Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The laughter inside the Philharmonic Hall would have been bordering on the intense as Bill Bailey regaled his fans for the second night running, yet tucked away but as bold as anything inside the newly opened Music Room of the hallowed Philharmonic Hall, a different type of evening was taking place, one that flowed with a touch of the regal, the harmonious fusing of haunting vocals and instruments and all times the serenity of the Folk machine. With Bella Hardy in Liverpool for one night only there really was no comparison to be made; the sweet lingering voice of Ms. Hardy was always going to be the most captivating event to be fortunate to witness.

With the dawn, the cold light of any day, comes realisation and hope, it is in the darkness and the neon lights blazing away, the welcoming illumination that breaks up shadows, that such moments of profound beauty are formed and as Bella Hardy and her band, Tom Gibbs, Tim Lane, Ben Seal and the delightfully cool Anna Massie, walk upon the newly installed Music Rooms stage and proceed to delight and entertain a crowd that by the feel of the murmurs of appreciation, would have walked over hot coals and through fields of ice just to have heard the sweet tempting lullabies come gliding over them like a much loved blanket.

There was almost a tranquil feel, a composed sense of the calm that somehow had found its way through the doors and by-passed showing its ticket of entry and which settled down amongst the crowd, this was pure enjoyment establishing itself as part of the fixtures and fittings of the Music Room and as the two part evening strode into the night with confidence and the smile of the day parading with belief, songs such as Hatfield, a wonderful retort to musical male impersonator Vesta Tilley’s loaded war time recruitment song in Jolly Good Luck to the Girl Who Loves A Soldier, Lullaby for a Grieving Man, a sweet cover of Del Amitri’s Driving With The Breaks On, the excellent The Herring Girl and Light of the Morning all fanning their wares upon the comfortable sands of more than positive reception, that composed feel was enlarged and made wholesome by the end of the tremendously pleasurable evening.

There really are moments in which life offers you the tastiest of treats, the reins of the gratifying musical experience, to which makes you respect the delight to be found if you leave the house and venture into the dark, for in that dim and obscure journey comes light and it is one to bask in the glow of.

Bella Hardy is a true source of musical imagery, her lyrics powerful and she provides the perfect narrative escape through her songs, a genuinely superb night to be in her company.

Ian D. Hall