Preview: Mathew Street festival, Liverpool city centre
by Janet Tansley, Liverpool Echo
AS the words of a famous Beatles song say: It's getting better all the time.
Mathew Street Music Festival is now the largest free annual music event in Europe.
This year you can look forward to four days of live music with more than 75 bands performing on five stages across the city in celebration of the 2006 Capital of Culture year - Liverpool Performs. And more than 40 indoor venues will also be hosting free live music throughout this weekend.
With rock and pop talent, from the established to the emerging, young Liverpool bands to global legends, this year's Mathew Street Music Festival is set to be an unforgettable bank holiday weekend.
It all starts on Friday at 7.30pm with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra - but they won’t be alone. A host of famous name guests will join them, opening the festival for the first time.
Led by the RLPO's new principal conductor, Vasily Petrenko, the concert will feature classic music gems including Shostakovich's Festival Overture and March and Football from Russian River; Jupiter from Holst's Planet Suite, Rossini's William Tell Overture, Strauss's Radetsky, and The Great Gate of Kiev from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.
But they will be joined by top names from the Liverpool music scene; Garry Christian of The Christians will sing his poignant ballad Father; Pete Wylie of The Mighty Wah will perform Heart as Big as Liverpool and Jennifer John and Thomas Lang will duet on You'll Never Walk Alone.
