Tag Archives: Liverpool

Holly Johnson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Holly Johnson at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. June 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

As part of the resurgent Liverpool sound of the 1980s, a sound that seemed a world away from the one that had been the household name in music appreciation by the previous generation up and down the country, Holly Johnson’s name is still revered by many in the city. Despite the feeling of apprehension, the touch of anxiety that emanated from both sides of the stage, what followed was quite possibly the sensation of a huge thrill being administered to the Philharmonic audience as the former Frankie Goes to Hollywood lead vocalist delivered a polished and impressionable set.

Holly Johnson, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(569 words, 1 image, estimated 2:17 mins reading time)

On Charity, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Alice Colquhoun, Dora Colquhoun, Izzie Major.

Guilt is something we should all feel when it comes to realising the further we go in life, the more we perhaps get on in the world, there will always be that despairing inevitability that others, through no fault of their own, will get left behind. Yet that guilt, that sense of responsibility we should feel towards each other as members of the same species is somehow jaded, lost and confused with the idea that giving your time to help another person is somehow to be rewarded and compensated with the freedom to brag and make light of it.

On Charity, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(458 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

The Producers, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Corey English, Jason Manford, Ross Noble, David Bedalla, Tiffany Graves, Stephane Anelli, Abigail Brodie, Jaye Elster, Rebecca Fennelly, Olivia Fines, Andrew Gordon-Watkins, Aimee Hoonett, Paul Hutton, Nia Jermin, Marjorie McAvoy, Joel Montague, Genevieve Nicole, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Jay Webb, Russell Wilcox, Aron Wild.

Satire isn’t dead, despite the stamp of modern life and politics trying its upmost to make it the saintly reserve of those who don’t get the joke, it lives hard and fast, it just takes the right mix of intelligent crowd and knowing performer in which to bring it out fully so that it can breathe and stir more than laughter out of the brain.

The Producers, Theatre Review. Empire Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

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

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Cast: Jean Dujardin, Gilles Lellouche, Céline Sallette, Mélanie Doutey, Guillaume Gouix, Benoît Magimel, Bruno Todeschini, Moussa Maaskri, Féodor Atkine, Pierre Lopez, Éric Collado, Cyril Lecomte, Jean-Pierre Sanchez, Georges Neri.

The dark side of humanity’s consumption and need for stimulus has arguably always been close to cinema’s heart. From the days of early film to the golden age of the art form in which the Noir became king and through to the 1970s when humanity was under the pressure of unease and the drug culture became more apparent as Heroin became the narcotic choice, cinema has always reflected this darkness and given stark warning to the after effects of such crimes and punishments.

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

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

Danny Collins, Film Review. Picturehouse@F.A.C.T., Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Al Pacino, Annette Bening, Bobby Cannavale, Christopher Plummer, Jennifer Garner, Josh Peck, Melissa Benoist, Nick Offerman, Aarti Mann, Katrina Cas, Anne McDaniels, Brian Smith, Eric Lange, Giselle Eisenberg, Michael Patrick McGill, Scott Lawrence, Eric Michael Roy.

Every actor has one film in them which the plaudits and the cinema goer attaches great stock and faith in, some have more than one. For Al Pacino, they seem to have come with never ending force and for even those who might not see the appeal of his film career over say Robert de Niro or Jack Nicholson, they have to concede that the man is adored the world over.

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

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

Indomador: Animal Religion, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Physical Fest, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Quim Giron

Humanity’s relationship with the animal kingdom has often been questioned many times since we, as species, first took to the practice of farming. By rearing these animals as a food source then breeding, studying and at times corrupting the very nature of that relationship by using science in the laboratory, that association has become one of dominance and at times sheer brutality. It is that hybrid dance between human and animal which makes for great physical theatre and at times the sense of the uncomfortable at this year’s Physical Fest at the Unity Theatre in Indomador: Animal Religion.

Indomador: Animal Religion, Theatre Review. Unity Theatre, Physical Fest, Liverpool. full post

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

Don McLean, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Don McLean at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool, May 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Living legends, the serious list of those steeped in folklore and certain amounts of musical mythology, gets smaller and reduces in size every year. It is the way of things that for the generations past the heroes they grew up with, that they hummed alongside and perhaps even learned to play in some honorary fashion some of the gentle chords that turned them on to life, will all pass into the great gig in the sky and leave a huge musician sized hole in their wake.

Don McLean, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(612 words, 1 image, estimated 2:27 mins reading time)

Night Collar, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Jake Abrahams, Eithne Browne, Suzanne Collins, Michael Ledwich, Alan Stocks, Lenny Wood.

Confession and revelation is not confined to the unburdening of souls in the wooden box that adorns many a church, the simple act of sticking a paw out for a taxi when time, tide and the day is against you is perhaps arguably a more sincere way of getting the troubles of the soul purged, for the taxi driver hears all, sees all and unless you happen to become the topic of conversation which revolves around the words, “You’ll never guess who I had in the back of my cab last week”, then your secret torment, bad relationship, money troubles, who you would like to see bumped off, what you think of the council, all are kept secret.

Night Collar, Theatre Review. Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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

Chelsey Chambers, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Chelsey Chambers at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. May 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

To be invited to open up a gig before a legend of American music must either be a dream come true or a millstone in which heads droop in realisation of the enormity of what has been agreed to. Either way, the only true course of action is to stand up and be counted, shoulders back, guitar primed and let the music flow out of you as if it is the most natural thing in the world to do.

Chelsey Chambers, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(438 words, 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Next Door But One, Theatre Review. Cornerstone Theatre, Liverpool.

Rob Kavanagh, part of Next Door But One. Photograph by Roisin Fletcher.

Rob Kavanagh, part of Tell Tale Theatre’s Next Door But One. Photograph by Roisin Fletcher.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Cast: Rob Kavanagh, Paula Stewart, Shaun Roberts, Dan Edwards, Stui Dagnall, Tom Nevitt, Alex Clark, Kevin Foot-Stephens, Christine Heaney, Leanne Jones, Laura Hall, Sara O’ Connor, Bradley Thompson, Donna Ray-Coleman.

It has become a sign of the times that as a society we are more likely to know what is happening on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean in some stranger’s lives as we use social media to keep up with a celebratory who is in fashion then truly to get to grips with those to whom in the case of accident would be naturally first on the scene, the next door neighbour or the person across the road.

Next Door But One, Theatre Review. Cornerstone Theatre, Liverpool. full post

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