Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It is in the flourish of the performance, the smile upon an artist’s face when they can be seen, witnessed by all, to be having just a good a time as their audience, the equality of art is assured and in the end it doesn’t matter a jot who the performer is, what matters is that the love between crowd and musician is real, complete and without end.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
When an international star makes their debut appearance in the city it is the duty of all who profess to love music to get to the venue and bathe in the splendour of the moment; especially when that star has been credited as one of Elvis’ favourites and who has thrilled millions for decades.
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Such is the hypocrisy embedded in the national psyche that it allowed the dichotomy of the 60s to be one where the flowering of the nation started to really take great strides forward in terms of art and enjoyment but it allowed the self appointed harbingers of supposed moral supremacy to flourish unchecked and take down those they found to be objectionable; it is always a pleasure therefore surely to watch a singer who upset the blue rinse guardian Mary Whitehouse.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
In a world that is slowly being preserved in amber, from a period when a hit single truly meant something and was as precious as a polished gem, to have three members of the same band not only on stage and singing with the serenity of a bird that is free to look down from edge of space and see nothing but the Universe’s wide mouth expectation above it, but also doing it with ease, friendliness and smiles, it is enough to give hope to an audience that has seen so many of its traditions fall aside and be swept away by the modern age.
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There are moments that you are sure that music will live forever, it might change, it could evolve, the cycle of what is sexy and what is indescribable nonsense will change, it will revolve and switch across the generations and the genres but one thing is undeniable, that great music that defined the beat of a generation, that a voice that can make a person swoon and another’s heart race faster even after 50 years is apt to be a bit special.
Level 42’s Mark King at the Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool. October 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There was always something about them that was so right, the sound that was different to the pop dominance of British music in the 1980s and 90s. It was enough to make sure that their style of performing, the hard swish of the distinctive bass and funk undertones, was guaranteed a special status in the hearts of music fans; Level 42 were always going to be a positive influence upon the ears.
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It is arguably impossible to calculate all the love in the world, you would be better off just trying to attempt collecting sand from a far off beach and turning into Cornish tin; some things are just physically impractical to do and hopeless to challenge.
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It was perhaps fitting that the spontaneous applause, the sound of appreciation and love, would fill the vast expanse of the Philharmonic Hall before a note was even played, before the band appeared on stage and took their customary glances and smiles out to a sea of known faces and the curious at heart. This was Liverpool’s night to say thanks to the memory of Yes own heart, its own beating machine of 45 years and the applause was enough to recognise that whilst Yes were in the building, Chris Squire was going to be missed on stage.
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There has always been so much to like about Paul Heaton, a man who wears his lyrical beauty on his sleeve and who can make a grown man weep with the elegance and sly nod of his words; when you add the delightful voice of Jacqui Abbott, a woman whose own command of the slippery wink worthy English Language is as cunning as her friends and a Liverpool Philharmonic Hall rammed to the point where dancing in the aisles was not only expected but actively encouraged by the words floating with sincerity, then Paul Heaton truly found he had come home.
Midge Ure, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, March 2016. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
It is to be seen as a rare honour to be able to watch Midge Ure perform not only in Liverpool, but also an electric set which sends shivers up the spine as much as his brilliant acoustic solo shows for which the audience can be seen almost salivating with excitement over. Those moments of rare beauty are to be savoured and given room in the memory banks for they don’t come round that often.