Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Most people when they come back from a trip abroad take it easy for a couple of days, the possible jet lag alone enough to make the thought of entertaining a vocally enjoyable crowd make some turn their back on the day and lay down in a darkened room. Not for Kevin Critchley though, if there is such a thing as having another wind, then this young man must have stored them up and let them infuse his body to the point of dynamic delivery.

It’s always a pleasure to have the full band experience on stage when watching Kevin Critchley tear the day and the air surrounding his guitar to shreds, it is a pleasure that just keeps giving, that not only is captivating to watch but drags the spirit along at such a pace of knots that where exhaustion might be expected, instead the urge to keep going is deeply installed into the crowd’s thoughts.

Fresh off a short holiday and surrounded by Rachel Allen, Wei Ping Wee, Alex Williams, Graham Runeckles and Kevin Carlton Jones, Kevin Critchley took the audience along for a tremendous ride with the songs Ghosts, Whisper Your Name, Brother, Masks, the superb and darkly cool Saboteur and the set closer of Stand Together and the frenetic pace never once abated. It was a velocity of spirit that even the great Usain Bolt would have struggled to match, his famous stride faltering against the speed of guitar and the elegance of drums, keyboards, and bass and flowing noir like lyrics.

If this is what a break of any kind to do to the soul then it should be advised upon the N.H.S., it should be offered willingly to all, across every community and nation, that to play in life, to learn and to be taught how to relax and thrill a crowd is just as important as the ruination of life caused by unrelenting pressure.

For Kevin Critchley and the band this was, as always, a triumph of personality, will and endeavour, the music that filled District was abundant and special, frenetic and furiously cool, you really cannot ask for much more in life.

Ian D. Hall