Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Stick In The Wheel at the Music Rooms of the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Pursue the secrets of the inscription long enough and you will find hope, salvation of spirit, or if you are fortunate and the gods of the quest are with you, another adventure in which to delve straight into, to place your trust into the symbols, gestures and lyrical sense of groove in which the hardiest of explorers light and a candle, pull back the veil and shout from the heavens that it is a marvel to behold and that you should Follow Them True.
Whilst you should never follow anyone blindly, and without question, seeing passion, an attitude, of in between chat which makes you grin like the Cheshire’ Cat’s found the reason why chimney’s exist and a way to stop the Devil from crossing your door; witnessing a new phenomenon take place is always reason enough in which to watch your feet take heed of the sound and let your mind do the rest.
The weather in Liverpool the previous few days may not have been anywhere near as bad as the rest of the country, a peculiar sense of relief of not being snowed in and battered by the absolute perils of winter but it had certainly been cold; freezing the inhabitants of the city to a state of melancholia that is goes against the grain of the town’s fruitful cheeriness and sense of humour. In such states bands such London’s Stick In The Wheel come with fortune, the instant flowing of blood through the veins as the body warms to the sound they created inside the Philharmonic Music Room.
Folk has always been entertaining, has always had an underlying thread of beautiful anger strewn through it, like Lady Penelope stitching together a tale of calm irritation as she awaits her errant husband’s latest far-fetched story of why he is late from the Trojan War, anger is the passion and truth of the genre and even if the song is a handsome instrumental, it has to be steeped and find its roots in the bitterness and sublime, humorous and inspiring words of rage.
Follow them true the mystic signs on the album implore and as songs such as Common Ground, Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, Over Again, 100,000 Years, White Copper Alley, Cruel Ship’s Captain and Witch Bottle played out, as the depth of music and lyrics took hold, so too did the magic, the dance of the instruments and the excellent performance of the five on stage ring with genuine truth.
Every age deserves heroes that will carry the flag, for Stick In The Wheel, they are the bona fide reason to see that the fight is not lost, just beginning to get started.
Ian D. Hall