Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Anthony D’ Amato at the Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. November 2017. Photograph used with kind permission by David Munn Photography.

Even today in the ease of travelling across oceans and different time zones, there is something distinctly admirable about letting go of the comfortable and the secure and opening yourself up to the possibility of the unknown and possibly uncharted. To leave one’s home town behind, to venture into the space between love and acceptance is a challenge, no matter how old, no matter how experienced; it is still one that marks you out as having the chops to spread your word far and wide.

Anthony D’ Amato has reasons to travel, to play his music to a world audience, it is in the softness of the voice and the sentiment in the lyrics, honed on the East coast of America, the streets of the lower East side and the spread of the New Jersey coastline. There is a palpable message that comes through, observation of a person who has seen the world and its people as they congregate outside of his window and to whom embracing the differences are precious. It is a difference the artist should always be willing to make and one that Anthony D’ Amato truly espouses.

As support to Ricky Ross, the Capstone held a healthy, almost loving vibe in which to be introduced to the people of Liverpool, a city that always gives the artist the chance, which is virtually respectful to something new. It was an atmosphere that Mr. D’ Amato relished and the songs highlighted in the set stood up and were counted and enjoyed by the crowd.

The songs, Was A Time, Good and Ready, Golden Gloves, Honey That’s Not All, Ludlow and the Ballad of the Undecided, were complimentary to the evening ahead, they praised and they cajoled, the feeling of the lower East side of New York city flooding the thoughts of those not fortunate enough to have sampled that part of the world.

To travel and spread your own philosophy, your own agreed stance is to harness a kind of perpetual energy, one that enlightens and saturates the heart of those keen to taste the new; it was a taste that was greatly appreciated by the audience of the Capstone Theatre.

Ian D. Hall