A fairly intimate gathering in the Half Moon, a venue tucked away in South-West London's Putney district, greeted three groups of musicians who seemed rather unsure of why they were to play in the planned order. The groups, like many in the crowd, knew each other from many other events and were more like peers than headline and support acts.

Iain Archer rarely plays an entirely solo set these days, so it was no surprise to see him joined by a bassist, drummer, backing vocalist, and percussion/oboe player. The group was obviously having fun playing together as they explored a groove-based take on acoustic material. It's been a while now since Archer's last release and so only two of the tracks, "Crazy Bird" and "Baring Star," have seen the light of day on CD. The first of these was probably the highlight of the set, showing off Archer's effortless acoustic guitar playing and ending with a jazzy jam session. Overall, however, the set seemed to lack some focus and it would be good to hear some of the songs tightened up.

Most of the crowd were present in anticipation of Bell Jar's set. Despite a fairly relaxed concert schedule, the band has come a long way in the last few months and there was definitely more energy in the material than last time they played a London venue. Mike Simpson (ex-Eden Burning, now Kato) joined the group to add some welcome percussion to the sophisticated jazzy pop. Most of the material was from the band's debut album, Secret Volcanoes, but some new pieces showed that their first ten songs are no flash-in-the-pan. The crowd seemed to enjoy the set and it was a well put together collection of songs which showed the experience and talent of the band.

Flow ended the evening with another convincing performance. Not quite as energetic as they had been at their recent show in Camden, it was still good to hear a little more material this time out. Helen Ward leads the band well on stage and recent material like "Icarus Girl" went down well with a crowd which by this time was fairly sizeable.

The Half Moon has become a venue which regularly sees performances from artists with strong Christian connections, largely thanks to the influence of VoL's UK agent (this event's promotor), Jonathan Mark "JJ" Johnson. The atmosphere was good as ever, with little division between artists and audience as all the artists stayed to listen to their friends in the other acts. All of this combined to produce a lively evening of quality music.