It was a controversial choice from the start, the city that came from behind to steal the gig from the favourite – years of rows over budgets and leadership – and is it just a flash in the pan or the driver for long term regeneration?
No – not what you think…I’ve been in Liverpool this weekend for the launch of its year as European Capital of Culture. And sitting on the train pulling out of Lime Street to travel south you can feel the waves of relief – it’s up and running at last and the weekend has gone pretty well.
Two conjoined set piece events marked the weekend. A free people’s spectacle on Friday night occupying the rooftops around St. George’s Hall, the Radio City Tower and Lime Street itself. The City’s brand new Echo Arena was christened the following night with “Liverpool – the Musical”. The same creative team built both and they were thematically linked.
After once dallying with an almost exclusively international programme for the year, the Culture Company chose, in these launch events, to explore and celebrate the cultural DNA that makes up quintessential scouse-land. With Phil Redmond (Brookside and Hollyoaks) now at the artistic tiller you can be sure that Liverpool’s indigenous talents and the tastes of real Liverpudlians won’t miss out. He’s fast becoming a “Geldof” figure around here – frank speaking, bold determinism and flowing locks to boot. He famously described the process of creating the Capital of Culture as a Scouse Wedding – a huge family bash that results in rows and fisticuffs and then everyone remembers what a great time they had.
Both shows were delivered with style, creative pizzazz and just enough self deprecatory wit. Echoing the forest of cranes rampantly regenerating so much of the city, the influence of the docklands and the evidence that some of the city’s brand new venues are still building sites, both shows dressed the crew and some of the cast in hard hats and high-viz jackets. The musical opened with workmen apparently still building the stage, and Liverpool’s great and good were delivered to Friday’s show by crane and shipping container.
Nigel Jamieson and Jayne Casey, the talented creative directors for both shows, built some memorable sequences. Aerialists scaled the side of a huge video screen slung on the side of St. George’s Hall manipulating the video images like the touch-screen on an i-Pod. Two hundred local children processed at both shows proudly carrying their own “cultural cargo” in illuminated boxes. Simple, symbolic and evocative. There was a brave sequence in which Holly Johnson’s “Two Tribes” became the commentary for the city’s dark days in the seventies and eighties, brilliantly animated by the work of young film makers. Deft musical and lighting arrangements managed to provocatively contrast Liverpool’s pivotal roles in the growth of the empire and the slave trade.
Any show which climaxes with the return of favourite son, Ringo Starr, may be accused, by some, of wallowing in a slightly parochial previous age, but The Wombats gave us evidence of the vibrant current scene and a reminder of the city’s genuinely special transatlantic relationship with their hit, “I’m Moving to New York”. And make no mistake – Ringo’s return was huge around here and received with genuine warmth.
Amidst the local euphoria, I came across voices calling for more diversity, internationalism and future focus. But remember, this was one weekend – fifty one more to go and a rich programme across many art forms await. Indeed a couple of hours spent around Liverpool’s Tate Gallery reminded me of the city’s openness to artistic confrontation, controversy and international influence.
Liverpool will always be a challenge. Its many divisions, the most passionately individual and collective pride of any city I know, and the profound sense of a city “on the edge”. It is, of course, just the same cocktail that makes it entrancing and offers the prospect of a fascinating cultural year to come.
Towards the end of Liverpool’s year, London 2012 receives the Olympic and Paralympic Games (don’t forget the Handover Ceremonies in August and September) and our own Cultural Olympiad gets underway. We’re exploring ways to join up with Liverpool so that part of its finale may also help to welcome the four year Olympiad. As part of that collaboration I have no doubt we’ll have much to learn from Liverpool’s experiences.
But for now – congratulations and good luck Liverpool!
