On an annual basis the British prog band
Mostly Autumn
crosses the Channel to
wish their Dutch friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year by giving a
number of special performances. People who have attended these Christmas shows
won't ever forget the magic moments during these shows.
I witnessed many of them
and afterwards I always went home with a big smile on my face and a happy feeling
in my heart. The last time I saw the band perform was two years ago; at the
time lead singer
Heather Findlay was still
fronting the band.
|
Olivia Sparnenn dressed for Christmas |
This year Mostly Autumn gave three concerts in The
Netherlands. I visited the last one at Lakei in Helmond. This time new lead singer
Olivia Sparnenn fronted the band and
she led the audience to the ultimate Christmas party at the end of the show. Once
more this party was held during the encores featuring several excellent
performed covers of Christmas songs like
I Believe In Father Christmas (
Greg Lake),
Fairytale Of New York
(
The Pogues)
and
Merry Christmas Everybody (
Slade)
of which the latter was sung by guitarist
Liam 'Noddy' Davison. He invited two women from the audience to
join the band on stage to be additional 'backing singers'. However, in my
opinion the most beautiful cover was
Over The Rainbow (
Judy Garland).
The way Olivia sang this
famous tune was just breathtaking and moving. During this song she was
musically supported by
Anne-Marie Helder
(backing vocals) and
Iain Jennings
(keyboards), who both did an outstanding job as well.
Before the audience could
enjoy these great Christmas surprises, the band treated their fans to a
fantastic live show that featured principally true progressive rock tunes and only
few mainstream numbers. They had picked out a lot of classical pieces like
Evergreen,
he Dark Before The Dawn,
The Last Climb,
Passengers,
Heroes Never Die,
The Last Bright Light
and
The Spirit Of Autumn Past, part II.
All these tracks
demonstrated the strong influence
Pink Floyd
had on the band. The
latter track contained an excellent improvised guitar intro played by Mr. Davison.
It was kind of a surprise that
Evergreen
was the third track of the set list. Mostly we can enjoy this marvellous piece
towards the end of the regular set.
|
Bryan Josh |
Also the opening tune
Distant Train
was slightly unexpected. However, it's a wonderful
instrumental track dominated by the keyboards of
Iain Jennings and
Anne-Marie Helder.
This piece is a great vehicle for an excellent guitar solo played by
Bryan Josh
just as he did on the rather new classic tracks
Go Well Diamond Heart,
And When The War Is Over... and
Questioning Eyes, originally a song by
Breathing Space.
Especially during the latter Olivia Sparnenn showed what a good
singer she is! This stunning piece just left me speechless!
After the show I was speechless as well. As far as I
can tell, the band played one of the strongest Christmas shows ever on a Dutch
stage. All musicians did their utmost and were in great shape. During the
performance Bryan and Olivia regularly showed that they love the Dutch
audience. They also said that the next DVD-recording will take place in
September 2012 at Cultuurpodium Boerderij in Zoetermeer. This was appreciated
by the fans and it's really something to look out for. Hopefully this DVD will
be available before the next Dutch Christmas show. Finally I want to thank the
people responsible for the fabulous sound during this two and a half hours performance
of Mostly Autumn!
Henri Strik (edited by Peter Willemsen)