Tag Archives: Live Review

Fifth gig of the tour I’ve attended, and another new venue for me, the Drill Hall in Lincoln. It’s a old Victorian building which has been very extensively refurbished a couple of years ago; standing down the front, and tiered seating down them back.

This gig marked the welcome return of Jon Spence on the mixing desk, and it showed; this was probably the best sound mix I’ve heard so far on this tour; despite being directly in front of Bryan Josh, his guitar didn’t drown out the rest of the band, Anne-Marie Helder’s flute and Livvy Sparnenn’s backing vocals were noticeably more prominent in the mix, which is a good thing.

With the tour nearing the end, the lineup has well and truly gelled now; new drummer Henry Bourne is possibly the best man behind the drums they’ve had while I’ve been following them, and Anne-Marie has really fitted in well on multiple instuments; seeing her really going for it on the tambourine during ‘Never the Rainbow’ is proof she’s a very different personality than Angie Gordon. And as for Liam Davidson and Iain Jennings, it’s great to see both of them back. Iain’s Hammond organ pyrotechnics on ‘Never the Rainbow’ reminded us of what was missing last year. And Heather Findlay, now six months pregnant, just gets better and better on lead vocals.

The two-hour setlist is the same as the last few shows, with four songs from the new album “Glass Shadows”, and also drawing heavily from “Passengers”. Of the new songs, ‘Unoriginal Sin’ is turning into a incredibly powerful live number, Heather channelling all that anger and bitterness from the middle of last year, and is made all the stronger by mixing Anne Marie’s and Livvy’s harmony vocals much higher; very much the high spot of the first half of the set. ‘Tearing at the Faerytale’ is equally powerful and emotional live. And ‘Flowers For Guns’ has just got to be a single.

The oldies were equally good; I’ve never heard them play a bad version of ‘Evergreen’ and tonight’s was no exception; ‘Carpe Diem’, one of those songs that relies heavily on the sound man getting the balance between Bryan’s guitar and the vocals right, was magnificent, and ‘Heroes Never Die’ is finally making the hairs on back of my neck stand up again; Anne-Marie may have struggled with that flute part on the intro earlier on the tour, but tonight she nailed it.

Just two dates left on this tour now; at Leamington Spa on Thursday 12th, and Stocksbridge the following night. Catch them if you can, they’re worth it. After a couple of festival dates, the band take an extended break while their lead singer is on maternity leave.

I’ve not been to this venue before; like Gloucester Guildhall and Bury Met it’s a provincial theatre rather than a rock club.  I heard it described as a ‘mini York GOH’, which isn’t a bad description; quite a large balcony (which was pretty full), but standing downstairs.

Having seen the band nineteen times now, it’s getting increasingly difficult to find anything new to say about them, except that the new lineup was well and truly gelled now, and as I’d come to expect, this was a pretty tight and impassioned performance.  There’s something wrong with the British music scene when a band this good isn’t playing to much bigger audiences. 

The setlist was much the same as Gloucester, except they didn’t play ”Second Hand”, and moved “Above the Blue” to the first encore.  High spots were an impassioned “Unoriginal Sin”, a great “Simple Ways” (lovely to have that back in the setlist again), and a really strong version of “Carpe Diem”.   With the sad news from last Sunday, “Tearing at the Faerytale”, and “Heroes Never Die” (dedicated tonight to Howard) carried a very strong emotional resonance indeed. 

Only another four days, and I see them again, at the Limelight club in Crewe.

Sunday 16th December at the Astoria Theater in London was my 14 year old nephew’s very first gig. I can’t think of a better band for anyone’s first experience of live music, but then as readers of this blog ought to have realised by now, I’m biased. To his credit, my nephew managed to persuade his dad not to wear a t-shirt older than the youngest member of the band, and that a Marillion “Script” shirt from 1983 was singularly inappropriate

I’m more used to seeing Mostly Autumn in clubs and small provincial theatres, often with seven people and piles of equipment crammed into tiny stages. It’s quite different seeing them perform in a big venue with an impressive lightshow, and an equally impressive major venue style PA and good acoustics, proving that despite being off the mainstream’s radar screen they are more than equals to many major headline acts. They were pretty loud, but with a good mix; everything was clear with decent separation.

Heather Findlay

And the band put on a great show; a lot tighter than when I last I saw them in York a month ago. Although it’s strange to see them perform without Angie Gordon, who’s on maternity leave, I challenge anyone to say that Anne Marie Helder isn’t an acceptable understudy; her performances on flute and keyboards were flawless and enthusiastic. Heather’s singing and Bryan’s guitar playing were as great as ever.

Anne Marie Helder

This one was billed as an ‘audio-visual show’, with back projection on a screen. But quite frankly they don’t need it; they’re visually exciting enough not to need it; a decent lightshow is quite enough.

Although the setlist was very similar that of York, there were a few changes. It was lovely to hear ‘Shrinking Violet’ again in a concert venue setting, and they played a great version. The version of the traditional carol ‘Silent Night’ was beautiful too, and the epic ‘Mother Nature’ was far stronger than the rather rusty version they played a month ago. There was even a guest appearance from Liam Davidson for one of the Christmas covers they played during the encores.

Crewe Limelight on the 19th was a very different kind of gig; in a small club with a capacity of about 400, with high proportion of hardcore fans, it’s always about atmosphere rather than technical perfection. And if you get their early enough and can make the front row you’re just feet away from the band; it’s like having them play in your living room.

Unfortunately the early part of the gig was spoiled by one of the worst sound mixes I’ve ever heard at any MA show. Now I know you shouldn’t expect a perfect sound from the front row, where you’re basically getting stage sound rather than the PA, but I’ve been at the front in this venue before, and previous ones have been far better than this. Andy Jennings’ drumming overpowered everything else, with Bryan’s lead guitar and Anne Marie Helder’s flute barely audible on the first few numbers. It did get a lot better in the second set, after they turned the backline up a bit.

The setlist for the main set was identical to The Astoria, although the encores were completely different; playing ‘Spirit of Christmas Past’, ‘Shindig’ and a full band version of ‘White Christmas’.

As is usual for the Christmas gigs, the band let their hair down during the encores. Heather wore reindeer antlers borrowed from an audience member for at least one song, and things ended with the front rows being sprayed with snow.

So ends my gigging for 2007, the year when live music ate my life. 31 gigs in places as widely separated as Swansea, London, Edinburgh and Bournemouth, with several artists I first saw a quarter of a century ago, and others that weren’t even born that long in the past. Who knows what 2008 has in store? It will probably start with The Reasoning and Breathing Space in January