Category Archives: Live

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. (2018).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Danny Bryant and band, with special guest Steve Hill, at The Citadel in St. Helens. Photograph taken and used with kind permission by Kirby Bryant.

They say, even in the brightest of days, in the most serene and beautiful of times, that someday, the rain will come; it is how you deal with the odd shower, the deluge, the emotions of seeing the water rise and threaten, and then the utter relief, the liberation in being able to able to reinforce the desire but at the same time holding onto the thoughts of honour before the days of rain.

Danny Bryant, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. (2018). full post

(496 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Steve Hill, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens.

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.

Steve Hill, Gig Review. The Citadel, St. Helens. full post

(521 words, 1 image, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Villy Raze, Gig Review. Craft Taproom, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

A festival isn’t a festival unless you have Villy Raze somewhere in the vicinity, the marked poetic aggression, the sincerity of overthrowing the often deemed conventional, but one that is delivered with respect and the smile of a thousand Irish heartbeats making music in unison, no matter the place or venue, it has always been a pleasure to catch the live performance of this genial giant of music in full throw.

Villy Raze, Gig Review. Craft Taproom, Liverpool. full post

(430 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

The Waterboys, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2018).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Anniversaries are special, they remind us just how far we have come in the search for ourselves and our time at the helm of our own personal blues, our backdrop of the fiddle pulsating away between the lyrics of the song we sing, as we take a pen to the wall and cross off yet another year, another celebration in the pursuit of an added dream. We cross off the years and then we look back, we survey the happiness and sometimes sour and we revel in them, for it is in the life we live that makes the anniversary special.

The Waterboys, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2018). full post

(430 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

I, The Lion. Gig Review. Craft Taproom, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There in the deep heart of England’s countryside town of Cheltenham, a place that holds secrets and listens in to the chatter, gossip and state sponsored espionage, a town surrounded by the thought of the country’s green and pleasant land, is the roar of the unexpected, of the disquiet and arguably unrest against the rule of tyranny dressed in shining suits and old school money; there is bellow calling out in this heart land of conservatism and rigid social structure and one that has I, The Lion as the leader of this surprising, but ultimately welcome, fight back against pre-conceived ideas and demanding social inequality.

I, The Lion. Gig Review. Craft Taproom, Liverpool. full post

(487 words, estimated 1:57 mins reading time)

Nickelback, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. (2018).

 

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We all cannot be rock stars, we all can not all be heroes to the world, yet we do something that is heroic and takes real guts and determination, it can be a rock star choice, we can stop the hate, not just on certain genres but on people too, countries, individuals, we can bring an end to the practise of self proclaimed abhorrence to that which we either don’t understand or which we confess to never listening to in the first place.

Nickelback, Gig Review. Echo Arena, Liverpool. (2018). full post

(478 words, estimated 1:55 mins reading time)

Memory Girl, Gig Review. Craft Taproom, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Embrace the change of revolution, the quake of personal transformation, for if you look closely under the skin, what you find is not conversion but innovation, an advancement in the original and yet one with all the attributes, positivity and panache that first came along and made you sit up and take notice of the uniqueness in the initial meeting.

It is to one of the much loved performers that has lit up the Liverpool scene in the last decade, Natalie McCool, that innovation, change, revolution has come along and gone on to prove that form is always temporary, and that class is permanent.

Memory Girl, Gig Review. Craft Taproom, Liverpool. full post

(453 words, estimated 1:49 mins reading time)

Dean Friedman, Gig Review. Capstone Theatre, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are some people on this planet to whom the gift of a smile in their direction is not enough to display the gratitude we owe them for making us happy, for giving us a gift of happiness that can never be fully repaid; some artists, family and friends deserve the longest of hugs and the full appreciation of a room of warm and loving applause, some will never perhaps know just how the simple act of a single song written means the world to thousands.

Dean Friedman, Gig Review. Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. full post

(448 words, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

Liza Pulman Sings Streisand, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

“A little bit of Babs, a whole lot of brass”, is how Liza Pulman cheekily described the evening, the sparkle in her eyes giving the game away from the very start and the polished brass of The Brighouse and Rastrick Band giving the evening the absolute beauty that an appreciation of Barbra Streisand deserved.

Liza Pulman Sings Streisand, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(423 words, estimated 1:42 mins reading time)

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hogarth of Marillion, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, April 2018. Photograph used with the kind permission of Gordon Fleming.

It has been a long time since Marillion stepped over the Merseyside border, that near international boundary that separates the city of Liverpool from the U.K., not built in myth but in the very nature of its home grown and adopted sons and daughters strength of purpose and identity. As Steve Hogarth was heard to say during one enjoyable exchange of banter and nicely placed heckle, “We really are in another country now”.

Marillion, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(497 words, 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)