Mostly Autumn - Reading Review

It had only been just over two weeks since I had last seen Mostly Autumn live at the Trinity Live festival in Leamington Spa, but on Sunday I found myself in Reading to catch the band again - for the 42nd time! Those who know me will know just how much I love the York-based band, so will understand how disappointed I was when I found out that I would not be able to make the band's near-annual trip down to Devon to play at The Wharf in Tavistock this year. I have seen Mostly Autumn in Tavistock nearly every year since 2006, but 2019's iteration of that experience fell on a night where I had already made plans. A trip to London to see Seattle legends Alice in Chains had already been arranged by the time Mostly Autumn released their tour dates a couple of months ago, but luckily the band had chosen to play a gig in Reading the next day. With the following Monday being a Bank Holiday, it seemed foolish not to stop over in Reading on my way back home from London. Reading is not exactly a gig hot spot, but the Sub89 there is a decent enough small venue. I saw FM and Dare there back in March and had enjoyed the experience, so was confident that it would be a good venue for Mostly Autumn to play. I have seen the band in many venues over the years, so it was nice to add a new one to the ever-growing list! It is also likely that the Reading show will be the only headline show of the band's that I make this year - unless I can make the logistics of one of their Christmas gigs work - so it was even more important that I made the effort to go! While the Trinity set was excellent, they only had a 75 minute slot. Mostly Autumn's shows are usually pushing the two and a half hour mark, and with the excellent new album White Rainbow being represented heavily in the set I could not really pass up the opportunity. Reading is not a regular stop for Mostly Autumn, so I had wondered what the turnout would be like. With the doors opening at 7pm and the band starting at around 7:30pm, there was not that much time for a crowd to amass. A few minutes before the band were due to start the venue was looking pretty empty, but it seemed that there was a bit of a last minute influx of punters. I have certainly seen bigger crowds at Mostly Autumn shows, but I think the turnout was pretty good considering that the town is not a regular haunt of the band's. Everyone in attendance was there to have a good time too, and the reaction from the crowd throughout the evening was enthusiastic and appreciative.

As has been the case for the past year or so, the band took to the stage to the moody piano intro of Sight of Day, which kicked off the first half of the show. Older material was showcased early on, with a five-song set easing the crowd into things, before the White Rainbow material followed after a short break. Despite only playing five songs before taking a break, the five songs chosen were all excellent and filled up nearly an hour of time. The band seem to really have embraced playing their longer material over the past couple of years, with Sight of Day, Evergreen, and Mother Nature all approaching or breaching the ten-minute mark. Despite battling slightly muddy sound throughout, with frontwoman Olivia Sparnenn-Josh's vocals often quite low in the mix, the band shone. This might have been due to my position down at the front however, and it is possible that those stood further back had a clearer mix. Sight of Day is the perfect set opener, and showcases everything that makes the band great - with one of Bryan Josh's (vocals/guitar) best Floydian guitar moments during the mid-section. Organic moments like Simple Ways sat alongside heart-wrenching ballads like Silver Glass; before the epic Mother Nature brought the first half to a close. It is a personal favourite of mine, with the gorgeous vocal harmonies of Josh and Sparnenn-Josh sending shivers down the spine, before the extended instrumental outro showed how powerful the band can be. It builds from a melodic keyboard solo from Iain Jennings, before the whole band brought the piece to an epic, hard rocking close.

A short break followed, before the eight-song second set got underway in fine fashion with the multi-faceted Viking Funeral. It is one of the band's main tributes to the late Liam Davison who passed away in 2017, and is unsurprisingly packed full of emotion. The lengthy Celtic instrumental section, with plenty of whistle work from Angela Gordon (flute/keyboards/whistle/recorder/vocals), builds up the tension, before the second half explodes with soaring vocals and driving rock rhythms. Sparnenn-Josh showcased her songwriting with the gentle Burn, and in fact stole much of the spotlight throughout the second half of the night with lots of excellent vocal performances. A personal highlight was a heavy version of Western Skies. The song starts out gently with Gordon's flute and some piano work, but soon moves into a heavy, symphonic instrumental section with some excellent keyboard work from Jennings. It is a song that deserves to be in the setlist for some time, and has already become a real favourite of mine. It was also great to hear Chris Johnson's (vocals/guitar) Changing Lives again, as it is another personal favourite. While not as potent as the Trinity version, which was on another level, it still packed a punch and shows what Johnson brings to the band. The real winner however, as with Trinity, was White Rainbow - which ended the main set. The epic piece is another song that is fast becoming a favourite, and features some of the most diverse songwriting from Josh yet. The middle section in particular is stunning, with Sparnenn-Josh's siren-esque vocals and some heavy drumming from Henry Rogers just giving everything so much weight. It brought the set to a powerful close, and elicited a strong reaction from the crowd. There was time for a couple more, and the band's recent encore combination of Heroes Never Die and Forever and Beyond proved the perfect coda to an already excellent evening of music. The crowd certainly did not want the evening to end, and the band seemed to enjoy their time in Reading too! The setlist was:

Sight of Day
Simple Ways
Evergreen
Silver Glass
Mother Nature
-
Viking Funeral
Burn
Run for the Sun
Western Skies
Into the Stars
Changing Lives
Tomorrow Dies
White Rainbow
-
Heroes Never Die
Forever and Beyond

Overall this was a great showing from the band, featuring some of their best longer songs. Despite a slightly muddy sound mix the band really shone, and the new material already feels at home in the set. It was also nice that a few recently over-played numbers, such as Drops of the Sun and In for the Bite, have been rested in favour of newer material. Of the 15 songs played, 10 were from the band's most recent two albums - showing that Mostly Autumn are focusing on the now rather than dwelling on the past.