This concert of contrasts opens with Gluck’s Overture and Dance of the Blessed Spirits from his opera Orfeo ed Euridice. Gluck was an older contemporary of Mozart and his Dance is one of the most moving and exquisite pieces in the repertoire.
Next comes Stephen Pratt’s re-imagining of pieces by the baroque composer Lully, who had total control over music at the court of King Louis XIV of France. It is a strange but well-known fact that he beat time with a long wooden stick – you will hear a reference to this in Stephen’s piece – and died from a severe infection after accidentally hitting his own foot with it.
Quite different is a contemporary piece Lyric for strings by George Walker. This is being played in tribute to the orchestra’s much loved and missed violinist, Mark Julius, who died before his time.
Finally, Mozart’s Jupiter, one of the greatest of all symphonies and the composer’s last as it was written in 1788, some three years before his death. It is a profound and elegant piece with a bubbling Finale with which to conclude the concert.
NB: This concert takes place in the Great Hall at Liverpool Hope University Creative Campus, 17 Shaw Street, Liverpool L6 1HP.
The Phil Shotton ‘Kind of Cool’ Nonet plays live the entire iconic Birth of the Cool album! This concert is a rare and exciting opportunity to hear one of the most important and influential albums in jazz performed live, with the original instrumentation and arrangements, by some of the finest jazz musicians in the North of England.Birth of the Cool was the most important stylistic step to follow after bebop – generating an entirely new wave of playing that influenced a new generation in the early 1950s. This compilation album by American jazz trumpeter and bandleader Miles Davis, released in February 1957 by Capitol Records compiled eleven tracks recorded by Davis’s nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950.Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements influenced by classical orchestral music techniques such as polyphony, and marked a major development in post-bebop jazz. As the title suggests, these recordings are considered seminal in the history of cool jazz.
Step into a world where sound becomes architecture and memory dissolves into signal. British electronic musician Robin Rimbaud (Scanner) brings his singular live performance to the stage at the Capstone Theatre – an immersive experience that blurs the boundaries between music, surveillance, and storytelling.
Renowned for transforming intercepted transmissions and everyday sonic fragments into richly textured compositions, Scanner crafts performances that feel both intimate and expansive. Pulsing rhythms, ghostly voices, and evolving atmospheres unfold in real time, creating a space where technology meets emotion with striking precision.
This is not simply a concert—it’s a live act of discovery. Each performance is unique, shaped by place, audience, and moment, drawing listeners into a deeply attentive state where the unseen becomes audible.
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Scanner will be supported with an opening set by The Metamorph. The Metamorph (Gavin Brick) has been composing and recording with hardware synthesisers since 1982. His work is often ambient and experimental in nature, with a nod to the Radiophonic Workshop and sci-fi film scores. Live performances are predominantly improvised, with past shows including Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Galeri Harlech, Victoria Gallery and Museum and FACT in Liverpool. The Metamorph also played synths for Pete Wylie and The Mighty Wah on their sold out UK tour in 2022. Music releases have appeared on Moolakii Club Audio Interface, and the acclaimed electronic label Castles in Space, among others. Scanner made a guest appearance on the Metamorph album The Man on the 99th Floor in 2023.
Relive the magic up close with the only show to be endorsed by Jon Bon Jovi himself. Direct from London’s West End, the show returns for its epic 33rd year, cementing its place as one of the UK’s longest-running tribute shows.
Get ready to rock through an unforgettable journey with The Bon Jovi Experience – a phenomenal celebration of timeless classics, packed with the magic, passion, and energy of true stadium rock.
The Bon Jovi Experience features smash-hits such as ‘Livin’ On a Prayer,’ ‘Always’, ‘It’s My Life‘, ‘You Give Love a Bad Name‘, ‘Bad Medicine‘ and many more. Backed by a powerhouse live band, charismatic frontman, Tony Pearce, leads an authentic, high-energy show that will have you singing and dancing all night.
Whether you’re a lifelong Bon Jovi fan or new to the music, this show promises an unforgettable experience.
Reviews:
“The best Bon Jovi tribute band I’ve ever watched” – Jon Bon Jovi
“Have you seen this guy? He’s so much like Jon Bon Jovi, it’s freaky man!” – Chad Kroeger, Nickelback
“The Bon Jovi Experience are up there among the best” – Liverpool Echo News
Place has always been at the centre of Holly Humberstone’s lucid songwriting. Falling Asleep At The Wheel, her breakthrough EP, introduced us to a young woman trying to understand the walls in which she grew up.
The debut catapulted Holly from her gothic family home in Grantham to the world stage. Winning BRIT Rising Star in 2022, presented to her by Sam Fender, and performing “London Is Lonely,” watched by millions at home, was another step into her place.
Having toured the world with her beloved band, from Lollapalooza to Coachella, Glastonbury to her first festival headline at Barn on The Farm, Holly was invited to support Sam Fender at St. James’ Park to 50K people and Taylor Swift on her Eras Tour, playing Wembley Stadium to 90000 fans. Late night messages to friends in new cities, feeling homesick, but touring the US with Girl in Red and Olivia Rodrigo, Holly was living the dream she had dreamt as a little girl.
But she wasn’t in the Midlands anymore. This is where Cruel World begins. A new Place, Holly’s Place. Sonically, Cruel World stitches nostalgia into forward motion: echoes of The Smiths and childhood car journeys refracted through bold, festival-ready pop songs. Visually, Holly and her sister Eleri have created a fairytale world inspired by the trinkets of her childhood. “This feels like my work more than before. I’m in control of everything. No is a complete sentence. I just wanted to make something I’ll be proud of looking back at, something that is mine.”
