Tag Archives: Liverpool

The Tenements, Gig Review. Elevator, Threshold Festival. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * *

The first band on the stage on the Saturday in Elevator for the Threshold Festival was the recently renamed The Tenements and despite the tight timings that quite rightly imposed on the artists to keep the afternoon on track, gave a very good account of themselves and their music.

Formally known as Matt Reekie and the Bridges, the three piece band showed their forceful side during the six songs and gave the early festival goers something splendid to hang their enjoyment of the weekend upon. Despite the pressure of kicking starting the second day, the three lads performed well and their opening number When I See Her Face  was well received and a cracking song to be introduced to the group with.

The Tenements, Gig Review. Elevator, Threshold Festival. Liverpool. full post

(250 words, estimated 1:00 mins reading time)

Gary Edward Jones, Gig Review. Elevator, Threshold Festival, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is something homely about Gary Edward Jones as he takes his place on the stage at Elevator, his demeanour relaxed but full of life, a reputation that he has carved out as a musician over the last few years and as someone who has that extra bit of spice in his musicianship as he performs.

After following on from a superb set by Caroline England, Gary Edward Jones continued to set the bar very high for the performers that would follow over the course of the day and for the remainder of the weekend.

Gary Edward Jones, Gig Review. Elevator, Threshold Festival, Liverpool. full post

(380 words, estimated 1:31 mins reading time)

Jo Bywater, Gig Review. The Picket, Threshold Festival. Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

As Jo Bywater takes to the stage at The Picket, it is possible to see members of the audience reminiscing over when they first came across this adopted Merseysider from Yorkshire. Time may have moved on and Jo may have been sadly missing from the venues in the city for a while but this sparkling and honest musician who is admired for her tenacity, frankness and genuine desire was treated as a much loved but much missed friend.

Jo Bywater, Gig Review. The Picket, Threshold Festival. Liverpool. full post

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

Joe Symes And The Loving Kind, Gig Review. Threshold Festival, Siren, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Before the day’s Threshold Festival entertainments had started, Siren had had a few of the performers which were making the Baltic Quarter their home for the weekend going through their paces, a pre-match warm up in which to shake any dust out of the lungs that could scupper a great performance. By the end of the day, Joe Symes and the Loving Kind were playing to a packed out audience who had seen many superb musicians during the day but who were in the mood for just one more superb act to finish the day with.

Joe Symes And The Loving Kind, Gig Review. Threshold Festival, Siren, Liverpool. full post

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

Science Of The Lamps, Gig Review. Threshold Festival, The Picket, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

All over the Baltic Quarter in Liverpool, bands and artists had been thrilling audiences during the second day of the Threshold Festival but there can’t have been many more that were as highly anticipated, nor as keenly appreciated as Science of the Lamps. The near impossible task of getting perhaps one of the largest gatherings of musicians and singers on a stage anywhere in Liverpool over the weekend, including the ever superb musician Luke Moore on cello and keyboards and the wonderful vocal talent of Mersey Wylie alongside the woman of the weekend Kaya Herstad Carney.

Science Of The Lamps, Gig Review. Threshold Festival, The Picket, Liverpool. full post

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

Caroline England, Gig Review. Threshold Festival. Elevator, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Threshold Festival had already had a successful day on the Friday and as the new day blew away the cobwebs and aching joints of the Saturday morning, Elevator, the acoustic venue for the weekend and part of the superbly run Graham Holland acoustic set up in the city, welcomed new and much loved established performers through its doors and the early part of the afternoon revelled in the music on offer.

Caroline England, Gig Review. Threshold Festival. Elevator, Liverpool. full post

(336 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast:  Mark Womack, Rene Zagger, Scot Williams, Samantha Womack.

Hope should never be denied to anyone, take it away and you deny that person the only thing they may have keeping them sane. Hope also can be secretive and a hard but forgiving mistress and to base a production around this idea takes the slight touch of genius and adds it to a script by Scot Williams which is utterly absorbing, playful but also captures the very essence of writing

Hope, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(338 words, estimated 1:21 mins reading time)

The Stranglers, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The sweat and perspiration was still dripping off the audience’s clothes as they filed out of the Academy, Liverpool after yet another feast of relentless and pulsating music by one of the most potent and loved bands to come out of Britain in the last 40 years. For the Stranglers, nights such as they experience in Liverpool, are amongst the finest they can surely experience and for the fans that bounce and rock with them, the admiration is mutual. The tour is called Feel It Live and by the end of the night everyone had certainly felt that request.

The Stranglers, Gig Review. o2 Academy, Liverpool. full post

(571 words, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

Oedipus Rex, Theatre Review. Liverpool University Drama Society. Stanley Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Georgina Panteli, Lucy Swain, Madeline Smart, Polly Couslon, Mark Raynor, Benedict Spence, Mary Jayne Cooper, Charlie Wilson, Alex Webber-Date, George Dorran, Graham Cain, Jacob Lowman, Pallav Ratra.

There is something about Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex that speaks down through the ages in such a way that its brutality, jealousy, pride and ignorance are more akin to 21st century human nature than people probably care to admit. It is a play that can divide opinion and cause many a troubled thought to enter the audiences’ minds due to the graphic nature that can be readily employed by the company performing it.

Oedipus Rex, Theatre Review. Liverpool University Drama Society. Stanley Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Denys Baptiste Triumvirate, Gig Review. The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

For only their third concert together, the trio that make up the Denys Baptiste Triumvirate came across as nearly stealing the show at the First International Jazz Festival to be held in Liverpool and that is one statement to make when the quality and intensity of the performances were as high as they possibly could be.

Denys Baptiste Triumvirate, Gig Review. The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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