Gig reviews 
 
Mostly Autumn At Murrayfield  
(Supporting Bryan Adams)

21st July 2007 

A FANS JOURNAL (or where did we park the boat?)

Set: Fading Colours; Caught In A Fold; Something In Between. Dark Before The Dawn, Heart Life, Spirit Of Autumn Past 2, Evergreen, Nowhere To Hide, Broken Glass, Never The Rainbow, Heroes Never Die.

I probably aught not to have done this having been out of work twice this year and only in part time work at the time of the concert and with finances bordering on the very serious I have to say it was a tough decision. But if you are going to go down then it may as well be spectacular and let’s face it, as well as being connoisseurs of mighty fine music quite a lot of us, if we are honest, are a little bit mad too so we decided to join the others as mad as us for the trek to Scotland for the biggest show of the bands career to date.
My wife and I have seen Bryan Adams on several occasions which gave us the excuse but if the truth is to be told we could have gone to nearby Doncaster on the Friday night for that so you could say that this was just for Mostly Autumn and there is no point me kidding myself otherwise.
Fans were going by trains, planes and automobiles and we got in our car at the start of a long day at 7am and moved steadily north in a race against the increasingly worsening weather. A race we eventually won some four and a half hours and 258 miles later in the fair city of Edinburgh. 
That would not last though and parking the car safely at a friend’s hotel, they came by plane, and a refreshing pint later, the rain arrived too. A steady drizzle at that point as we took a local bus the couple of miles to Murrayfield Stadium.
With us was a hefty bag of promotional flyers and the first job was to grab a bite to eat, you have to get the priorities in order (note a pint and then meal), before we went to meet Angela at the stadium who had yet more flyers for us.
A team of us then got to work in what was now persistent rain and as has been mentioned on the forum my team dwindled to one as the conditions turned pretty bad.
For the next couple of hours I had the surreal situation of people from Scotland asking me, from Rotherham, how can I get to the Stadium? I told them- often in exchange for a leaflet for MA and Odin Dragonfly, which is a fair deal in my opinion.
Thanks go to all those who took them, particularly those who looked like I was about to hand them a disease or something. Little did they know that I am possibly handing them a bug, the MA one, and once hooked there is no known cure.
It was raining hard by then and I got wet…very. There was method to that though. See, while everyone else in and around the stadium frantically tried unsuccessfully to find any protection from the rain that they could, I was already soaked so it did not bother me. Simple really!
Murrayfield Stadium is no longer the old-fashioned somewhat dilapidated place from my last visit 24 years ago, its now a big modern facility with closed stands all round and on entering the place you got a panoramic view of the huge stage (unusually not set at one end but placed length ways against one of the big stands). A real sense of anticipation overcame me and it was only then I fully realised how big an opportunity this was for MA.
It was in the stadium that most of the Mostly Autumn fans finally got together and as 6.30 approached we made our way towards the front for the bands performance.
There was a little delay with some technical problems on stage, which subsequently saw the set shortened by two songs, before MA came on stage to put in a sparkling 1 hour set.
Much has been said about the sound on the day and from our vantage point I thought it was very good. A bit quiet as Fairview engineer John Spence was not allowed to use the full power of the system but that is the only flaw that I could tell. John did a fantastic job given that the band had no sound-check and these places are notoriously hard to get great sound in given the cavernous nature of them. We have all heard support bands with truly awful sound and even some MA gigs in small venues with sub standard house PA’s that have not been good. Well let me say that the sound here was a hell of a lot better than that and great credit to John for doing a very fine job.
We joined a crowd of some 30,000 which is not as large as these things can be but it still represented more people than all the MA shows over the last year put together and when you consider most are new to the band then the importance of this becomes obvious.
The set had more short numbers than we more established fans would like in it, in order to cram as much into the hour as was possible. To be fair while the band certainly don’t take our support lightly and they looked thrilled to see some of us there, this set had to impress new fans as we are already converted. I can only judge from the comments both around us and to us but the comments were generally very positive and even though the crowd was a bit subdued due to the fact that this was music they did not know and they were waiting for Bryan Adams, and also the ever worsening weather did not help, the applause for the set was warm and genuine and I have no doubt this has gained the band more support.
The highlight for me, and others, had to be Andy Smith. It was his wireless bass that caused the earlier delay but freed from his usual perch behind BJ, Andy, in true stadium rock fashion, halfway in the set off down the front of the PA. I guess that he did not realise how far it actually was but after finding his way eventually to one end he then set off for the other. If this was a gig at Crewe he would have been somewhere down the High street covering the same distance, no scratch that, he may well have been in the next town.
It was also fantastic to see Iain, Liam and Andy Jennings back with the band again, if only for an hour. You cannot turn the clock back and particularly with Iain, who has his own very worthy project now with Breathing Space, but it was a pleasure to see again what many feel was the best MA line-up of all.
I can only say that for us it was a genuine thrill to see “our band” on such a stage and in such a setting and watching the band rise to the occasion. You only had to look around you to realise we are a long way from the likes of Oakwood or the Springhead even though we have had some fine nights in those venues this was a proud day for the band particularly and indeed for anyone who has been a part of this journey that has gotten them here.
With the weather showing no sign of abating the majority of MA fans still stayed to watch Bryan Adams rock the place for the next two hours before we headed back to the hotel and a couple of welcoming drinks after changing into some much needed dry clothing.
At around half past midnight we said our farewells and started our way back home and the boat I mentioned up top. The rain as we travelled round the ring road and onto the A1 was torrential. We travelled through a wall of water coming out of the sky and pools of it that were starting to be measured in feet rather than inches, conditions where a boat would not been out of place, and we started to fear that we may not make it back (it was only later that morning upon waking that we found out that the road had been closed due to flooding shortly after we had passed through it). 
The rain did clear about 1 hour into our journey and the rest of the trip was uneventful and we arrived home at 5am some 22 hours and 520 miles after we had left, rather feeling like the ball in the famed rugby internationals that normally take place at Murrayfield.
It was at least then that I could collapse into bed contemplating pneumonia and the fact that Mostly Autumn looked good up there today… really good!
Paul Turner  
 
