Marillion. Cardiff
Students Union Great Hall
Sunday 9th
September 2012
Mr Lazland, Mrs Lazland, and Lazland Junior (attending his
first ever gig) went to see the first gig of the European leg of the Sounds
That Can’t Be Made tour. The pre-ordered deluxe case CD & DVD had finally
arrived in the post on the Saturday, leaving me only a day to obsess and get
used to the new stuff prior to the gig.
On the Sunday morning, I had woken up with raging toothache,
feeling utterly miserable. Thus a day of taking paracetamol, pro-codemol, and
the special “happy pill” anti inflammatories had rendered me incapable of
having any alcohol for the day. This was gearing up to be the most sober gig in
history!
Anyhow, at least said happy pills enabled me to go to the
gig feeling relatively normal, and we arrived to queue at about ten minutes prior
to doors opening, greeted by a huge queue. This was also the focus of a fair
bit of stress. Because, you see, crazy licensing laws in the dear old UK
(introduced by the last government), meant that the venue was “strictly over-14’s
only”. Lazland Junior is a mere 11 years old. We dressed him up in a 13-14 year
old sweatshirt, told him to put on his best stroppy teenager pout (not
difficult), and, above all, keep his trap shut. As it was, we got him in
without any questions being asked by the burly security detail, and I even
blagged a seat for my wife in the balcony.
The venue is a small one, perhaps holding a couple of
thousand, and looked to be virtually sold out. The support act was The
Reasoning, a Welsh band, and they were ten minutes into their set when we
eventually got in. I like this band, and their set was a lively one promoting
their brand of heavy classic rock and light prog.
Marillion haven’t played in Wales for some time. There was,
therefore, a massive buzz around the venue when the equipment was being set up.
The lights dimmed, and the band arrived to the sound of the opening passages of
Gaza, the new seventeen minute epic, blasting out of the speakers. Hogarth was
wearing a fetching white t-shirt with the old CND peace logo on it. Gaza is an
incredible piece of music, intricate, complex, full of changing soundscapes,
and yet you felt that it had been played live every night for the past ten
years, it was that good. When Hogarth belted out the injustice of living like
this “just ain’t right”, the hairs on the back of the neck stood up.
The one thing that was utterly clear from the outset was
just how good the venue was acoustically. You could hear everything so clearly,
and I swear that Ian Mosley has never sounded better on drums, he was belting
the damned things in a glorious cacophony of noise. Also, from the start, you
heard and saw just how well the others were playing. Rothery is back on
imperious form, Kelly has probably never had a better album than this one, Trewavas
is the glue holding it all together, whilst Hogarth is my hero, simple as. The
crowd adored him, and there was barely a bum note at all.
You’re Gone followed, which was a rousing bit of fun. The
next pleasant surprise was the exceptional playing of the This Town trio of
tracks that formed the back of Holidays in Eden. Utterly brilliant, and, by
this time, my lovely wife was wondering just why the hell she had never liked
Marillion! There was the usual Marillion “start of tour glitch” when Kelly’s
keys and various machines decided to pack in, so we were treated to the
extremely funny, and successful, sight and sound of Trewavas improvising those
parts on his bass!
The exceptional title track from the new album followed,
which saw Kelly’s machines restored – a good job, because his swirling sounds
are utterly at the heart of the track. Wonderfully performed, and very well
received by an appreciative audience, which, I am glad to report, had a great
mix of age and gender.
The Other Half was followed by H introducing the next track –
“something we don’t normally do halfway through a show”. It was the colossal Neverland,
and I swear I have never heard it sound so good. It was enough to leave us all
speechless at the end. Rothery was simply exceptional, those guitar bursts
making the hairs on the back of the neck stand up, with Hogarth acting the part
for the entire world as if his life depended upon it.
How the hell do you follow this, the track generally accepted
as being amongst the strongest ever produced by this band? Well, with another very pleasant
surprise, A Voice From The Past from Somewhere Else, an album which really
suffered from following up Marbles, and is a sight better than a lot of fans
give credit. As Hogarth explained, it is dedicated to the memory of John
Lennon, and it was a joy to hear live for the first time in my case.
Power, the most overtly commercial track from the new album
followed, and I can confirm that it is as good live as suggested by the YouTube
videos posted suggested. I like the studio version, but live it takes on an
altogether different hue.
The gorgeous, moving Fantastic Place followed. Recent live
performances of this have left me a bit cold, almost as if the band were doing
it “by numbers”. Not tonight. Hogarth virtually moved us to tears with his
rendition, and Rothery’s solo was bang on the button.
The highlight of Happiness Is The Road, the sublime Real
Tears For Sale followed, and this was a supreme performance of a powerful piece
of music. At the start, H asked his colleagues whether he should be standing,
or sitting at the piano for this track. Rothery wandered over to him and
whispered in his ear, whereupon H said he had just been sacked and asked the
audience what time the first bus back home was. Mrs Lazland remarked to me afterwards
she never really, until this night, appreciated just how warm, funny, and
emotional the band were, with the incredible connection they have with an
audience. Her only previous experience of the band live was a poor seat at
Wolverhampton Civic Hall, where the acoustics were also very bad. This venue
suited the band, and her, a lot better.
Perhaps surprisingly, the highlight of the show was the
final piece from the new album, the lovely, moving testimony of a relationship
breakdown, The Sky Above The Rain. Beautifully performed, it is set, for me, to
become a classic Marillion track, and this dripping emotion from the entire
band put paid once and for all for my wife the myth that progressive rock has
no emotion, and is suitable only for geeks and saddos.
The final track of the main set was the timeless The Great
Escape. My son adores this track and he was going suitably bonkers. It was as
good as it ever was.
The first encore really took me, and a lot of others, by
surprise. It was the very thoughtful, underplayed, and sublime A Few Words For
The Dead from the criminally underrated Radiation. It was the first time I had
heard this live since that tour, and it really was a marvellous treat. How many
other bands would play this as an encore?
The band returned after more entreaties, with the curfew of
11.00 p.m. fast approaching, to play two more tracks. The first was Sugar Mice –
yes, that’s right, a Fish track, played brilliantly, without any apologies from
Hogarth (as reported elsewhere), and welcomed with near frenzy by the crowd. We
sang along to each word, and H, by the way, is better at singing this than the
big man himself. I’ve also never seen Rothery smile so much in all my life.
Closer was the frenetic, and hugely enjoyable, romp that is
Between You And Me. By this time, of course, H had the crowd wrapped around his
little finger.
In closing, this was a great gig. We all had a fantastic
time, and I hope it isn’t too long before the boys return to Wales. I would
also make one last observation – the break between HITR and STCBM has done them
a lot of good. Those creative juices are well and truly evident on the new
material, and they look and sound as if they love playing with each other
making great music.
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Marillion 9 September 2012
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