Liverpool Music Week 2007

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Splash! Another jet of cold Merseyside rainwater rockets up a trouser leg, a puddle-mine sprung from one of the many wobbly paving stones that bedeck Liverpool’s pre-Victorian streets.

Aside from All Tomorrow’s Parties’ winter extravaganza, it’s the only place to be to see in December in style and get the party started early for Christmas and it was only a matter of time before the UK's got its first winter festival.

Similar to Iceland Airwaves, the 11-night festival invites scarf-clad music fans to dart between venues to experience some of the best new music Liverpool has to offer, as well as bands from further afield. There are two distinct sides to the ‘week’; the first is a program of free music in the smaller venues around the city, featuring bands rising to the level of Remi Nicole, Elle S’Appelle and Friendly Fires. The second is a series of paid-for gigs like The Chemical Brothers, Madness and Kaiser Chiefs, a side to the festival that’s been enabled by the involvement of legendary dance promoters Cream.

To briefly run through the festival’s history in joke form goes something like this: 'Guy walks into a pub, says ‘I could put on some music here’. Five years later he’s got 160 bands to fit into 15 venues'. Ok it’s not funny but it is mighty impressive (read more HERE). Having started life in 2003, Liverpool's gig marathon has grown year on year into something that’s now truly worthy of national recognition. To look at the line up might not prompt the biggest wave of excitement you’ve ever felt. Let’s remember, we’re spoilt by summer festival line ups and on paper the words ‘kaiser’ and ‘chiefs’ next to each other no longer stir the same emotion, nor do a load of bands you’ve never heard of probably.

No, the beauty of Liverpool Music Week lies in its unpredictability. A pick’n’mix journey into the unknown, the most interesting finds are discovered on the bass level; in the basement of Magnet (the riff heavy Soundgarden-esque Zanglief),  in the loft of the Barfly (the Henry Rollings-like musings of Metro Manilla Aide) or set against the ornate former church interior of Alma De Cuba (folk tapping maestro John Smith). There is without doubt a lot that we missed, but 90 per cent of what we saw we’d watch again. Click HERE to tap into the blog we kept during the few days we were in Liverpool...

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• Liverpool Music Week 2007