A Sunday in September Festival Review: The Fierce and The Dead, iamthemorning, Last of Eden, and more!

Message from the Ravens

At a quaint Elizabethan venue buried in the depths of South London, A Sunday in September is a now regular one dayer festival that features a great mix and myriad of artists. Put on by promoters London Prog Gigs, previous years have featured artists such as District 97, The Enid, Lesoir, and The Emerald Dawn.

But as such it is a new year, and so a new lineup must be formed, as well as new friendships as more than anything this was a wonderfully social event with clearly a number of people coming along regardless of which bands are playing to just have a good time in this local community.

And with that, the day starts with Message from the Ravens – Full of smiles, joy, and laughter, the country folk fusion opener had wonderful four-part vocal harmonies with flute solos thrown in too.

The poster for A Sunday in September 2024

Every song had a whimsical story to go with it as the girl’s collective self-confessed ‘ADHD’ dictated how the set went which led to their energetic personalities seeping through to the audience – including comedic notes of leaving setlists in the toilet so that no one on stage actually knew what songs they were going to be playing! (In jest…) It was utterly uplifting, even if the lyrics are gothic and nefarious in nature.

Wreckless Eric

With Wreckless Eric on next, he certainly lived up to his name performing mildly psychoticly on stage with odd ramblings and lyrics. With at times the performance turning into shoegaze as he bent down to create chaotic soundscapes with his guitar pedals, his storytelling was impeccable. Chaos incarnate, with plenty of range bouncing between styles!

Last of Eden

L.O.E, Last of Eden are the day’s first full and loud band performance. Playing many new songs for the first time from their upcoming second album, the performance was backed by on-screen animations and graphics to convey various stories – which is often hard to do in all instrumental post-rock. Big riffs, big hits, and big cheers, I’d say that it would be a surprise to see them in a venue this small again as their performance was impeccable. These guys might just be the next big band in the scene…

After a short interval giving everyone enough time to chow down on a roast dinner inside the very pub where the festival is happening, iamthemorning are ready to play. After being the support act for Marillion recently, touring with a full band, tonight’s show was back to just the duo doing what they do best. Singing about dead people and electro-shock therapy to slightly jazz-influenced classical piano arrangements that we’ve all come to love.

iamthemorning

Marjana Semkina’s dancing was infectious despite the concert being seated! She was singing with her whole body not her voice, even stepping into the audience at times to dance from behind and admire bandmate Gleb’s playing from afar like the rest of us.

Headliners of the day Fierce and the Dead turned the volume of the room back up with their heavy riffage. From melancholy to hard rock, they wouldn’t look out of place playing alongside bands like Clutch, and Green Lung. And albeit being a mostly post-rock style of band, the sprinklings of the on-stage mellotron leave some notes of ‘prog’ – as any mellotron does. It is of course, a dead giveaway.

The Fierce and the Dead

It shows that the musicians have been playing together for a while with how locked in their performance was – with no click to drive them! And having relatively recently added vocals to their already fantastic music, the only way from here is clearly up, and possibly also louder! And watching the sweaty band members shuffle off stage at the end of the night with smiles on their faces, I had a smile on my face too reflecting on the lovely day that I’d just had.

Whilst I’ve witnessed many September Sundays in my life, this was my first Sunday in September festival. The venue location, combined with the people, the food, and of course the music, it’s no wonder that this festival finds itself in its 4th year with no sense of slowing down. No, it’s no ArcTanGent where tens of thousands of people congregate to see the biggest bands in the progressive metal scene – but what it is, is an incredibly relaxed and easygoing way to spend one of your Sundays, in September.

With sister festival run by the same people on the way in December, Prog the Forest, featuring Theo Travis, Tim Bowness, and more, there may not be that long to wait before another one of these all-dayers.