Words by: Robert Sutton
Images by: Robert Sutton Photography
www.facebook.com/robertsuttonphotography
As a band that always seems to be on tour, this event was just about the band doing a show in London, without them having anything new to promote and it was at the O2 Academy Islington London on the 28th May. Support for the night was from Anna Phoebe’s Papillon.
Anna Phoebe –Â Papillon (Anna Phoebe- violin and Nicolas Rizzi – acoustic guitar)Â are a duo who ‘play songs influenced by Eastern melodies set within cinematic soundscapes’…so their blog states. I had come across Anna Phoebe at last year’s Ramblin’ Man Fair in Maidstone and did think that she was worth going to see again. However, this was Anna Phoebe, with her normal guitarist, but under a new ‘project’ name of Papillon, so I really didn’t know what to expect from their set tonight. I have to say that I don’t go to many gigs that have just a violinist and an acoustic guitarist and whilst it could in no way be described as heavy rock or metal, it was, I thought, pretty rocky in places. They had a short set of just 30 minutes and the project and songs being that new that they hadn’t even titled some of the songs that they played!!. You could tell that Anna is passionate about her songs and she puts all her effort into each of them on stage…and gave a great performance that I think most of us did enjoy.
Mostly Autumn: Were formed in 1995 and play a ‘fuse of Genesis and Pink Floyd’ they are a seven piece band, have eleven studio albums, their last being ‘Dressed in Voices’ which was released in 2014 and just a few more than that live albums to their name.
The band opened with ‘Out of the Inn’ from their debut album ‘For All We Shared’ from 1998 and then played ‘In for the Bite’ from Josh & Co. Limited a side project from founder and vocalist Bryan Josh. Then came ‘Answer the Question’ from the 2003 ‘Passengers’ album. When I was leaving the venue after the gig I did think that they hadn’t played anything from their second to last album, but then realized that they did, they played ‘Drops of the Sun’ from ‘The Ghost Mood Orchestra’ as their fourth song.
They played a good mix from their albums and included a few songs from their earlier albums that they don’t normally play. The finished their standard set with ‘Questioning Eyes’ a song from Iain Jennings’s ( keyboards) band Breathing Space.
The encore comprised of ‘The Night Sky’ from their first album and ‘The House on the Hill’ from their latest album. Both of these were with guest Anna Phoebe playing her violin with the band. The final song of the night was ‘Heroes Never Die’ again from their first album and a favourite that is almost guaranteed to be played at a Mostly Autumn gig.
What a super evening’s entertainment and I’m really not too sure why Mostly Autumn don’t have a much bigger following than they have. They really do deserve to be recognized more, and hope that after they have supported Richie Blackmore’s Rainbow gig in Birmingham in a month’s time that they will have quite a few more fans that do follow them.
 Setlist:
1: Out of the Inn
2: In for the Bite ( Josh & Co. Limited)
3: Answer the Question
4: Drops of the Sun
5: Skin on Skin
6: Deep in Borrowdale
7: Wild Eyes Skies
8: Silhouettes of Stolen Ghosts
9: Silver Glass
10: The Spirit of Autumn Past Pt.2
11: Mother Nature
12: Dressed in Voices
13: Nowhere to Hide (Close My Eyes)
14:Questioning Eyes (Breathing Space cover)
Encore:
15: The Night Sky ( with Anna Phoebe)
16: The House on the Hill ( with Anna Phoebe)
17: Heroes Never Die
http://www.mostly-autumn.com/
www.wearepapillon.co.uk
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