The Progmeister (on behalf of Midlands Metalheads Radio)
Having seen the lady herself a number of times in the past during her time with Mostly Autumn, I was quietly curious to see how she handles a full-on band as the ring-leader, front-man (person?) and centre of attention. I was not disappointed, but more of the fine lady later, let’s take a look at the support this evening first as we were graced with not one, but two acts. First up was a lovely lady called Sarah Dean, sat front of stage with a harp. She has accompanied Heather previously as support for the Odin Dragonfly project so she’s among friends and it was a very serene and pleasant way to open the evening’s proceedings – solo voice accompanied by harp – beautiful, ethereal and different. With a warm reception from the audience, her set was concise and effective.
Next up was Halo Blind. Having two albums to their name, the focus tonight was very much on the last album “Occupying Forces” which came out in 2014 (and available at the merch stand !!). A five piece band from York and interestingly enough, their front man (Chris Johnson) was also on duty for the act to follow, playing second guitar and keyboards, alongside Angela Gordon. These guys are certainly attracting attention on the prog scene, being compared to Radiohead, Sigur Ros and Pink Floyd. Personally, I was reminded of The Pineapple Thief on a number of tracks….
Very competent set of musicians who all have fingers in other pies, you really need to keep an eye on this lot, powerful tunes with solid indie roots. Prog with Indie overtones, what more can I say, a very interesting combo….
After a short break and equipment change, the main act took to the stage with a radiant Heather Findlay backed by a six-piece band which included the workaholic John Mitchell on the right side of the stage on guitars, Stu Fletcher (who also plays with Mantra Vega and Halo Blind) on Bass, Alex Cromarty on drums and (for one song) HARMONIUM !! (Mantra Vega and Mostly Autumn), Chris Johnson on Guitars and keyboard (Mantra Vega, Mostly Autumn and Halo Blind), Angela Gordon (ex-Mostly Autumn, Mantra Vega, Odin Dragonfly) on flute, recorders and keyboard and finally Sarah Dean on backing vocals. A formidable line-up indeed !!
The band took to the stage to a pre-recorded “Every Corner”, the first track from the debut album by Mantra Vega and launched straight into “Island”, the 2nd track. With 75% of the original Mantra Vega band on stage (missing Dave Kerzner and Dave Kilminster), I suppose it was inevitable we were going to get music from the band’s debut album, released back in January and true to form, we got the ENTIRE album, in the same track order !!! 
Having listened to this beautiful recording since its release in January of this year, I was impressed that the ensemble played it tonight, every last note. The friend who accompanied me had not hear the band before and commented how much it sounded like Fleetwood Mac and I’ll be honest, I hadn’t made the connection (probably coz I have my head in Prog most of the time !!), but once he’d mentioned it, I agreed whole-heartedly. The title track is out ‘n out Prog and I’ve played this on my show, but overall, the album is pure class and soooo deserves to be heard – buy it now.
As for the rest of the set, we had a track from Heather’s solo project “The Phoenix Suite”, 3 tracks from Odin Dragonfly (the acoustic project featuring Heather and Angela Gordon), a track from the Lonely Robot album, which originally featured Heather on vocal duty – “Why Do We Stay” and 2 tracks (including the finale – “Shrinking Violet”) from Mostly Autumn. I suppose you could call it a mini-anthology of Heather’s work with emphasis on the latest project, Mantra Vega…
There wasn’t a great deal of audience interaction, but for the fans, it solidified what we already know, in that Heather is the consummate professional and one of the UK’s best kept secrets, I suspect the entire set could have been carried out with no acknowledgement of the audience whatsoever as this was a group of people who were there for the music. For the uninitiated, it was a chance to witness a collection of musicians in total harmony fronted by a beautiful lady with a beautiful voice, you would be wise to check them out if they pass thru’ a town near you in the not too distant future, magical.
