Tag Archives: Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall

Billy Bragg, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Everything comes full circle and in some cases it is with anger, the rage and resentment that what you first fought and rallied against in your younger days, somehow becomes the very political ideal that you have to fight and lyrically wrestle with once again; to see in your life time the hatred that others wear like lounge suits and serious ties return is to know that the battle against tyranny and vile fascism is an ongoing struggle but one that must always, with the keen eye of vigilance, be waged.

Billy Bragg, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(522 words, estimated 2:05 mins reading time)

Seán McGowan, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Port cities have this unnerving ability in which to produce musicians which captivate the love of vocabulary and language; perhaps it comes down to the use of words on the docks, the different ways of having a conversation between two people from places which have nothing in common but the sea that breathes between them. Whatever the answer may be, some who hear the words somehow manage to make new worlds out of it and spread that verbal onslaught towards those willing to listen and take heed.

Seán McGowan, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(389 words, estimated 1:33 mins reading time)

The Musical Box, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

It is somehow easy to dismiss the creativity of people, the stroke of genius that inspires others, that captures the zeitgeist and in which something truly incredible can arise, a spectacle, theatre of the mind. It is easy to dismiss it because to some eyes it looks like fun, that the players are solely reaping the applause for having performed a song, written a poem, created a play in which political leaders quake.

The Musical Box, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(508 words, estimated 2:02 mins reading time)

The Pretenders, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Those of a certain age will remember fondly The Pretenders bursting onto the music scene in 1979 with The Kinks supremo Ray Davies’s song Stop You Sobbing, then quickly following up with many a fan’s favourite Kid and their most well-known song Brass In Pocket. New Wave music at its best!

It was a glorious time to buy music, audiences had another female fronted Rock band, crowds were spoilt, Blondie and The Pretenders recording equally classic Pop songs; the people who went to see the shows were not just spoilt, they were there at the start of a new dawn.

The Pretenders, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

The Rails, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Many would have seen The Rails, the undeniably cool  Kami Thompson and James Walbourne, two years ago supporting the legendary Richard Thompson, they would have been impressed with the duo and their folky close harmonies that wouldn’t have been out of place in Kami’s father’s old band Fairport Convention. Arguably all would have left any of the gigs on that particular tour buying their intriguing, almost haunting E.P. release Australia.

The Rails, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(349 words, estimated 1:24 mins reading time)

Midge Ure, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Midge Ure at the Philharmonic Hall, October 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

It is arguably impossible to think of the 1980s, musically and socially, without the work of Midge Ure eventually coming up in the conversation. The sense of being all things to all music lovers never far from the mind when looking on the decade with either fond nostalgia or the deep seated anger when the pictures of one of the greatest humanitarian disasters unfolded in Africa during 1984.

Midge Ure, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

(504 words, 1 image, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

The Christians, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Garry Christian at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. October 201Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Charm, style, grace on stage and all the attributes of a gentleman; it is perhaps hard to see The Christians in any other light, especially in front of a home town crowd, and with the bonus of celebrating 30 years of history placed before an attentive, passionate, 80’s driven nostalgic audience. However all those years have produced one of the most interesting and self effacing front of stage men and with a voice that feels like silk and hammers home the message with all the power of Thor’s hammer at his disposal; it is no wonder that The Christians remain one of the most respected bands of their time.

The Christians, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

(408 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Altered Images, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Clare Grogan of Altered Images at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. October 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall. 

 

Anyone who found themselves down in the then recently reopened and lively atmosphere of Eric’s on Matthew Street during 2012 would have hoped to had Clare Grogan and Altered Images on their minds, on their music to do list of bands from the 80s that they may have missed out on seeing live.

Altered Images, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

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

Justin Hayward, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Justin Hayward at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, September 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

If music doesn’t move you enough to feel the cold truth of tears that run down your face, that if the art doesn’t make your heart feel the kindness, the brutality, the sensation and the despair that makes life such a gift to have in the palm of the hand; then perhaps it could be argued that you just haven’t found it yet, you haven’t found the moment which makes the tears of joy and pain of love mingle and gently swim from your eyes.

Justin Hayward, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

(502 words, 1 image, estimated 2:00 mins reading time)

Texas, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

There is the sense of power that a band can bring to the Philharmonic Hall which you could only wish that if bottling plants had the power, they might just have the sensation of the year, a sense of quality that should be available to all but in which seems to reside in those who have given their all. When a band like Texas come to Liverpool, the only response possible is to sit back, enjoy the ride and take note, for as all in the Philharmonic Hall were bound to say at the end of the night, this was a band who had tremendous fun.

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

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)