We’re getting amped up to host something out of the ordinary in the run-up to Christmas!
Nuggets Live: Artyfacts From The First Psychedelic Era – Vol. 1.5 is a live show dedicated to the iconic 60s garage/psych compilation. Played LIVE by a specially assembled cast of musicians, led by Edgar Jones (The Stairs) and a cast of very special guests to be announced. Following on from the successful first staging of this event in 2023, we’re back with a new version that will focus on garage rock gems from the first Nuggets compilation album, and select tracks from the Pebbles and Rubble compilations.
As part of their UK wide Change the Scene tour, Club Soda are teaming up with Liverpool’s inclusive arts communities and showcasing three artists for their first appearances in Liverpool.
Performers from inclusive theatre company RAWD will introduce an action-packed line-up featuring Club Soda musicians Theophilus Ajayi, Luminous Starchild and DJ Flukey Dook.
Blue Room artist and musician Joshua Henderson will premiere his debut music video, inspired by the Bluecoat, while Young Blue Room artists will share their work and invite you to create your own prints.
Join us for a relaxed and joyful evening of music, dancing and making, where everyone is welcome.
General Admission: £7Carer / Essential Companion Ticket: £0
Ages 14+ (Young people aged 14-18 must be accompanied by an adult)
Easy read information can be found here.
We’re made up to welcome ĠENN back to Future Yard for what will be their third appearance. The post-punk quartet have reached a new level on new single Reverberations, which comes off the back of chart success on their debut album unum (2023). Their brooding, sonorous rock music tinkles with melancholy and foreboding, which has Pitchfork describing it as “Complex, ambitious post-punk with the chaotic energy of an informal jam”.
Formed on the island of Malta, Brighton-based / Anglo-Maltese outfit ĠENN are comprised of Janelle Borg (guitars), Sofia Rosa Cooper (drums), Leona Farrugia – (vocals) and Leanne Zammit (bass). They are a self-described sisterhood founded on instinctive trust and an experimental collision of multinational backgrounds, with Maltese, British, Jamaican and Portuguese roots represented across their four members.
Having teamed up with producer Johnny Hostile (Savages / Jehnny Beth), ĠENN are back with a new lease of life. This show is part of a UK and Europe tour at the start of 2027. Further details on line-up to be announced.
“I never thought of us as a post-punk band,” stresses Ben Hozie, singer and guitarist in the NYC-based band BODEGA. “I just thought of us as a conceptual rock band.”
This might come as a surprise to those who’ve been following the band over the last several years. BODEGA’s previous albums 2018’s Endless Scroll, 2022’s Broken Equipment, and 2024’s Our Brand Could Be Your Life, drew well-earned comparisons to post-punk icons like Talking Heads, the B-52s, Devo, and Sonic Youth.
“Post-punk is conceptual punk, so that lent itself to our thing early on,” says Hozie, “but at the end of the day, it’s about our songwriting.” Truthfully, the post-punk tag hasn’t been apt for some time now.
Our Brand Could Be Your Life, a rerecording of a 2015 album by an earlier incarnation of the group called Bodega Bay, was more inspired by classic indie rock bands like Pavement and Guided By Voices. Last year’s Rot in Helvetica, by the group’s alter ego NODEGA, saw them go in the opposite direction, delving into the sound of classic hardcore punk like Black Flag and 7 Seconds. BODEGA’s new album, All Inside Aquarium, sees the band stray further than ever from these post-punk origins.
The group’s goal was, “Let’s go back to melodic tunes, let’s be more of a proper rock band,” Hozie explains. Sonically, the band aimed for “this late ‘80s/early ‘90s Stone Roses-meets-Jane’s Addiction thing, with more riffing and guitar solos.”
Scottish composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Liam Shortall, aka corto.alto has had an incredible couple of years : his debut album ‘Bad With Names’ was shortlisted for the iconic Mercury Prize (2024), won ‘Best Album’ at the Scottish Jazz Awards. In 2025, he won ‘Act Of The Year’ at the Jazz FM Awards, public vote with Ezra Collective and Nubya Garcia the other two nominees, as well as UK Independent Breakthrough at the Aim Awards.
Now signed to Ninja Tune , he’s released two singles ‘DON’T LISTEN’ ‘VANDAL and ‘APRIL’ feat. anaiis which continue to showcase his natural ear for cross-pollination of styles. The tracks have received enormous radio support with over 3000 plays globally in less than 6 weeks as well as being on BBC 6 Music’s A-Playlist .
DON’T LISTEN’ was also included in the iconic ‘FC26’ soundtrack. This is music on his own terms. Music that speaks not just to his time spent as part of the burgeoning and fertile music scene in Glasgow; but equally to an eclectic mix of influences that draw as much on his affinity with club-culture and all its forms of Electronic Music, or to his love of classic Hip-Hop, Soul and Funk. Over the last 24 months, the band played over 150 shows, including West Holts stage at Glastonbury, closing the We Out Here main stage, headlining Latitute, North Sea, Montreux, Cross The Tracks and a sold-out UK tour culminating in playing to 2000 people in his home town at the legendary Barrowland Ballroom. Championed by Gilles Peterson, Jamie Cullum, BBC 6 Music, KCRW, Jazzwise, Fip radio in France and RRR in Australia to name a few, as well as the editorial teams at Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp, ‘corto.alto has also built a strong dedicated fanbase across the UK, EU and US.
