Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There should be no argument that Graham Gouldman is one of the most important and interesting songwriters in British music history; the facts speak for themselves when you look at the impressive array of songs he wrote for other bands as a very young man, talent so enlightening, so frighteningly superb, it is truly inspiring to know that the man on stage before you is responsible for some of the biggest selling records in pop history.

Yet it is in his work as part of the prestigious 10CC that marks the writer out and has the Philharmonic Hall audience, time and time again, showering affection, abandoning their seats in full and deserved applause as hits and classic songs such as The Dean and I, Feel The Benefit, The Things We Do For Love and Art For Art’s Sake crescendo around the hall’s auditorium. It is to 10CC that the night was honouring and whilst only Graham remains part of the scene, the memories of the other founding members of the group will always be part of the night, the original band line –up may not be together anymore but Eric Stewart, Lol Crème and Kevin Godley will always loom fantastically large.

These days 10CC could be looked upon as more than they might have been, an enduring sense of love is palpable for the band and especially for Mr. Gouldman, the look upon the faces of the audience always a testament to the proceedings, one of rapture, of stunned happiness and as Rick Fenn, Mick Wilson, Paul Burgess, Keith Hayman and Graham himself all stand tall and the respect to the crowd undaunted, tracks such as Good Morning Judge, The Wall Street Shuffle, Somewhere in Hollywood, I’m Not In Love, Life is A Minestrone and the outstanding Dreadlock Holiday all reverberate around the Philharmonic Hall as if Time too was proud of the band’s history, of the impact the four young men from the greater Manchester area offered to the world.

With a stunning visual provided by Kevin Godley for Somewhere in Hollywood, the thought of one day a reunion of all four members was always going to play out in the minds of some of the audience, a one night, a single song, even a bow to recognise and thank the band for what they gave to British music but then Time is peculiar, time goes on regardless and in 10CC, it is perhaps more than ever about the music itself, that it is all about the love and respect and in this line up before the Philharmonic audience, that respect was full and sincere.

An astonishing evening of music by one of the great bands of the last fifty years, arguably the finest the Philharmonic Hall and the Liverpool crowd had been privy to.

Ian D. Hall