rocca, Steve Dagleish, Vera Farrell.

Musicians from the Halewood Choir: Maurice Wileman, Howie Blakeborough, Phil Dean, Pam Bovis, Jill Marquis, Joan Rutledge, Patsy McDonough, Hazel Brennan, Anne Dean, Liz Haygarth.

Grace And The Sea, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(495 words, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)