Tag Archives: Liverpool

Charlie McKeon, Gig Review. Strings And Things. Studio 2, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There is a certain gentleness, a confident kind of whimsical appreciation to be found in watching Charlie McKeon as he settles into what could have been a solemn affair slot at Strings and Things’ August session. It is a gentleness though that carries great weight, a simmering tension that underlines the depth of feeling that can be witnessed between one person and their chosen musical instrument and the songs that somehow beat and throb with the heart filled with unusual courage. It is a sign of wonder and aural beauty that has to be heard to be understood and loved.

Charlie McKeon, Gig Review. Strings And Things. Studio 2, Liverpool. full post

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

Against The Sky, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The year seems to be slowly ebbing away, the nights are getting darker and the absurdity of such inclement weather for the time of year is enough to install a sense of deprivation and foreboding for the winter ahead.

What Liverpool has though is the means to generate heat, warmth and an overpowering urge to shake off the blues as easily as making sure that Westminster undesirables are never able to find their way past the Mersey. That heat, that serious endeavour to keep new music coming through the ranks and the venues of the home of culture is what keeps the smiles on the faces across all sections and genres of music lovers in the city.

Against The Sky, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(341 words, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

Skylights, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are moments you feel for a band, when the Gods distract the flow and even the tiniest interruption could make or break the moment of absolute clarity. Bands of immense stature have suffered it and some have even folded under the pressure on the day, the music never really capturing the intensity that came before it. Yet in amongst the darkness of perhaps seen negativity an illumination can appear and what follows is just as hard core, just as enjoyable to watch as before the mishap on stage occurs.

Skylights, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(353 words, estimated 1:25 mins reading time)

The Also Known As, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Everyone has a story to tell, to impart perhaps for the betterment or understanding of humanity’s place in the world and the ways that even the softest voice can change someone’s idea of what it means to achieve something extraordinary.

July may have ended on a bigger whimper than a child being offered a milkshake, fries and a juicy burger if it kept quiet all day, only to find that the parents had actually meant boiled cabbage and carrot water but in terms of young local bands finding their first steps into the creative, sometimes harsh but always nurturing, aspect of Liverpool music, July had been a God-send and as the month breathed its last The Zanzibar Club gave one more surprise in the collaboration series as The Also Known As played with minimum fuss and cool stance upon their stage.

The Also Known As, Gig Review. Zanzibar, Liverpool. full post

(386 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

The Fuck, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Cast: Liam Murphy, Gerard McLaughlin

The pick-up, the slow manoeuvring of time and physical introduction as two sets of eyes meet is a story the world over, sometimes though the need for something beyond the carefree social abandon takes the requirements of dating out of the hands of the participants and into the realm of the arena. Not so much making love on the first date but the greeting of a Spanish crowd to their hero decked in national regalia and the snorting, steam driven worship of a single moment in which The Fuck is all but consuming.

The Fuck, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(374 words, estimated 1:30 mins reading time)

Bye, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Nic Hardman, Mary Jayne, James Bray.

It has perhaps arguably long been a topic of conversation between people who find the subject of other people’s love lives and sexual experiences a thrilling and endless game to while away the time, on just how can a person fancy or fall in love with a two people from the opposite genders; the sniggering and the elbow nudging a distraction and deflection to the point which is that human beings are animals and attraction is not based solely on which side of the cup you like to drink out of at all times. For some it even comes down to a choice between friends and which one they may have to say Bye to when the fall out of choice rears its ugly head.

Bye, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Mates Rates, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Rachel McKweon, James Wray, Gareth Cobham, Richard Carlin.

Break ups are never easy, they don’t actually even just entail the two people going through the process, family aside, it effects a wide circle of friends and close personal attachments to the point where some people breaking up demand that you take sides in a fit of ownership. Whilst others feel as though they have no choice but to make a complete break of the whole situation; to the point where starting with nothing is preferable to looks of disappointment and heartbreak.

Mates Rates, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Pulse, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Paul Pope, Andie Egan Jr., David Allen.

The spirit and ethos Grin Theatre’s much talked about Queertet production of four short plays can be seen in this year’s opening production; that of John Maines’ Pulse. The spirit that lives in the Liverpool LGBT community, the feeling of acceptance and recognition is highlighted by the fun and the outrageous, the touch of the mystery and the overall entertaining that plays such as Pulse provide.

Pulse, Theatre Review. Queertet, Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

True Story, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Jonah Hill, James Franco, Felicity Jones, Maria Dizzia, Ethan Suplee, Conor Kikot, Charlotte Driscoll, Stella Rae Payne, Robert John Burke, Byron Jennings, Betty Gilpin, Seth Barrish, Robert Stanton, Michael Countryman, Steve Routman, Genevieve Angelson, Adam Mucci, David Wilson Barnes, William Jackson Harper, Sam Rosen, David Pittu, Auden Thornton, Edward James Hyland, Mara Hobel, Ngo Okafor, Maryann Plunket.

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

(565 words, estimated 2:16 mins reading time)

Rosanne Cash, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Rosanne Cash, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall. July 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The sound of a thousand silent pins dropping onto the patterned listed carpet could not have distracted the audience inside the Philharmonic Hall as the sight of time playing one of the cards in which memories are made and connections through history are enhanced.

Even the added sizzle of excitement that was seized upon by the elusive beast that Time runs with could not have wished for more as the Cash family legacy walked on stage inside the Philharmonic Hall and the time played tricks with loving affection on the audience.

Rosanne Cash, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(546 words, 1 image, estimated 2:11 mins reading time)