Tag Archives: Liverpool

Lennon’s Banjo, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Eric Potts, Jake Abraham, Mark Moraghan, Lynn Francis, Daniel O’Brien, Stephanie Dooley, Alan Stocks, Roy Carruthers.

Special guest appearance by Pete Best.

Memorabilia is big business, some of it only worth the money to the person that truly wants to covet it, to see it take pride of place in a darkened room and never let anyone ever see it again. The private collector to whom a piano played by Billy Joel, Elton John or Tori Amos is as valuable, if not more so, than keeping the instrument used to create art out of sight of millions; a type of dystopian pleasure, a greed that undeniably stokes the furnaces of ownership but also in which hangs tales of intrigue, of lost items and found loves.

Lennon’s Banjo, Theatre Review. Epstein Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(409 words, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Love From A Stranger, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Helen Bradbury, Sam Frenchum, Alice Haig, Justin Avoth, Molly Logan, Crispin Redman, Nicola Sanderson, Gareth Willams.

Despite being one of the few works by Agatha Christie which has not had the major investment by television and film and has which received perhaps less attention than most when it comes to being adapted by theatre, Love From A Stranger is a compelling piece in which the idea of the hidden psychopath is explored and manipulated to the point of the absolute style becoming of the Queen of British Crime fiction.

Love From A Stranger, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hogarth of Marillion, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, April 2018. Photograph used with the kind permission of Gordon Fleming.

It has been a long time since Marillion stepped over the Merseyside border, that near international boundary that separates the city of Liverpool from the U.K., not built in myth but in the very nature of its home grown and adopted sons and daughters strength of purpose and identity. As Steve Hogarth was heard to say during one enjoyable exchange of banter and nicely placed heckle, “We really are in another country now”.

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(497 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

One of Liverpool’s own, a performer who has been long associated with the city, a musician of high integrity and blushing music, one who for quite some time has deserved the accolades that come with a night at the Philharmonic Hall; in Roxanne de Bastion’s supporting of Marillion on this tour, to come back to Liverpool, to immerse herself within the friends she made and in the city where her latest album is held as an example of the heights that can be reached, that is now the position that all should be attaining.

Roxanne de Bastion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(432 words, estimated 1:44 mins reading time)

A Clockwork Orange, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

A Clockwork Orange, Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. Photograph used with kind permission by Marc Brenner and the Everyman Theatre.

Cast: George Caple, Nadia Anim, Richard Bremmer, Nathan McMullen, Phil Rayner, Zelina Rebeiro, Keddy Sutton, Liam Tobin.

Musician: Peter Mitchell.

A Clockwork Orange, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Little Sparrow, Gig Review. Music Room, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Little Sparrow at the Music Rooms in Liverpool. April 2018. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

It is natural to miss someone, to let time go past in such a manner that you find the song, that special reason you were drawn to them as a human being in the first place, takes upon itself to be treated like a fine shroud, delicate and interwoven with the days and weeks of since last you saw them, woven with gold silk, the voice that would have captured the soul of Homer’s Odysseus, still resonating around the concert venues of Liverpool and beyond.

Little Sparrow, Gig Review. Music Room, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

Elfin Bow, Gig Review. Music Rooms, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Elfin Bow at the Philharmonic Hall’s Music Rooms. April 2018. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

 

The Philharmonic Hall Music Room is a place where the song that lifts and lilts, that raises hope as well as the roof, is to be seen with a sense of honour and privilege, the dispensing of the day’s trials and injustice, the scream that builds up inside your mind, is let loose, carefully, gently, the kettle that could not stop whistling is reduced to silence and awe as musicians such as Elfin Bow take to the stage and perform their vigil to impart a subtle sense of well being and many a great song.

Elfin Bow, Gig Review. Music Rooms, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(382 words, 1 image, estimated 1:32 mins reading time)

The Last Ship, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Richard Fleeshman, Charlie Hardwick, Joe McGann, Frances McNamee, Joe Caffrey, Matt Corner, Anne Grace, Sean Kearns, Katie Moore, Charlie Richmond, Parisa Shahmir, Kevin Wathen, Marvin Ford, Penelope Woodman, James William-Pattison, Michael Blair, Susan Fay, Orla Gormley.

There have been many shameful periods in the history of the country, especially since World War Two ended and the thought of big Government in all its forms has risen its various ugly and uncaring heads to take on big organisations and labour.

The Last Ship, Theatre Review. Playhouse Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(582 words, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

Jethro Tull, Gig Review. Auditorium, Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

All things must pass, all things must be realised, including the moment when you might see an artist for the final time, plying their trade, putting the finishing touches to the great epic, the last fingernail on the finger that touches God, or the finale, the flute of a genius put down beside his leg, stiff-arched and relaxed after a show in which many would perhaps suggest would be the last time they know to be in the company of one who has left arguably more than most in this precious life of ours. All things must end, as George Harrison once duly noted; however it doesn’t mean you cannot have a feast of brilliance brought to the table as you say possible and intended goodbyes.

Jethro Tull, Gig Review. Auditorium, Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(540 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)

The Rainbow Connection, Theatre Review. Downstairs At The Royal Court, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Angela Simms, Danny O’Brien.

Love, so the poets, the romantics and the occasional purposeful song-writer will attest, is indeed a many splendid thing; it is the joy of lost reason, of the possible loss of everything you thought about yourself and the conquering of the soul. Love isn’t about the physical act between people, love is what you are willing to do for another human being, what you are prepared to sacrifice to make someone happy, to look upon their face and hope for all the colours that a rainbow can provide, love is the most reckless and untrustworthy emotion and we should strive to see it happen more often and with whomever.

The Rainbow Connection, Theatre Review. Downstairs At The Royal Court, Liverpool. full post

(515 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)