Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Clare Grogan of Altered Images at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. October 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Anyone who found themselves down in the then recently reopened and lively atmosphere of Eric’s on Matthew Street during 2012 would have hoped to had Clare Grogan and Altered Images on their minds, on their music to do list of bands from the 80s that they may have missed out on seeing live.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: James Atherton, Taj Atwal, Sally Bankes, Gemma Dobson, Samantha Robinson, David Walker.
Jealousy can tear friendships apart, it is a aspect of life that is seen through every social class, every feature of society in all its rich forms and its often desperate situation, jealousy rips at the very seams of the fabric that binds and nobody outside of Shakespeare arguably understood that more when writing about two young girls from Bradford and the power of sex than Andrea Dunbar.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is not just people that have a history, a story worth remembering, it is the very fabric of a place, a building and even the structure of art and the thoughts that go into it as well.
When history on all fronts collide it can make for an impressive evening of memory, a kaleidoscope of colour and fantasy rolled together; it is a history which dominates and fights like a boxer scrapping for the money in which to build a better life for, a harassed mother to be finding the strength to deliver a child into a world. For between these two states of human emotion comes life and one that can only be tempered by the sound of an artist calling through time and being appreciated with the full extent of both Heaven and Earth.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Photograph by Ian D. Hall
Tomorrow will follow today, to think otherwise is to take the only thing that matters in the world to many people from them, the belief of hope. Hope is the reason why so many of us get up in the morning, hope is the point of talking in vain to the nice girl who smiles, to listen to that song, to relish an evening out when everything about the modern world screams to stay inside; it is in hope that the live performance by an artist is one that will captivate you and keep you alive inside.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Cast: Joanna Holden, Chloe Purcell, Amelia Pimlott.
Life should be a happy medium between fun and the stay at home nights, the frantic and the exciting and the small release of comfort which comes from looking back on the day, catching up with small jobs and the odd glass of your favourite tipple whilst you relax, look around with a careful eye at your own kingdom and take stock.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
You can hear all the songs in the world, you can find a way to lose your soul along the way, sell it for a pocket full of gold and exchange it all to listen to the songs of every artist for the rest of your life. However, there will come a time when a song that is hugely influential on the shape of the conscious of so many, suddenly becomes something more, more dramatic, mixing patience and urgency in the same breath, then for all the songs and renditions that have gone before, you cannot help but feel sorry for anyone who tries to top them.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There is the sense of power that a band can bring to the Philharmonic Hall which you could only wish that if bottling plants had the power, they might just have the sensation of the year, a sense of quality that should be available to all but in which seems to reside in those who have given their all. When a band like Texas come to Liverpool, the only response possible is to sit back, enjoy the ride and take note, for as all in the Philharmonic Hall were bound to say at the end of the night, this was a band who had tremendous fun.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Maggie Fox, Sue Ryding.
There are always seems to be a sense of the mystical allure when you meet a writer that arguably no other profession can carry, people don’t tend to meet someone at a party who gets up at four o’ clock in the morning and spends a whole day on a farm and has to deal with government interference about quotas and crop rotation, by saying to them, I have always wanted the romance of own animals in my life. Yet there always is a yearning to tell a writer that you have always wanted to be one. Not realising that the act of writing itself is in fact the closest occupation that mimics life and death.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Carmen Arquelladas, Duncan Cameron, Leebo Luby, Miwa Nagai, Simone Tani.
The glitz and the glamour of the cabaret night, the well rehearsed, the dancing troop, the possibility of magic on stage ever hanging in the air like the illusion of petals on string or the blown glitter to distract you from the sleight of hand; all these moments make the eager performance of the cabaret a wonderful night out.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is always with a metaphorical warm embrace that audiences welcome back Thea Gilmore back into their live surroundings, regardless of whether it is with a full band or just on the stage with the talented Nigel Stonier, the welcome is positive and expectant, it is full of respect for the Oxfordshire raised musician and as the uncertainty of summer gives way to the chill of autumn, as the events unfold with dismay around the world, there is always the smile and the voice of a musically passionate woman to keep the home fires burning.