Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Judging by the reaction of the assembled audience inside Studio 2 on Parr Street, Jimmy and The Revolvers had perhaps just given the performance of their lives.
The noise that exploded with the force of a Wembley crowd full of Everton and Liverpool fans for the F.A. Cup Final, seemed to rock the foundations of the much admired venue and it should be said with total justification. For just a few weeks after being a highlight of day of music in St. Luke’s Church with a truly superb acoustic set, the full force of their talent bounded across the stage like a fighting kangaroo in full flight, nothing was going to stop this particular gig being something in which years to come will have people saying they were there. Like the near four million people who somehow struggled into the Manchester Free Trade Hall to see the Sex Pistols perform, Studio 2 will have somehow morphed in size to Tardis proportions when people look wistfully to the past of Liverpool live music.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise though, for Jimmy and The Revolvers really exemplify the talent that resides in the city of Liverpool and their infectious harmonies, delivered with a smile in the voice, just catch the right tone in any gig they are part of the bill for.
No matter how many times you have watched them, one thing stands out above all, one huge plus in which no other young band at all arguably has, and that is the defining link between the music of the 21st Century and the Golden Age of Merseyside music, they are the long lost off spring of the great Gerry Marsden. Like the beautiful smile that accompanies Mr. Marsden whenever he appears on stage, the smile at the heart of the songs of this fine band are what drives the crowd wild.
With their set list including songs such as Little Black Book, Come Along, the fantastic The Weatherman, the outstanding You’re Not Alone and the latest single Whistle For My Love, this tremendous band laid down a new thought, that music has never seemed more relevant in holding back the fear, the dismay and sorrow in which many are too keen to drag others down through. Pessimism, cynicism and suspicion are admirable when it comes to directing anger at the Westminster Empire but the joy of music should be seen as a chance in which to revel, even if just for a short while and no matter the subject matter.
The notion that Jimmy and The Revolvers have hit a personal high should not be a hindrance to them getting even better, for like many other bands in the area that just ask with politeness for the chance to thrill an audience, time is there to become something more, something celebrated and nurtured.
Ian D. Hall