Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
In some respects Al Capone may have had the greatest of intentions, albeit ultimately flawed and with murderous, evil intent, that to stage a massacre on Valentine’s Day would be remembered in the headlines of the papers of Chicago and further afield forever. However in the scheme of things and perhaps arguably with more noble and cherished intentions, the day does belong to those who make the most of the moving and special quality that a card and a prohibition gun can’t quite cut through.
For Paul Wilkes and his Valentine’s Day musicians, the audience at the Zanzibar for the usual Saturday night offering of top unsung heroes of the 21st Century Liverpool music scene were treated to something a bit different perhaps to what they were expecting, but still filled with the genuine and authorative distinction that Paul Wilkes brings to his music.
No matter your thoughts on a day in which really should never be concerned with love if you can’t say it every day or at least not fall into the commercial trappings of balloons that slowly deflate and flowers that should be left in the ground to be appreciated by all, to watch Paul Wilkes perform and sing with a delicate appreciation in his voice is to understand that music is one of the greatest of all aphrodisiacs, arguably only succeeded by the delivery of a well penned poem.
In a set that comprised of songs such as the gracious Falling Back in Love, Lonely Eyes, the brutally touching Alive With You, We Can’t Go On Like This and the superb The Change Is Going To Come, Paul Wilkes delivered heartfelt emotion, beautifully crafted songs and all with a surprising deftness of the enchanting.
The stature of the performer who can change his style for one evening, who can play with an audience’s heart, not only in taking them far from where they were expecting to be, but also by placing them somewhere unexpectedly serene and in which they outwardly enjoyed, is to be applauded and it while Al Capone will forever have the black mark of newspaper headlines live long in the memory, the four walls of the Zanzibar will forever have one of the most touching of sets played in Liverpool wrapped safely in its heart.
A tremendous set delivered by a genuinely talented wordsmith.
Ian D. Hall