An Evening With Magenta

The night of March 31st was an opportunity to embrace my lighter side and indulge in a bit of prog. Rob Reed, Christina Booth, Chris Fry and the rest of the gang presented An Evening With Magenta at the Montgomery Hall in Wath-upon-Dearne, in association with the Classic Rock Society. The evening was set to be a long one, incorporating three sets into the four hour gig, so we found some seating. I might be one of the youngest at your average CRS gig, but I still didn't fancy standing still for four hours.

Satisfactorily ensconced at the top of the seating with a very good view of proceedings, the evening started out with the very first Cyan gig this century.

The set also included songs from other Rob Reed side projects, such as Chimpan-A. An unfortunate side effect of the Chimpan-A music, though, is that it's very soporific. We sat blissfully dozing as the band tickled our ears with influences from Mike Oldfield, Yes and Genesis. A thoroughly relaxing start to the evening.

After a short break for more beers and a trip to the loo, the second set came up. This time it was the turn of Chris Fry and his brother Dan to promote their new album of instrumental guitar tunes. With a distinctly Spanish feel, the music seems somehow familiar and quite tranquil. I didn't expect the evening to be quite so soothing. But I'm not complaining!

Following another short break, in which I popped out to the foyer and picked up Paul Cusick's latest album, P'dice, the stage was set for the "headline" act. If they can be called that, considering it's the same people who'd been on for the preceding two hours. Magenta took to the stage proper and played a wide variety of material from all their albums, from the most recent, Chameleon, to the days of Seven and the always fantastic Metamorphosis.

During the Magenta set, the band played the song Red. Throughout this song, the stage was awash with red light. Those who have attempted gig photography with a digital camera before will know that red light plays havoc with the sensor, overwhelming everything and creating some utterly weird effects. Tonight was no different. But, given the song title, I decided to just go with it and see what I could get. Here is the result.

Pretty freaky, but pretty cool. Certainly fitting for the song!

All in all a very relaxed, pleasant evening of good music and banter. Certainly the most easy going gig I think I've ever been to. The band were on form, everyone was happy, and the evening passed much quicker than I could have expected.

Here's hoping the usual selection of Wentworth ales returns for the next gig though. I like Guinness, but it's no WPA!