Tag Archives: The Crossing

Ian McNabb And Cold Shoulder, Gig Review. The Crossing, South And City College, Birmingham.

Ian McNabb, Birmingham 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When worlds collide…the sound of an audience seemingly made of people from all over the Midlands’ city centre and its outlying areas such as Kings Heath, Selly Park, Edgbaston and Harbourne, their distinctive and homely twang ringing out inside the hall of the South Birmingham College called The Crossing declaring with an assuredness that you would only expect to hear in the venues of his home town that there is only one Ian McNabb, worlds don’t just collide become a brilliant hybrid of Birmingham audiences natural love of rock and the pure music devotion and Scouse allegiance that Ian McNabb brings to every show.

Ian McNabb And Cold Shoulder, Gig Review. The Crossing, South And City College, Birmingham. full post

(523 words, 1 image, estimated 2:06 mins reading time)

Dominic Crane, Gig Review. The Crossing, South And City College, Birmingham.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

For anybody growing up in Birmingham in the 1960s, 70s and 80s and who moved away, coming back to the city only on the odd occasion is almost like visiting an alien world, a world that has changed beyond recognition in the days when the old Bull Ring Market dominated the skyline, when records were bought in handy shaped brown bags containing 10 singles for a pound, even if you didn’t know what you were getting till you unwrapped them like some weird and sometimes fruitful version of Pass The Parcel, and where walking down Digbeth High Street and up towards Deritend only meant that you were running the gauntlet of watching Trevor Francis or Alan Curbishly play at St. Andrews or you were on your way to take in some music at the Old Institute or The Dubliner.

Dominic Crane, Gig Review. The Crossing, South And City College, Birmingham. full post

(639 words, estimated 2:33 mins reading time)

Big Country, The Crossing. 30th Anniversary Edition. Album Review.

Originally published by L.S. Media. February 7th 2012.

L.S. Media Rating ****

Looking back at an album’s life can be unnerving. It reminds you of where you and what you were doing when you became conscious of the first notes of a debut record by a new and extraordinary fresh band. The time on the albums credits are indication to the passing of your own life, the mortality that’s attached to your love of the record. You treasured the time together, you poured out your own soul and fears whilst listening to the poetry and distinctive music of someone else.

Big Country, The Crossing. 30th Anniversary Edition. Album Review. full post

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