Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Steve Hill on stage. Photograph by Eric Duvet.
It is one thing to listen to Canada’s Steve Hill via the medium in which he strides, to be thrilled by the sound that comes across as you sit down with headphones in place, the senses tingling at the image in the mind of a musician taking the mantle of the one-man band to its absolute height of sincerity and fascination. It is quite another to witness it in action, to see the Blues played with deftness and spirit, the smile and the stare in your mind as the notes ring out in the praise of the genre.
Imagine only hearing the dialogue of The African Queen, smelling the aroma of a rose freshly picked and placed underneath your nose, the taste of your favourite food or the fleeting impression of a kiss from the one person to whom your life’s desire has always craved; none of these is complete without being able to see with your own eyes, all of these moments are great on their own, the fulfil a need in us to experience, but sometimes, should you be able to, the seeing of greatness is the belief that it exists.
Criss-crossing the nation in support to both King King and Danny Bryant, Steve Hill’s second visit to the U.K. looks as though it is going to be a truly memorable one. Working alongside two of the modern greats of the genre might leave some feeling exposed, to be seen retreating on stage and not allowing themselves to feel the freedom that the night expectantly awaits.
Not so for Steve Hill, Canada might be a country of expanse, of a population that straddles and hugs for the most part the line in the sand that the United States of America provides with its border, but for the crowd at the St. Helens Citadel, the Blues officiandos of the North West, this was no place in which getting lost in the dense forests of the mind was to be ventured, this was the position in which to be incredible, to blow minds, and one on which Steve Hill duly delivered, drum stick on neck of the guitar, surrounded by the Blues sound deliverance.
With songs taken from his latest album and the wonderful volumes of music already created, including Go On, The Ballad of Johnny Wabo, The Conductor, Never Is Such A Long Time, Dangerous and Hate To See You Go, Steve Hill’s Canadian pulse never relented, the passion struck out and took no prisoners. This was a kind of physical beauty that is rarely witnessed, that the expertise of one human being can control so much around them and have an audience entranced, the Blues officiandos given pleasure, the onlookers smiling at the dynamic; this was a Canadian adventure worth exploring and as that sense of sight was enhanced by the sight of this one-man band, suddenly the world become just that little more wonderful.
An exceptional night, music and theatre of the highest order!
Ian D. Hall