Пятница 30 Май 2008, 12:26
Whoa, what a totally stunning gig.
I got into Mostly Autumn through their female vocalist Heather Findlay appearing on Arjen Lucassen's Ayreon album The Human Equation. I've been to see them once before, on the 14th of April last year up in Rotherham. While they were good then, the sound quality wasn't fantastic.
This time, after a dramatic line up change , I was really blown away. The atmosphere they can create is simply amazing.
They began with Fading Colours, from Heart Full Of Sky, which is one of my favourite songs on that album. As soon as I heard the backing track kick in, it sent a shiver down my spine. The band then appeared a couple at a time, finishing with Heather, who looked radiantly beautiful at 5 months pregnant. Next came one of my favourite songs of theirs, Caught In A Fold, which I was very pleased about. After that came two of the songs from their new album, Flowers For Guns and Unoriginal Sin, which both sounded good, though I didn't have the album at that point so I didn't really know them. Next came Another Life, which Heather said was "very special to her" at this moment in time, heh. They finished the first half of their set with Evergreen, a song that I'm not overly familiar with.
After a 15 minute break they came back on and launched into Distant Train, which followed into Simple Ways. They they played another new song, Tearing At The Faerytale, which sent serious shivers down my spine. The Spirit Of Autumn Past, Pt 1, The Spirit Of Autumn Past, Pt. 2 and Broken Glass were all next, all three of which had me singing along. Olivia Sparnnen then came out from her place in the corner to sing Never The Rainbow with Heather. Livvy's voice is lovely, I really must check out Breathing Space some time. Next came a lovely version of Pocket Watch, starting off acoustic-ish with Bryan singing and the band only kicking in in the chorus. They finished with Carpe Diem, a song that makes me cry as Heather sings it with such emotion.
After about a minute of "ENCORE!" shouts, Heather returned to the stage with Anne-Marie, and they sang Above The Blue, which Heather dedicated to her grandfather that passed away last year, as well as her fiancee Ian. That bought the tears back to my eyes, even though I'd never heard the song before! Beautiful. They finished with Heroes Never Die.
A wonderful gig. My only problems were Anne-Marie Helder's flute wasn't loud enough for most of the songs, and the flute is, for me, such a key part in many of them. All of the band were on top form, and as I said before, the atmosphere they are able to create is stunning. More people should be into this band. I think I'll make it my personal mission to get more people into them, especially younger people .
Isabelle.