Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

A whirlwind of emotions arrives and diverge, divide and multiply at this time of year, we become engaged in the scope of the sentiments passed to us by total strangers and react in kind to the misplaced smile or the sorrowful tear we see on the street. We hope for peace, we yearn for the sound of harmony and reconciliation, of goodwill and the knowledge that come the spring, once we are out Beyond The End of winter the sun will shine on us favourably and with honour.

Ed Harcourt’s music has always made life stimulating, every new album has been played with a huge amount of thought-provoking attachment to it, the poetry within the songs always leaving the writers banging their heads as they try to figure out the genuine powers of observation and realm of imagination that has been granted to one man, one musician, it is a single handed testament to the creativity that lives and loves that he will perform across different instruments and create a sound that would not be out of place in respected orchestra.

It is that great voice of instruments, the marrying together of the piano, the full appreciation of the three musicians beside him and the full effect of the visuals, the films that underscore the instrumental narrative in the first half of the show that show the due consideration for what Ed Harcourt has brought to the attention of his audience ever since his first album release in June 2001.

Seventeen years may have passed since Here Be Monsters sought the light of day, so much water has rushed and tumbled under uncountable series of bridges, and yet that regard for symbolism and perfection still holds true, an ambassador of the art, a composer to whom a single piano note holds a thousand tales, it was in those tales unleased that his fans in Liverpool were treated to the whole of his latest album, Beyond The End and a second set of old favourites and melancholy wonders.

Across pieces such as Wolves Change Rovers, Duets for Ghosts, the beautiful Empress of the Lake, Faded Photographs and the twin companions of For My Father and For My Mother, the first half was seismic in approach and presentation; and with a second half that consisted of such poetic structure in Loup Garou, the incredible God Protect Your Soul, Those Crimson Tears, You Give Me More Than Love, Hey Lil’ Bruiser, Rain on the Pretty Ones and the storming Apple of my Eye, Ed Harcourt stole the night with just a blink of his eye and the deftness of touch across the dance provided by the piano and the sway of the violin and cello strings.

There is always a lot going on in Liverpool, so much to hold the attention of the public, but for those that were in the Capstone Theatre as December introduced itself once more to the city, Ed Harcourt provided a scene of much needed beauty, of startling grandness, and it is one that was enjoyed fully.

Ian D. Hall