Tag Archives: Liverpool

Rain, Gig Review. Hanger 34, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Rain may fall, it is inevitable as a hose pipe ban as soon as the Sun comes out of its Spring shell or a whitewash in the media when it comes to glorifying the achievements of any town or city anywhere outside of London, especially when it the capital-centric bogyman city of Liverpool; the slight tinge of jealousy that always emanates from the so called corridors of power and the decision makers who somehow determine what is the in thing to chase. Rain may fall but Rain, even after a quarter of a century, can still taste sweet in the British Winter and Rain is always worth chanting for.

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

(439 words, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Roseville, Gig Review. Hanger 34, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

When there is a return to the stage in the offering of a former set of princes, you have to also watch who they surround themselves with to get the full picture of the expectation attached.

Supporting a band like Rain is not easy, in many ways it could be said that being support to legends such as Space, Amsterdam or The Icicle Works would be an easier task despite their longevity and huge modern following; in Rain, to know where to start is complicated and yet the night was made easy by the overflowing of love that had been storing up for a quarter of a century, for that Midland’s band Roseville made quite an impression and it was one that can only grow itself in anticipation as well.

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

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

Beauty And The Beast, (Son Of A Creature Man), Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Danny Burns, Tom Connor, Stephanie Hockley, Adam Keast, Greg Last, Raj Paul, Lauren Silver, Emmy Stonelake, Lucy Thatcher, Francis Tucker.

Christmas only truly begins once the pantomime season starts in earnest, the faithful chime of the yearly bell in which many furry creatures, the beasts of the imagination come hurtling out of the writer’s pen and prove above anything that the media or consumerism can dole out in response, that the family and friends you spend time inside the theatre with are the best days you will have.

Beauty And The Beast, (Son Of A Creature Man), Theatre Review. Everyman Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(504 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

Scouse Of The Rising Sun, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Jake Abraham, Michael Fletcher, Lindzi Germain, Hayley Hampson, Michael Ledwich, Andrew Schofield, Alan Stocks, Keddy Sutton.

Musicians: Ben Gladwin, Greg Joy, Emily Linden, Howard Gray.

There may be a house in New Orleans in which many a poor lad has lost his way, but they never quite lose their way, or regain the right path, as a Liverpool lad fighting the evil intentions of a maniac hell bent on destroying the city, not even a hero of a popular 60s song could match the heroics of the Scouse of the Rising Sun.

Scouse Of The Rising Sun, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(464 words, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

Nocturnal Animals, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber, Armie Hammer, Karl Glusman, Robert Aramayo, Laura Linney, Andrea Riseborough, Michael Sheen, India Menuez.

Nocturnal Animals, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T, Liverpool. full post

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

Lewis & Leigh, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It always with an interested eye on the crowd that you take in a new band appearing anywhere in the city of Liverpool, the occasional glance around at the faces, the small ticks and upturned smiles or the corresponding withering looks or confused, abandoned stares that places your trust in the gut feeling you have formed a belief in. It is with an acute ear though that makes up your mind and allows you to know that in many cases the music you hear is sincere, played with panache, a certain style and whilst it could be lost in the big wide space, it most certainly would go down a bomb and be applauded with great honour in avenue size down.

Lewis & Leigh, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. full post

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

A United Kingdom, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.CT., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike, Jack Davenport, Tom Felton, Nicholas Lyndhurst, Laura Carmichael, Jessica Oyelowo, Terri Pheto, Vusi Kunene, Arnold Oceng, Anastasia Hille, Charlotte Hope, Theo Landey, Jack Lowden, Zackary Momoh.

History is made by breaking rules, by defying Government and putting your love for someone above the expected doctrines of faceless mandarins and cowards who will not stand up to racism and prejudice, to intolerance, lies and hate. Love and honour is the catalyst that topples Government and empire and perhaps none more so in recent times than the love between Seretse Khama, the King in waiting of his homeland in Africa and Ruth Williams, the daughter of a former World War Two soldier and somebody who has been tainted by thought of what is supposedly right and proper when it comes to marriages of mixed heritage.

A United Kingdom, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.CT., Liverpool. full post

(417 words, estimated 1:40 mins reading time)

Paterson, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Adam Driver, Golshifteh Farahani, Chaston Harmon, William Jackson Harper, Barry Shabaka Henley, Johnnie Mae, Masatoshi Nagase.

There is only one thing worse than a poet without a voice, that their means of communication is destroyed by unseen hand and that is when they deny their craft in conversation to another poet, that their resolve or confidence is so low that they pretend or forget that they have spent time in the wordless void as they honed their verse.

Paterson, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

The Innocents, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Lou de Laâge, Agata Buzek, Agata Kulesza, Vincent Macaigne, Joanna Kulig, Eliza Rycembel, Katarzyna Dabrowska, Anna Próchniak, Helena Sujecka, Mira Maluszinska, Dorota Kuduk, Klara Bielawka, Pascal Elso, Thomas Coumans, Leon Latan-Paszek

Not every story from the despair of World War Two has been told, not every action and reaction has been explored; however The Innocents seeks to address part of that by showing a world far removed from Julie Andrews singing the joys of spring as she wanders the hillsides in Germany-annexed Austria. Not every story has been told but there are some that you cannot help but wonder how they stay hidden for so long and the barbarity of some actions live long in the shadow, the stain of humanity.

The Innocents, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool. full post

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

John Chatterton, Gig Review. The Casa, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

It is a question of illusion, do you listen to music or do you watch it, do you shut your eyes in the crowd and let each note transport you to another place, another realm, or do somehow diminish the sound you are hearing and take in visually as much as possible, letting your eyes be astonished by the speed, the delicate and the insanely beautiful. It is a question of illusion for in John Chatterton, you have to peel back the ears, let the eyes widen in anticipation and just sit there without an animated bone in the body and let life have its way with you, let it entertain and entrance for John Chatterton does things on a guitar that leave you breathless in their simplicity and amazed in their complex belief.

John Chatterton, Gig Review. The Casa, Liverpool. full post

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