Ste Reid of The Mono Lps at St. Lukes Chuch, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Liverpool called out, giants strode the roads and alleys as if they had appeared out of a C.S. Lewis manuscript and inside St. Luke’s Church another set of giants, ones not controlled by puppetry, man nor machine took to stage and showed once more just why they are such an exciting, tremendously warm and energetic band to watch live.

Liverpool called; The Mono LP’s answered and made history as the first and only band to appear on both days of Liverpool Calling inside the Bombed Out Church. The gravitas and solemnity that emanates outwards, so tangible you can feel the rawness of the past hit you as you come from every possible angle as you remember what St. Luke’s represents is intensified when music, that equally raw emotion to remembrance also hits you right between the eyes.

Liverpool’s commander of the bow, Vicky Mutch, represents the very best of what to expect when listening to the Mono LPs and alongside her are three men who just astound an audience with sheer capacity of verve each time they perform. Not least Ste Reid who can stand in front of an audience and have them eating out of the palm of his hands with a wink, a cheery smile and a guitar solo so outrageous that it makes the head spin so quickly that at times you wonder if its smoke coming off the strings of Ms. Mutch’s cello, Ste Reid’s guitar, Chris Barlow’s bass, Daniel Beech’s drum skins or if it’s the scales falling from the eyes as you realise you have been desperately searching for a band like this all your life.

Liverpool called; The Mono LPs responded with tracks such as Watch The Games We Play, the fantastic Look At Those Legs, Die A Little Death, Giving It Up, I Don’t Love You and the positively brilliant You Make Me Sick. It is a bizarre quirk, usually reserved in the realm of film and cinema, that you can watch The Mono LPs and notice something about their performance in which you had completely overlooked before. From the heroic, almost gallant like stance in which Ste Reid shoulders authority, to Chris Barlow playing like a seasoned veteran despite his young years to the utter compelling nature of Daniel Beech’s precision like timing on the drums, all come to clap you on the back and invite you just that little further in to being dominated by the sound the band produce.

With a long awaited C.D. ready to be listened to, the hour is surely at hand to suggest that Vicky, Ste, Chris and Daniel take their rightful place, alongside some incredibly noted young bands in Liverpool and start the next phase of Merseyside’s musical domination.  A class act!

Ian D. Hall