If you’re looking for a moment to sum this up (and, actually it sums up Marillion as a whole, not just this gig in particular) then try this: Steve Hogarth is standing at the front of the stage with whatever bit of kit it is he plays that looks like a cricket bat (I’ve never bothered to check) and he says: “This is the sort of musical instrument you have to believe in fully…..” he never gets to finish as someone in the crowd yells back “We believe!”. Hogarth shoots back: “Welcome to the church, brother”.
Knockabout stuff it might be, but it holds a truth. Marillion are unique. Not a word I’m using flippantly. They haven’t had a “hit” since 1987, not really, and they don’t play them anyway, they are not mainstream, and yet….. yet there are 4000 people crammed in here to worship. And given the quiet, almost reverent, atmosphere as they play that’s not a casual description.
So, how do they do it? Well at the bottom line, it’s simple: they are the best at what they do and they are utterly sensational live.
It’s an immersive experience, slightly theatrical (witness the opening of “The Invisible Man” with Hogarth at his incomparable best flashing on the big screen) and with stunning musicianship, a wonderful light show and great songs.
“Easter” is exactly that – and the only song from the 80s – and it is proof that the best things never date. “Sounds That Cannot Be Made” uses the big screen magnificently, and they’ve dusted off “Fantastic Place”.
Last year they released the “An Hour Before It’s Dark” record. In my opinion, the best anyone, anywhere, has put out in a decade, and “Reprogram The Gene” – its best moment – proves why. About the climate crisis, it’s everything that music should be, but so seldom is.
“Lucky Man” is a lighter moment – “H” had earlier said that we “should never feel sorry for anyone onstage” – and “Quartz” is a highlight, before another costume change for the frontman and “The Crow And The Nightingale”.
The main set finishes with “Care” in full, and it’s a showstopper. A genuine piece of brilliance that can only happen with the sort of sixth sense that these men have, and more to the point Steve Rother is surely one of the most underrated guitarists around. He is brilliant throughout, but never better than here.
Of course, they encore. Twice, as ever. “Splintered Heart” and an epic “Neverland in the first one, before they come back again for “King” (“It is about being famous and how fantastic it is” sneers Hogarth with irony). The big screen flashes up footage of dead stars of stage, screen and music, and its closing cacophony as a real maelstrom of darkness. It makes for a stark ending.
Earlier Hogarth had said that “it was a miracle, that we’re here and that you’re here” and he’d added: “No band is together with its fans like us”.
He’s right, that’s obvious, but it’s worth just thinking for a minute about why the people keep coming back (and I’ve personally seen the band four times in 14 months) and, in honesty it’s simple and it’s not just a case of “if you’re in, you’re in” rather I’d contend it’s because people know they are going to watch genius at work. And that’s not too strong a phrase.
ALL PHOTOS COURTESY RICH WARD
