Anna Phoebe live in London: The violin vixen bewitches the October Gallery
Anna Phoebe live in London Photo © 2014 Oscar Tornincasa for rebelmusic.info
Score: 8.5/10
Anna Phoebe, the vixen of the violin, is back with a new studio album, Between The Shadow And The Soul. As part of the promotion, the London-based musician held an intimate live show at the October Gallery in Bloomsbury on November 11 mainly to present the album to members of the media and aficionados.
The atmosphere is cozy and elegant at the same time, as our photographer Oscar and I are welcomed friendly while we secure a front seat just where the candles on the floor separate the stage area from the audience. The amount of instruments displayed on stage, including a grand piano and tabla in addition to drums, bass and 3 guitars, soon sets the level of expectation to a very high standard.
It is an early start so Anna and her band walk on stage sometimes around 19.30. Once the lights are off, we are instantly catapulted to the far east. A full moon is projected on the screen behind the stage as the notes of Shadow are our ticket to a marvellous musical journey. Soon enough it is clear that we are about to witness to an incredible display of talent: the violin simply becomes alive when played by Phoebe as she is followed, accompanied and enriched by Nicholas Rizzi‘s guitars. The whole band works perfectly as an orchestra, they are clearly having fun and loving the music they are playing and Brizzi delivers perfectly on A Moment’s Deception, which on the original album version is played by Jethro Tull’s Ian Anderson. For a moment the band members leave the stage as Phoebe invites Alex Montague to join her at the grand piano for a heavenly acoustic version of Embrace (as featured on the album), before resuming with the original lineup.
It is not even easy to describe the experience of such a show. For me, it had the value of a mesmerising, invigorating long session of enlightening meditation. Everyone in the room was under a sort of musical spell during the show. We were enchanted, bewitched by the barefoot vixen who’s giving her soul to us through the chords of her violin. Exquisite sense of loss.
Line-up:
Simran Ghalley – tabla
Nicolas Rizzi – guitar
Yves Fernandez – bass
Francesco Lucidi – drums
Alex Montague – piano
Complete setlist:
Shadow
Mostar
Goddess
Singular Mind
A Moment’s Deception
Embrace (acoustic)
Nines
Bombay to Beirut
Ballingoola
The Duel
In ContinuumAwaken
Live photo gallery (Photos © by Oscar Tornincasa):
