Tag Archives: Liverpool

Anthony D’ Amato, Gig Review. Capstone Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Anthony D’ Amato at the Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. November 2017. Photograph used with kind permission by David Munn Photography.

Even today in the ease of travelling across oceans and different time zones, there is something distinctly admirable about letting go of the comfortable and the secure and opening yourself up to the possibility of the unknown and possibly uncharted. To leave one’s home town behind, to venture into the space between love and acceptance is a challenge, no matter how old, no matter how experienced; it is still one that marks you out as having the chops to spread your word far and wide.

Anthony D’ Amato, Gig Review. Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(396 words, 1 image, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)

Heaven 17, Gig Review. Hanger 34, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If there is a place beyond this mortal coil in which the good might be seen to live on, to continue offering words of sage advice and the beat of ten thousand rampant hearts crying out for more, then it arguably should have a number attached to the end of the everlasting; 17 would always be a comforting pulse, a groove to get behind and in Heaven 17 the sense of 80s enveloped pop was always going to be a night of paradise and ecstasy for those at Liverpool’s Hanger 34.

Heaven 17, Gig Review. Hanger 34, Liverpool. full post

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

Blancmange, Gig Review. Hanger 34, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There are moments in Pop history that unforgivably seem to be forgotten by the majority, that some groups, lauded rightly by those whose lives were changed by the positivity of one song, have been allowed to be seen as a memory, a reaction to past events and the recall of certain emotions. Bands such as Blancmange offered a way of communication, of sincerity that arguably was unique to them, and one that for everybody who made their way to Hanger 34 on cold Saturday night in Liverpool would have been ecstatic to celebrate; it was a celebration that was wild and proper.

Blancmange, Gig Review. Hanger 34, Liverpool. full post

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

Me & Robin Hood, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

A former British Prime Minister once said, “Children should be taught at school to learn how to make a profit”… all that you need to know about how our relationship with money has changed is summed up in that sentence. By uttering those craven words, David Cameron has placed down the 21st Century dogma, that the Economy is by far of greater importance than compassion, community, art, service and people.

Me & Robin Hood, Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

The Musical Box, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It is somehow easy to dismiss the creativity of people, the stroke of genius that inspires others, that captures the zeitgeist and in which something truly incredible can arise, a spectacle, theatre of the mind. It is easy to dismiss it because to some eyes it looks like fun, that the players are solely reaping the applause for having performed a song, written a poem, created a play in which political leaders quake.

The Musical Box, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(508 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

The Pretenders, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Those of a certain age will remember fondly The Pretenders bursting onto the music scene in 1979 with The Kinks supremo Ray Davies’s song Stop You Sobbing, then quickly following up with many a fan’s favourite Kid and their most well-known song Brass In Pocket. New Wave music at its best!

It was a glorious time to buy music, audiences had another female fronted Rock band, crowds were spoilt, Blondie and The Pretenders recording equally classic Pop songs; the people who went to see the shows were not just spoilt, they were there at the start of a new dawn.

The Pretenders, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

The Rails, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Many would have seen The Rails, the undeniably cool  Kami Thompson and James Walbourne, two years ago supporting the legendary Richard Thompson, they would have been impressed with the duo and their folky close harmonies that wouldn’t have been out of place in Kami’s father’s old band Fairport Convention. Arguably all would have left any of the gigs on that particular tour buying their intriguing, almost haunting E.P. release Australia.

The Rails, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(349 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Suzi Quatro, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Iconic perhaps doesn’t do Suzi Quatro justice, the word somehow refuses to roll off the tongue properly, it gets caught up in the mesh of images, in the crossfire of youthful explosion of 70s teenage dreams and admiration of the first woman of Rock, through to the status she truly deserves today.

Suzi Quatro, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

(449 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

The Osmonds, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

When you’ve never experienced a phenomenon it can be quite easy to scoff, to take a look at the moment from outside the pull of the dedicated fan and believe that no matter what you would be immune to sultry tones of the supposed magic which casts its eye over all who linger too long in the mercurial light.

The phenomenon you shy away from, is a perhaps the one that catches you out the most, you ignore it arguably at your own cost and whilst we embrace many a facet, many a band, artist or individual, some we lose sight of, we openly mock or just plain forget.

The Osmonds, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

Immaculate, Theatre Review. Sennheiser Studio, L.I.PA., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Ruth Parratt, Jack Sanders, Molly Deegan, Gavin Duffy, Rebecca Ozer, Pete Smith.

Finding out you are pregnant when it is the last thing on your mind, the final piece of the puzzle to life’s ever random circumstance which you had no plans for, is one of those moments in which the world can come crashing down or can lift you higher than you have ever been, Heaven and Hell are moved and made to seem as if the process was flawless, that children are born into this world pure, Immaculate.

Immaculate, Theatre Review. Sennheiser Studio, L.I.PA., Liverpool. full post

(445 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)