Mostly Autumn: The Point, Cardiff, 01-Jun-2007

Yet again I’ve travelled a considerable distance to see my favourite band. Not quite as far as Bournemouth this time, and I was staying for the weekend with my brother in Cardiff.

The Point, a converted church in Cardiff Bay, is a new venue for me. It still retains a lot of features from the original building, especially the stained glass windows, which give it a lot more character than a lot of featureless boxes I’ve seen bands perform in. As is usual for an MA gig I bumped into a lot of familiar faces like David Taylor, Peter the Great, Roger N, Jerry Bloom and Matt and Rachel from The Reasoning.

The very beginning was spoiled somewhat by a muddy sound mix, with an overloud mush of bass all but drowning out the lead vocals, which reduced the impact of ‘Fading Colours’. Fortunately after the first two or three songs it got better, and although tolerable was never quite perfect. The 2+ hour long setlist was similar to earlier dates on the tour, except that “Half a World” and “Ghost” were dropped in favour of the old favourite “The Last Climb”. I can understand why Heather might not want to sing “Half a World” at the moment.

The night really belonged to Heather, who was absolutely fantastic. This was her first public appearance after the very traumatic events of the previous few days, so this was always going to be an emotional show. While it might not have been the best performance I’ve ever seen from the band on a purely technical level, nothing else has quite matched this one for emotional intensity. Heather poured her heart and soul into the performance, especially on “Evergreen” and “Carpe Diem”, which were the outstanding moments of the evening.

Only three more days and I seem them again in Crewe.

Andrew Elias has some photos of the show.