Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Close your eyes and think for a minute of one of the men and women who exemplifies the whole Liverpool sound, the charm and the no-nonsense, the humour and the artistic vision all wrapped up in lyrics that make you both beam with pride and raise a fist in solidarity alongside. The sound you hear is one that you might not have heard for a while, the tone of voice still sweet, the manner of the anger and resentment to some still intense and charismatic and the utter magnetism of the performer is such that daring to take a peek through gripped and straining fingers becomes too much. For it is true Pete Wylie, the man who has a street map of his home city indelibly stamped into the very fabric of his D.N.A., is back thrilling audiences once more.

After watching his daughter Mersey perform her debut performance as a star in the making, Pete Wylie stepped out infront of a playfully ravenous audience inside the Zanzibar Club and if there was a single person who wasn’t close to a tear or two by the end of the night then they as well may have been on the end of one of Mr. Wylie’s exceptional scornful moments. For what is music if there is no soul attached to it and like many of his cohorts that made up the second great wave of Liverpool music, Pete Wylie has enough soul, enough passion within him to shore up the faltering divide that has been superimposed on those who like their music clean cut and packaged to appeal to the brigade who perhaps but their music on the say so of the greatest mass marketing shows known to humanity and those that live in the sweat and tears and often good times of performers who have lived, honestly lived.

With Mersey Wylie and the great Tom Carroll accompanying Pete on stage, if anybody dared speak above a respectful murmur of appreciation or natural muted deprecation during this sort of home coming set then those watchful eyes, the ones that emanate from the depths of scorn, would have surely cut them down quicker than Darth Vader discussing the finer points of swordsmanship with a Jedi Knight or a thankful gravedigger laying the body of a former Prime Minister under 100 tonnes of concrete.

This was not a gig to miss, in the truest sense. Mr. Wylie has touched the heart of so many with his opinions and thoughts but to actually catch him live is rare honour and as Tom Carroll played guitar alongside him and the wonderful Mersey Wylie looked upon with admiration, after gaining many new admirers herself, Pete played tracks as if the young legend had appeared on stage. A few years may have passed, some in the audience will certainly have thought the day would never come when they can tell their own children they saw the magician play but without the beautiful sense of irony that stalks us all, the playing of the opening track of the night said it all, Come Back…, and he had.

With songs such as Better Scream, the gorgeous Sinful, Sing All The Saddest Songs, the sadly topical Seven Minutes To Midnight, a cracking new track in the shape of All In This Together, Story of the Blues and Story of the Blues Part 2, Talkin’ Blues, Pete Wylie proved yet again he had a heart as big as anyone’s and certainly a heart matching the intensity of city refusing to ever give in.

For sheer force of will and deep passion you won’t find many gigs better than this one at the Zanzibar this year, a hero’s return? Of course!

Ian D. Hall