Blasts from the Furnace
Reviews, features and hot air by Damon Fairclough, a writer based in Liverpool via a long lost Sheffield of the soul.
Big ideas, big jokes, big songs. Northern Soul talks to playwright Robert Farquhar about Peer Gynt
“I hate Peer Gynt. Why should we do it?”
Read the full story..Egon Schiele and Francesca Woodman at Tate Liverpool: Northern Soul chats to curator Tamar Hemmes
I remember my first trip to Liverpool well.
Read the full story..Review: Ken’s Show, Tate Liverpool
It’s 30 years since I first came into contact with the work of Ken Simons at Tate Liverpool and I must have been witness to his handiwork many times since then.
Read the full story..Review: Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols
Only one record mattered to me in 1977.
Read the full story..Review: Baskerville, Liverpool Playhouse
Every generation, it seems, has its own Sherlock Holmes.
Read the full story..Musicals, Geordies and coming home: Northern Soul meets Sting
It always helps an interview along when you discover a family connection to the global mega-star sitting in front you.
Read the full story..John Piper at Tate Liverpool: Northern Soul chats to curator Darren Pih
There are many reasons to feel a surge of joy at the sight of the Liverpool skyline.
Read the full story..Review: Man to Man, Everyman Theatre, Liverpool
Sometimes it happens that certain playwrights have a ‘moment’, a period during which their work suddenly taps into the creative consciousness bubbling just beneath our feet and causes multiple dramatic fountains to burst through.
Read the full story..Review: Golem, Liverpool Playhouse
Many people of a certain age will remember the suburban wonders of a living-room slideshow. It was cinema you could do yourself with the lights out, curtains pulled, and head-cut-off holiday portraits beamed against the woodchipped wall.
Read the full story..Review: Roy Lichtenstein in Focus, Tate Liverpool
A long time ago (the late 1970s) in a galaxy far, far away (Sheffield), I had a number of talismanic images on my bedroom wall.
Read the full story..Editor's Picks
The Northern Soul Christmas Charity Appeal: raising money for Alzheimer’s
The Northern Soul Christmas Charity Appeal: raising money for Alzheimer’s.
There are 23 amazing prizes on offer which you can win by bidding in our online auction.
Our two nominated charities are the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. They both do amazing work and we are hoping to raise lots of cash for them.
Go on, you know you want to!
The Northern Soul Christmas Charity Appeal: raising money for Alzheimer’s
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