Tag Archives: Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall

Procal Harum, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool sound and Vision Rating * * * *

They are responsible for one of the most endearing and enduring songs of all time, the sense that without them adding the classic A Whiter Shade of Pale to the musical history books, that it would still be played 50 years later as memories of the Summer of Love captivate the mind is more than astonishing. It is alongside the release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, of Woodstock, of the emergence of Pink Floyd,  Jefferson Airship, The Small Faces, of images of humanity stepping forth on an alien surface, the Mamas and the Papas and the flourish birth of Progressive Rock that defines the period of 67-69 as one of great highs daunting hopes.

Procal Harum, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(465 words, estimated 1:52 mins reading time)

Steve Hackett, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Steve Hackett at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, May 2017. Photograph by Ian D. Hall

The world has changed so much in the last 40 years that barely a whisper of it is now recognisable, fashions have come and gone, a couple of generations of music lovers have been born and slid silently into the edited grooves of downloadable music and fought with all their might to claim the art form as their own, that in their minds they, understandably, are the ones who invented music.

Steve Hackett, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

(577 words, 1 image, estimated 2:18 mins reading time)

Robert Cray, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Robert Cray is undoubtedly a legend when it comes to the Blues, for many fans of the genre he is the one artist that carried the Blues aloft between the end of the 1970s and the turn of the century with any sense of form, style, beauty and care, the true link between the Golden Age and the momentum that has followed since the final years of void in which Blues arguably, like Jazz and Progressive Rock died a little death every day.

Robert Cray, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)

Caro Emerald, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The last time Caro Emerald came to Liverpool in 2015 she was magnificent, two years on from that fateful night, she, and the finely attuned band, were simply stunning.  A night of 21st Century Jazz with so much swing attached, so much creativity grabbing every ounce of emotion on the stage that for those fortunate enough to be in the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on what was to turn, weather wise, into the worst type of spring deluge possible at the end of the show, at least were comforted by the absolute brilliance on show during the night.

Caro Emerald, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

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

Chris De Burgh, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

The gentleness of the man holds him in high esteem with his audience, the nature of his craft, the talent for song writing and capturing the moment frame by frame takes him to a place where the crowd simply adore him; it is impossible when you watch Chris De Burgh perform live on stage to see anything but a sea of faces light up with expectation, no matter the day they have had, as soon as he takes to the stage and then grow with love and self esteem as the concert goes on.

Chris De Burgh, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

(490 words, 1 image, estimated 1:58 mins reading time)

10CC, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

There should be no argument that Graham Gouldman is one of the most important and interesting songwriters in British music history; the facts speak for themselves when you look at the impressive array of songs he wrote for other bands as a very young man, talent so enlightening, so frighteningly superb, it is truly inspiring to know that the man on stage before you is responsible for some of the biggest selling records in pop history.

10CC, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

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

Toyah, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There is so much to like, to love about Toyah Wilcox that she really does get inside the soul of those who have been touched by her aura of rebellion, her sense of searching for a truth and her physical spirit. For many she embodies an age where the first signs of female dominance in her craft come forth, not with the handshake of patriarchal consent but with determination and drive of the post war feminine guile, wit and strength that carried the country past its outdated Victorian lies and into one of colour, of Punk, of resplendent anarchy and into a thankfully socially more entertaining age.

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

(469 words, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

China Crisis, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The 80s were to be seen a boom time for British pop, if there was one great sweeping movement that could see away the frenzied but short lived beauty of Punk it was surely the sometimes sensitive, the occasionally brash, the always fruitful and never ashamed decade of the 1980s and the music that truly dominated it and cursed in many ways the decade the followed.

China Crisis, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. full post

(503 words, estimated 2:01 mins reading time)

The Classic Rock Show, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is the genre for which most arguably feel the stirrings of blood heading towards the heart as if it was on fire, the hose full of water and the draining of the reservoir not enough to quench the undying inferno which rages with passion and excitement. Classic Rock is a genre that might have its detractors but for those the drum kick hunts and the guitar follows like a wolf in the night, insatiable hunger wanting to be sated, it is more than just a type of music, it is the point of existence.

The Classic Rock Show, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

(399 words, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

Paul Carrack, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017).

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Liverpool will always welcome back those who make the point, who express the truth of their love for the city; it can only ever hoped that such sentiment is always given and not neglected like other cities that turn their back on you. It is a sentiment that it is articulated with musical brilliance by Paul Carrack, a genuine man, a special musician, and one who understands just how much the city relishes in seeing its heroes on the stage.

Paul Carrack, Gig Review. Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. (2017). full post

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