Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Camp and Furnace in Liverpool is an open secret, those that know about this charming cultural hive of activity cannot get enough of it and its industrial past, the relic of an industrial revolution that has gone beyond the thought of dirt, disease and dark satanic mills and has become a place of beauty. It is also a great place in which to catch live acoustic music and the slight nod to the electric.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
The walls at the o2 Academy have seen some incredible acts in the long years that it has stood on Hotham Street, it has held those memories within its brickwork and steel framing for so long that perhaps it is unsurprising that those reminiscences, the ghosts of fantastic sessions decided to come out of the stonework, to bleed themselves out and drench the audience in sweat at the outstanding and ear obliterating concert given by Heaven’s Basement.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Wales has always managed to hold onto its musical secrets until the right time comes along to unleash them upon the world in a blaze of Welsh pride, especially its rock groups. The Alarm, Manic Street Preachers, The Reasoning and The Stereophonics all have become household names over the decades not just in their home country but across the River Severn and through the mountains and hills of the North and invaded the collective music thought of the neighbours in England.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Some people kick off their weekend by taking off their work shoes slumping infront of the television for the night and only moving again when the television reception goes wonky. Others will be more adventurous and make their way into town and watch television on a big screen as Wimbledon reaches its climax. For some though the chance to take in some music, to find an oasis in a desert, is too compelling an opportunity to mess with and as Skarlett Riot entered the fray at the O2 Academy to a crowd that was already in love with them after catching the foursome finish their warm-up, there may as well have been a big sign stamped on the wall saying, your weekend starts here, rock your heart out and enjoy!
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Maria Hutchison, Rachael Boothroyd, Katy Brown, Kitty Spathia, Valerio Lusito, Arancha Herreruelo-Alonso, Emma Segar, Keelin Sweeney, Alun Parry, Alan Bower, Adam Byrne, Tony Davies, Louise Garcia, Gillian Peterson-Fox.
Every so often the sound of three gunshots echoes around the Unity Theatre. The effect it has on the audience is one that is just as chilling on the soul as the realisation that what the writer Darren Guy and Director Mikyla Jane Durkan have put together is so rooted in Greek history that as an audience member it’s possible to feel shame for the lack of knowledge you have as the true story of the many women arrested and tortured in Greece after World War Two for the crime of fighting Fascism and Nazism.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Just a little over a 24 hours since he went on stage as part of a phenomenal line up at the Echo Arena, Simon Townshend graced the Liverpool o2 Academy with a set that burned with excellence and unequivocal energy.
As part of The Who alongside Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend, Simon had rocked and stormed the large arena in town and given those present one of the loudest concerts they are likely to hear all year. When stepping onto the stage at The Academy though, he was more sedate and laid back but funnily enough just as intense and creatively thunderous, it was almost as if the spirits that had guided him as part of the much loved British band were still hanging around and urging him to continue the good work.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Lucy Williamson, Emma Dears.
Judy Garland and Liza Minnelli, perhaps two of the biggest names in American show business ever and surely impossible to ever replicate on stage what they have each achieved and the adoration in which they are still held to this day. Whilst Judy Garland’s life was heartbreakingly cut short due to near obscene levels of pressure, Ms Minnelli has been a born survivor despite the huge ruby slippers she had to fill and yet in Judy & Liza it was if the two women had come back together just one more time.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
From ashes does life grow, it can and will flourish given the right space, the right temperament and in music terms being somebody who cares deeply about their passion for picking up a guitar and taking an audiences hand through some great rock numbers.
When the fabulous Kids With Lighters unfortunately went their amicable separate ways, there could have been the usual fallout of genuine talent falling by the way side and emerging as some do many years later looking for a second stab at the profession. Not so with Rob McGuffin, the highly likeable and intelligent musician has carefully and with a large amount of skill attached to his superb disposition been making inroads again and has already proved himself of all places in the heart of Birmingham with his chosen musical weapon.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
To be nervous is to expected, it is the little butterflies that growl hungrily and gnaw at you which define those that can do what they do in front of audience and those that can’t. In the raw, unrestrained and beautiful sounding Sophie Dodd it is something she may carry but she succeeds in taming them as if they were rampaging lions reduced to mewing helpless kittens.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Becky Illsley, Alice Ellerby, Natasia Hodge.
Think back to all the great detective shows and heroes, Poirot, Marple, Barnaby, Frost, Cagney and Lacey, Morse, all known for their cunning wit, dogged determination in the face of evil and murder and not quite the knack of spinning out a yarn with humour and unbelievable, almost astonishing, acts of feat. It is highly unlikely that Jean Marple would throw herself around with the same amount of gusto that Becky Illsley and Alice Ellerby managed in their performance of A Cosy Murder.