Friday and Saturday saw the official launch of Liverpool as Capital of Culture.

Last night was ‘Liverpool the Musical’ – A musical based on the history, the culture and the people of the city. It traced the city’s ups and downs,  the maverick and  the genius.

The Musical really was a mesmeric race through hundreds of years of Liverpool history – opening with Carl Jung’s words – ‘Liverpool is the pool of life’.  Creativity starts here.

Club DJ’s rifted with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra before individual vocalists entranced the 10,000 strong audience with songs reflecting and relating to our black roots and Slave Past, those who lived it and rebelled against it, our Irish past, our seafaring past and great industrial past.

Musicians took to the stage, Pete Wylie, Ian McCullough and Echo and The Bunnymen, the Christians, the Welsh Choir, the Liverpool Philharmonic choir, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the La’s, Cast. The room boomed and bellowed with every type of sound and colour as the history of Liverpool was projected on a giant screen, a full orchestra behind the screen and acrobats and live bands in front of it.

The musical showed the decline of Liverpool too in all its grittiness and sadness, followed by the words ‘All things Fall and are Rebuilt Again’ and from that the images of rebirth of the city.

Pete Wylie ‘A heart as big as a city, a heart as big as Liverpool’. Followed by the Farm and ‘All together now’ and Ringo  Starr and all the performers singing ‘ Power To the People’

 The songs, the words, the vibrancy summed up Liverpool. Liverpool is about its people and  it was for that reason Liverpool won the Capital of Culture. – Yes Liverpool has had hard times, but it’s reaching out, picking itself up and marching forward, taking its past with it, learning from it and moving forward.

One only had to look at the audience to see the home grown support the city has. Afterwards, the old, the new, the established and the bright new things, from all walks of life mingled together: Sir Terry Leahy (Tesco’s) with George Downing (Downing Developments), Phil Redmond (Mersey TV) with Tom Dawes (Aerologisitcs -keep and eye out for this bright spark,  Tom has a PHD in Engineering then set up this phenomenal new company) Justine Mills (Cricket) Herbet of Herbets of Liverpool , Barbara Daley, James Barton (Cream), Terry Smith (Radio City/Emap/Mercury Press). Gerry Marsden and The Wombats, Ringo Starr and Dave Stewart, Joe and Paul McGann, Ken Dodd, Sue Johnston, Les Dennis, Pete Price, Kev Seed, Alex Curran and Dr Zeigmann -(now there’s an interesting man, he fled Hungary as a young man – his only chance of escaping was to come to Liverpool to study medicine. He didn’t speak a word of English but desperate to survive he sat his medical exams in Latin and passed!)  …Gosh the list goes on ….. So does this year’s events and so does Merseyside’s revival………