Tag Archives: Liverpool

Midland Railway, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014.

Midland Railway at The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow, 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7 ^1/2/ 10

There is arguably nothing better than coming across a band with a sense of humour when the day has been filled with powerful meaningful songs, tracks that have exploded your mind and set the bran on a semi quaver rush. The art of the whimsy, of lyrics that speak at times more eruditely than the impassioned unveiled contempt and derision quite rightly aimed at those the general public are forced to stomach being in power, whimsy and humour is a very powerful tool and in the hands of Midland Railway, led by Nick Lote from Harbourne in Birmingham, the humour of the band shines through.

Midland Railway, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014. full post

(389 words, 2 images, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

The Last Fakers, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014.

The Last Fakers at The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The International Pop Overthrow is one of those occasions in the Liverpool music calendar where to just wander into The Cavern Club and take in some music for a short while is to be expected and roundly welcomed. The chance should you feel inclined to come off the street after a busy day of work or even the playful art of shopping in your attempt to make the day go past and watch perhaps half an hour of music before making your way home.

The Last Fakers, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014. full post

(517 words, 1 image, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

AqPop, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014

AqPop at the Cavern Club as part of the 2014 International Pop Overthrow. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7 ^1/2/10

Liverpool is more than used to the music venues of Liverpool filling the local ears with contented understanding of its Norwegian artists who have made the city their home. It is one of the many strengths of the city that it embraces, not only the huge links between its Viking heritage and Scouse, but the immense influx of well-written and totally eclectic and narrative songs.

AqPop, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow. 2014 full post

(356 words, 1 image, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

Little Sparrow, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Little Sparrow at the Studio 2, Liverpool 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Although some artists grow on you over time, there is an argument for the thought that your first opinion of them is normally the one that is correct. With life becoming far too fast to keep up at times before the next trend or even whim, the next vogue act or person in favour on television. Sometimes you have to make a stand, draw a long line around yourself and say, bear with me as I really want to savour this thanks and in Little Sparrow, the line demands to painted over in several coats of luminous yellow paints and a few traffic stops signs flashing stop for good measure.

Little Sparrow, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

(455 words, 2 images, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Susie Jones, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool.

Susie Jones at Studio 2 in Liverpool May 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In a night that was filled to overflowing with very cool and deserving female musicians making all the headlines inside Studio 2 on Parr Street, to open up ahead of the likes of Little Sparrow, Ingrid Frosland and the superb Norwegian band Kalandra might be considered a tad daunting. However, for Susie Jones, daunting is just another word for showing exactly what you are made of and watching her and her two fellow musicians on stage, the equally cool Dave Parker and Rob Kentell, daunting was a by word for secure and musically affluent.

Susie Jones, Gig Review. Studio 2, Parr Street, Liverpool. full post

(366 words, 1 image, estimated 1:28 mins reading time)

Michael Bolton, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Michael Bolton, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is a certain satisfaction to be gleaned from watching Michael Bolton on stage. The sheer effortlessness in which he sings, the manner of his performance and the smooth content feel of the music grabs an audience from the very beginning and long after he has left the stage there are still fans glued to their seats, mentally and physically exhausted by the intense feelings that have come from one person, one band, so utterly captivated by the magnetism of the song.

Michael Bolton, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(517 words, 2 images, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Lucy May, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To walk on stage infront of audience as a virtual unknown, to throw yourself upon the musical mercy of an audience that had been building themselves up for the main event, to do this whilst the spotlight glares down upon you and in some sort of electrical judgment has your life in the claws of its wiry hands and give a set of your own songs the type of true belief usually found in someone whose established credentials has seen them through a few decades; then you know you are witnessing the start of something that could go a long way to being a star of their generation.

Lucy May, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

Rick Wakeman, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Rick Wakeman, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are some things that are well worth the wait, even if you didn’t realise just why you had waited for them until the first note came crashing down around your senses and you were transported through time and the love of literature to a point of sheer bliss.

Rick Wakeman, Gig Review. Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(531 words, 1 image, estimated 2:07 mins reading time)

This May Hurt A Bit, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Frances Ashman, Stephanie Cole, William Hope, Natalie Klamar, Hywel Morgan, Brian Protheroe, Jane Wymark, Tristram Wymark.

The patient has been seen by many consultants over the years, some with the very best of intentions, some whose intentions are perhaps dubious at best and down- right scandalous at worst and yet somehow the patient is still here and still keeping society going. The N.H.S. still carries on delivering from cradle to the grave.

This May Hurt A Bit, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(453 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Beside The Seaside, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7^1/2/10

Cast: Jennifer Bea, John Burns, Anna Hudson, Leon Tagoe.

There is almost nothing better in life than a day at the seaside. The chance to eat an ice cream as the sun causes it to dribble and linger upon your fingers, to take in the maritime air and generally have the type of day that at one time was the staple of British life up and down the country. The seaside was where it was at and families flocked there in their thousands. Places like Blackpool, Scarborough, Southend and Brighton were the destinations of choice in which to blow off steam and have some much needed downtime.

Beside The Seaside, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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