Mostly Autumn, Crewe Limelight, 07-Jun-2007

Crewe Limelight is my ‘local’ Mostly Autumn venue, so for once I wasn’t travelling a long distance to see them. It’s actually the first time this year I’ve seen them that hasn’t been an overnighter.

Heather and Andy

Like The Point in Cardiff it’s a converted church, and there’s always a great atmosphere in the place. It’s been said that going to a Mostly Autumn gig is like a night out with your mates. That was certainly true this time; when I got to the venue there were about thirty-odd people in the downstairs bar, and I realised I recognised just about all of them! They weren’t the first familiar faces of the evening; As I was waiting to cross the road a black Subaru came round the corner, and I thought the occupants looked vaguely familiar. Then I realised it was Andy Smith and Chris Johnson; I’m pretty sure Andy recognised me.

If the previous show belonged to Heather to the extent that I was only dimly aware of the presence of six other people on stage (OK, I exaggerate a bit), tonight really belonged to entire band. It’s noticeable how much tighter they are now the current lineup has gelled. I don’t know how much is down to Gavin Griffiths on drums, easily the best drummer than band has ever had, and how much is down to spending longer in rehearsal before going on the road. They’re easily 200% better than they were this time last year. The setlist was almost identical to that of Cardiff, except that they didn’t play ‘The Night Sky’, perhaps because of a slightly delayed start.

(Livvy’s glockenspeil solo)

I’m probably not the best person to judge the sound; I was right down the front getting stage sound rather than the PA; where I was it was far superior to the muddy sound at Cardiff the previous weekend. The big wall-of-sound symphonic numbers in the second half such as the Bryan’s guitar showcase ‘Further from Home’ and a superb ‘Carpe Diem’ came over very well indeed, with just the right balance between Bryan’s Stratocaster and the multi-layered vocal harmonies, something that doesn’t always happen.

The big news at the end of the show was Heather’s announcement that there was an eighth person on stage. Angie Gordon is expecting! This prompted someone from the audience to ask Bryan when his was due, which got the response “It’s been due for the past 74 months”.

From left to right: Bryan, Andy, Heather, Livvy, Gavin, Angie and Chris

As gigs go, that was a good one. The band were in the ‘the zone’ for much of the time, and the atmosphere was great. Just one MA gig left in my diary now, the final date of the tour at Bury Met at the end of the month.

My thanks to Martin Kessel to allow me to some of his excellent photos. There are a lot more from the gig on his site. I’m sure the back of my head must be visible in some of them.