Trinity Live 4 – Gig Review (Leamington Spa, 11 May 2019)

Trinity Live is a charity event that has been taking place since 2014, setting itself up as a yearly event with its second edition in 2017. This year the event was back in Leamington Spa Assembly Hall and was raising funds for Help Musicians UK and Mind, the mental health charity.

The format this year consisted of an early afternoon triple bill concert, a back-to-back acoustic/Q&A session with Oliver Wakeman and Rodney Matthews, and finally a (relatively early) evening triple bill concert.

Our team arrived in time for the first Q&A session, and we were able to catch the end of the set of Last Flight to Pluto, a band anchored somewhere between prog rock and pop, which was returning to Trinity Live for the second year running.

The set they delivered was enjoyable and seemed to go down well with the people who had decided to make the most of the day by turning up early.

Note: we’re sure the previous acts on the bill, The C:LIVE Collective and That Joe Payne were worth a short lunch but our grumpy photograph/driver did not think so. Our loss.

The mid-afternoon was then filled with Oliver Wakeman performing to a small audience tucked in a cosy room upstairs the Leamington Assembly building, as part of the ‘Art of Prog’ exhibit, largely centred on the art of Scotland’s national treasure that Rodney Matthews is.

Oliver played through some of his back catalogue and private releases, throwing in some humorous anecdotes to assist placing them in their creative context. He seemed to be very fluent and comfortable with the format, surrounded as he was with Rodney‘s artwork, the later joining him for a short Q&A towards the end.

Shortly before Alan Reed & the Daughters of Expediency hit the stage, the charity raffle allowed a few lucky (and generous) audience members to bag items connected to the prog scene. This is obviously a core part of what Trinity Live is, but we won’t go into the details – check out http://trinitylive.co.uk/ if you would like more info about their goals and what they were able to achieve this year.

Finally, Alan hit the stage flanked by his daughters, or to be exact one daughter and three sons. The band delivered an absolute stunner of a set, alternating energetic numbers with emotionally charged acoustics that clearly meant a lot to Alan. A couple of Pallas classics were thrown in for good measure, to the delight of the audience.

Next up were Godsticks, originating from South-Wales and led by Darran Charles. Offering a much more modern sound somewhere between King Crimson and Cynic, in stark contrast with the rest of the bands on today.

Despite a set focused on the more mellow part of their catalogue, the crowd that had gathered in front of the stage during Alan Reed ‘s performance decided to relocate to the bar. Their loss. It was a tight performance that showcased just enough to give a glimpse of their talent.

The interlude before the next band, headliner Mostly Autumn, saw a very unique collectible guitar depicting King Crimson Radical Action’s artwork raising a further £1500 for charities.

Cue in Bryan Josh followed by most of the Autumn members, joined by Henry Rogers on drums. Rogers had performed earlier with Alan Reed, and had impressed us so we had little doubt the show was going to be a solid one (and yes, Henry joined over a year ago, but this was news to us).

Of course, as always is the case with Mostly Autumn, anyone not noticing Brian or Henry (or any of the other guys) taking their position of  stage would be forgiven given the strong charisma of their vocalist, the focal point – musically and visually – of their shows, Olivia Sparnenn.

Playing songs from spanning the majority of their back-catalogue Mostly Autumn demonstrated a band at the top of their game, bringing their latest opus (White Rainbow) to life for the first time in the UK. A perfect finale for a great day of prog!