Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To perform in Liverpool should be a nothing less than an honour. It is the rightful home of the birth of British Pop Music, the most successful city in the U.K. where music is concerned and in many way it is home to perhaps the most diverse variety, with even the glimmering of the heavier side of Metal and the coolness of Progressive Rock having its fans in the Merseyside areas surrounding the heartlands of venues such as The Cavern, Parr Street, The Academy, District, The Lomax, The Brink and The Epstein. To perform in Liverpool should be an honour, to watch Joe Symes and Loving Kind is a special kind of privilege.

The audience at District had already had the musical equivalent of a sledgehammer thrown at their ears, the welcome distraction of two support acts who shoved their faces into the crowd’s vision and gave an early indication of the seismic shift that could come Liverpool’s way in the months and the years ahead, and despite succumbing to the icy blast of cold and the seasonal fixture of cough after lung battering cough, Joe Symes, Colin White, Paul Hetherington and Chris Giblin strode onto the stage like beefed up prize-fighters daring all to taking them down. This is Joe Symes and the Loving Kind though, this is a music export that does many things right and two of them are never underestimate the crowd and to give the greatest of performances; no matter the situation.

Tracks such as the openers Calling Out To You and Long Black Funeral Cars, the very cool new single out in the New Year, Things Get Better, the satirical nudge of personal humour and the spit in the eye for the gossip mongers in It’s All Make Believe and Blame It On Yourself were given a good airing and the crowd were visibly, as is their right, enjoying themselves in the melee of guitar brutality and softly sang lyric.

In all the time Joe Symes and the Loving Kind have been going, this was possibly drummer Colin White’s greatest live performance in his own city. This was exemplified by the infectious timing of the final song on the night, the superb Fallen Down, being somehow turned into a living memorial to The Doors. For such a great song to suddenly morph and shift into something completely unexpected musical wise was like your heart suddenly expanding and the air around you becoming sweet and fulfilling. This infectious groove held sway throughout and whilst it may never happen again, the memory of one incredible moment in time when the imagery was so overwhelming will arguably haunt the thoughts of those in attendance at District.

There are some groups and artists in Liverpool that for seeing them live even once a year is to fall in love, to see them a couple of times is to question anything else that may come along, to see Joe Symes and the Loving Kind is to enjoy life. Despite the cold and damp in the air that is hanging round Liverpool like an old rag that has been in the sink bowl for a couple of weeks, the clawing, cloying taste of a year decomposing before the citizens eyes, Joe Symes and the Loving Kind affirmed their position as firm Liverpool favourites on a night that will be remembered for the very best of musical experiences.

Ian D. Hall