Why city’s culture is pulling in the crowds

Mar 1 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

TICKETS for one of only two exclusive Roger Waters gigs this year have sold out in two hours.

Merseyside fans of the Pink Floyd founder wasted no time in securing the chance to see him on his only UK dates this year.

Tickets for the show at the Echo Arena Liverpool went on sale at 9am yesterday .

Waters has already revealed he will be playing the seminal album Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety during the show on May 15.

The only other show he will play in the country this year is in London.

The race to snap up tickets marked the end of another record-breaking week for attendances at the city’s cultural hot-spots, as it was revealed that, by today, more than 1.2m people will have visited Liverpool’s tourist attractions so far this year.

The museums and galleries under the National Museums Liverpool (NML) reported some 350,000 visitors so far in 2008, with record attendances in January and February.

In fact, the Culture Company point out that more people have attended arts events in the city so far this year than have gone to Goodison and Anfield for football – and by quite some measure, with the stadiums’ combined attendance so far reaching 570,000.

Queues were expected to be around the block at the Philharmonic Hall this morning as tickets for Ken Dodd’s two exclusive shows at St George’s Hall on April 1 and 2 – the comic’s gift to Liverpool for Capital of Culture year – went on sale.

The Leap 08 two-week dance festival also starts today.

One of the highlights on next week’s culture events in the city will be the start of the 84th Liverpool Performing Arts Festival, when more than 5,000 performers from across the North West converge on the city over two weeks to showcase their talents in music, speech, drama and dance – from solo verse to 60-strong choirs, and orchestras from ages five to 80 years of age. Competitors range from Ron Copeland, 74, a member of Liverpool Barbershop Harmony Club, to Alexandria Wilson, five, from Florence Melly Primary School, who is reading a poem and is one of the youngest entrants at the festival.

''There is a rich seam of artistic talent within the city, and the Liverpool Performing Arts Festival is helping to develop and encourage the stars of tomorrow,” said council leader Cllr Warren Bradley.

Cultural director Phil Red- mond said the festival contin- ued the city’s tradition of pro- viding a platform for all ages and abilities to showcase their talents. Past festival winners in- clude Sir Simon Rattle, Claire Sweeney, BBC young musician of the year Mark Simpson, and Ray Quinn.

The music section of the festival takes place between March 3 and 6 at St George’s Hall, with the dance competition at the same location on March 7.

The speech and drama element will take place in three daily sessions between March 10 and 13 at Liverpool Town Hall and the Liner Hotel.

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