Arctic Monkeys, Gig Review. Liverpool Echo Arena.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The hum of expectation vibrating about Liverpool’s waterfront was telling of the growing sense of anticipation that surrounded the return of the country’s most prevalent rock band to the city’s Echo Arena. Arctic Monkeys’ latest offering AM has garnished praise as possibly the band’s best collection of songs to date and fans were not left disappointed as the Sheffield act treated their followers to a gig as tempestuous and pulsating as the stormy autumn weather that preceded it.

Arctic Monkeys, Gig Review. Liverpool Echo Arena. full post

(464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett, Gig Review (October 2013). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 91/2 /10

There are very few performers that will attempt to capture the magic, the very special experience of a gig twice in the same venue in the same year. Then again, it may have been thought impossible to recapture the very essence of a classic in the first place. However when the venue is the prestigious Philharmonic Hall and the artist is the phenomenal guitarist Steve Hackett, it really shouldn’t come as any surprise at all that the musician and his finely crafted band should once more come to Liverpool and give the legion of fans in the city yet another night to remember.

Steve Hackett, Gig Review (October 2013). Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(669 words, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

Scrappers, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: David Judge, John McGrellis, Ged McKenna, Molly Taylor.

The world is forever changing, no sooner have you got to grips with one situation than another comes along to take yet another swipe at you and push you to the brink. Such is the world of Scrappers and those living in a world in which is always under threat by new methods.

Scrappers, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(478 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Ripper Street, Pure As The Driven. Television Review. I.T.V.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Matthew Macfadyen, Jerome Flynn, Adam Rothenburg, MyAnna Buring, Joseph Mawle, David Wilmott, Joseph Drake, Gillian Saker.

For the men in H Division, the thin blue line that just about keeps some semblance of order in London’s Whitechapel, no sooner do they rid the area of one killer than another soon takes its place. This time though the killer hiding in the shadows, dealing death to those who get in the way is Heroin; the narcotic that brought back the sins of Empire to the shores of the Thames and backed by the worst criminal of all, the corrupt policeman.

Ripper Street, Pure As The Driven. Television Review. I.T.V. full post

(428 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Jago & Litefoot: Chronoclasm. Series Three, Audio Drama Review. Big Finish.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Christopher Benjamin, Trevor Baxter, Louise Jameson, Conrad Asquith, Lisa Bowerman, Philip Bretherton, Duncan Wisbey, Joanna Munro, Wendy Padbury.

Some crimes, especially the ones involving the laws of time are either caused by a megalomaniac hell bent on destruction of a certain race of people or species or due to greed, the powerful and sickening so called aphrodisiac that prays on the weak and gluttonous. Sometimes these two overlap and then the devastation is even harder to bear. Occasionally though the reason is a lot more pure and it is just the way it was devised and carried out that makes the plan hard to stomach. Such is Elliot Payne’s reason to change time, to end his own misery and loss. It doesn’t make it right but it is a lot more understandable that selling out and destroying an entire species for a pot of gold.

Jago & Litefoot: Chronoclasm. Series Three, Audio Drama Review. Big Finish. full post

(526 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Paloma Faith, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are some artists that just radiate so much style and panache that their every move is watched with a type of gleeful appreciation. Some lack the real high of sublime talent to see the style through to its logical conclusion. This is not something that can ever be aimed in the direction of Paloma Faith, for style read elegance, talent, she has by the bucket load and grace is something that seems to come naturally to her.

Paloma Faith, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. full post

(533 words, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

Nina Conti, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is something of the endearing quality to Nina Conti and her ventriloquist act that just makes the audience fall in love with her. The rather special talent that drives a person to perform with a sarcastic monkey or an eight year old inner child on their arms and get away with the most irreverent sayings all in the case of entertainment is one to admired and nurtured.

Nina Conti, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Space, Gig Review. East Village Arts Club, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When the five musicians that make up Space come home to Liverpool, there is a the sensation of static electricity that rises up through the floorboards of which ever venue they have decided to play in and the expectation of a high tempo and seriously fun evening to be had.

Space, Gig Review. East Village Arts Club, Liverpool. full post

(524 words, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Linnea Olsson, Ah! Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For many, the first sight or sound of Linnea Olsson may well have been her sterling support and overwhelming addition to Peter Gabriel’s live arena shows during 2013. As magnificent as her contribution was, it would be a disservice not to shout and praise from the rooftops her solo album from 2011, the cello driven Ah!

Linnea Olsson, Ah! Album Review. full post

(363 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Peter Gabriel, Gig Review.The Hydro, Glasgow.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Peter Gabriel is closer now to that certain age in which others aspire to start taking it easy and concentrating on other aspects of life. However when you are having as much fun as Peter Gabriel, feeling as much warmth from a crowd and giving a scintillating performance in which the audience could only marvel at, why worry, there is so much left for this man to achieve and do.

Peter Gabriel, Gig Review.The Hydro, Glasgow. full post

(554 words, estimated 2:13 mins reading time)