We left rain drenched Leamington Spa at around 3.00pm on Friday any later and due to the heavy flooding may have missed the flight, arrived in Edinburgh early evening to the joys of no rain - fancy having to go to Scotland for dry weather (not that it lasted of course). First experience of the weekend loads of wolf whistles from a few beered up lads while looking for a bite to eat have decided the long blonde locks must go as they were directed at me rather than the wife (what can I say - harmony hairspray!)
Saturday began with a visit to the castle during which the rain started (and of course did not stop) and then a visit to the allocated meet up pub The Roseburn for a pint and chat with a few fellow fans. Slight delay getting into ground giving plenty of time to pronounce the greatness of Mostly Autumn to as many in the queue as possible before entering the arena quickly grabbing our VIP complimentary beer and finding a good spot fairly close to the stage. First on, a ska band; not too bad at all although so excited by the imminent arrival of MA we could have done without the encore. Then came the dilemma of the day, stay put for start of MA or go for complimentary VIP buffet. Not a difficult decision of course - we starved.
So up for it when MA came on and boy did they look right up there on the big stage and on the huge video screens. Great choices for the set - very up-tempo myself and Julie (my wife and fellow MA nut) kept the clapping going for most of the show with the knock on effect of others clapping around us. Favourite moments of the set Evergreen (especially the end solo), Dark Before The Dawn, Spirits and Heroes Never Die but the whole set a blinder. Sorry to have lost Pocket Watch and Answer The Question but these things happen. Also great to see Liam, Andrew and Iain up but there sorry that Chris and Gavin missed out though (next time lads).
Bryan Adams also played a blinder very good with the crowd and he came across like a great guy and" kids wanna rock" sure did… well rock, and of course all us MA fans now feel good vibes towards him.
After the show some very needed fish and chips on the way back to the hotel and of course the chance to dry out leaving just Sunday morning and early afternoon left for the very interesting sight seeing tour (no rain the day after the show of course!) a bit of beach volleyball (watching of course!), then the plane home after the most expensive, but best concert trip of our lives. Keep Rocking.

Andrew Lock (andyfilmnut), Leamington Spa (On sea!)

MA Spring Tour 2007 & Breathing Space reviews