Tag Archives: Liverpool

The Popdogs, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2013.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

With over a 100 bands and groups making their way to Liverpool as part of the International Pop Overthrow, now its 11th year of coming to the city, you would expect some rather great acts to make their way to the forefront, gently guide you to some good tracks and times and leave you gasping hopefully for more. What you might not expect, especially in the city that gave pop music to the country if not Europe and beyond, was a for a group to make their way across from the sleepy city of Lincoln and give the type of performance that the bands that made Merseybeat would have said was the best way to thrill a crowd and then make that same audience wriggle with excitement at reliving those heady days.

The Popdogs, Gig Review. The Cavern Club, Liverpool. International Pop Overthrow 2013. full post

(424 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Blue Remembered Hills, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: James Bolt, Phil Cheadle, Tilly Gaunt, Adrian Grove, Joanna Holden, David Nellist, Christopher Price.

It may not be considered as the pinnacle of Dennis Potter’s career as a playwright, that surely goes to the plays Pennies From Heaven and The Singing Detective but Blue Remembered Hills is certainly a Potter classic and one that shows that cruelty is not just confined to the adult world in which the backdrop of the Second World War rages but resides within us all from birth.

Blue Remembered Hills, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(420 words, estimated 1:41 mins reading time)

Eddie Izzard, Comedy Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Eddie Izzard is one of Britain’s most loved comedians. He is also one of those exceptional people on the circuit that is loved just as much for his endeavours away from the stage as he is on it. From running marathons, to sending out a better image of the U.K. with his tolerance and acceptance of different cultures and his brave decision to come out as an action transvestite has only endeared him more to the public.

Eddie Izzard, Comedy Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

Mind The Gap, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rachel Worsley, Rik Melling, Errol Smith, Jag Sanghera.

The London Underground is an architectural wonder, an amazing structure that is complex, sometimes overcrowded, dirty and yet a thing of beauty. Poets have written many an ode in their love for it, millions use it every single day and during World War Two it was home to those escaping the nightly bombing raids over England’s capital city. Yet somewhere along the line, the reason to talk to someone on the tube, to make contact with a fellow human being, someone sharing that journey with you was lost. No more reason to find out about someone and their life, now it is papers up, stare straight ahead and do not converse with anyone less it causes trouble.

Mind The Gap, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(491 words, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

The Endings, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

George Harrison understood the heartache behind it, so much so he gave his solo album the title All Things Must Pass, that feeling and despairing knowledge that something has come to a natural finish, no matter how much people might clamour for it not to be true. For The Endings, the run was superb, a Liverpool band with a very big heart at its core, some great and incredible sounds and above all a belief that what they were doing was just another step in a long journey.

The Endings, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

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

Finding Joy, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Nanou Harry, Sarah Hawkins, Simone Lewis, Mark Winstanley.

There are times when silence speaks louder than words can ever hope to do so. Whether in anger, contempt or in happiness, the silence, the lack of communication can be deafening and more acute than a random sentence thrown together in praise or sadness.

Finding Joy, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(331 words, estimated 1:19 mins reading time)

Kate Nash, Gig Review. East Village Arts Club, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

As Kate Nash motored her way through a rather superb set at the newly opened East Village Arts Club, there was surely nobody in the excitable audience that couldn’t see how much the artist had grown as a performer and as a woman. The evidence was there for all to hear with the release of her third album, the exceptional Girl Talk, and yet somehow if that demonstration of womanhood was somehow and unlikely missed by the listener, anyone making their way to the plush new surrounds that house the East Village would have seen the corroboration with their own eyes.

Kate Nash, Gig Review. East Village Arts Club, Liverpool. full post

(413 words, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

The Kill Van Kulls, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Kill Van Kulls was amongst the extreme highlights of Liverpool Sound City during 2012. The positivity they showed, the intense joy they bought to the stage was matched stride for stride by their ability and infectious music.

The Kill Van Kulls, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

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

The Fratellis, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The sweat had barely time to dry off in the 02 Academy from the previous night’s storming gig by Big Country than the re-emergence of one of the most popular and endearing bands of the last decade, The Fratellis, stoked up the pressure cooker inside the venue and the keen excitement felt by all spilled over and added further to the party atmosphere.

The Fratellis, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(406 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Big Country, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Some journeys are never meant to end; there is always time for a new chapter, even in the most long and incredible of stories there is always time for one more nugget of information to be told and savoured. Within the circles of rock, Big Country’s story could have ended when much respected former vocalist Stuart Adamson sadly passed on as the new century began. No one would have blamed anybody as Stuart was a colossus, a man whose presence can still be keenly felt by many as they listen to his voice through the back catalogue.

Big Country, Gig Review. 02 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(567 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)