Marillion Weekend
Théâtre L'Olympia, Montréal, Canada
3-5 April 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Seasons End
Set list
King Of Sunset Town
Easter
The Uninvited Guest
Seasons End
Holloway Girl
Berlin
After Me
Hooks In You
The Space
The Bell In The Sea
The Release
The Man From The Planet Marzipan
Essence
Asylum Satellite #1
Whatever Is Wrong With You
Happiness Is The Road
When I was re-introduced to Marillion back in 2004, I had always heard how amazing these so called ‘conventions’ were--the band plays 3 separate shows, 3 separate themes and set lists. I have also heard how when rabid Marillion fans get together, you’re immediately among friends. How true this is, indeed. I’m not very accustomed to making small talk with complete strangers, but the wallflower in me was completely set aside as I enjoyed what I can only describe as a magical weekend in Montreal.
Day #1 crawled by for me. I don’t know if it was the anticipation of my first Marillion concert, but I was antsy all day. The meet-n-greet at Montreal’s Brutopia made for a nice break in the day, and allowed me to meet some incredibly nice Marillion fans and even chat with their manager, Lucy Jordache. After a couple of hours at Brutopia, it was time to head to the concert hall for the first night. Oh, and what a first night it was.
After a short opening set by Sundomingo from Atlanta, the crowd became electric for what was to come next. I thought I could make a final pit stop before Marillion hit the stage, but halfway up the steps the house lights went down, the crowd lost their heads and I could hear the opening swirling vortex of sound, which marked the opening to “King Of Sunset Town”. I said, “I don’t have to go that badly,” and ran down to the floor. Spotlights rotate madly as the silhouettes of Steve Rothery, Pete Trewavas, Ian Mosley and Mark Kelly take their spots on stage. The quartet explodes with Rothery’s triumphant guitar solo shredding the hall, which causes the cheers and roars from the crowd to climb even higher. As the intro quiets down, out from between the drum riser and keyboards comes h to a wild reception, which forces a huge grin on his face.
Seasons End still sounds wonderful…and the band pulls it off flawlessly. Hogarth especially is in fine form on opening night. Commanding the attention and exhibiting an abundance of energy as he ping pongs from mic to keys and all over the stage. Easter has always been a favorite of mine, so it was extremely meaningful to get to hear it live and be a part of the cadence of claps at the end of the song. As they were re-creating the album, it would’ve been nice to have Hogarth play the keyboard parts that he played prior to the Anoraknophobia tour. Still, it didn’t take away the emotion and brilliance of that song. And even though Rothery can play that heart wrenching solo in his sleep, it’s great to hear it live. The two surprises of the first set, however, were the performances of Berlin and The Space. The latter shows up on so many of the FRC and official discs that after a while it starts to lose it’s impact. Not so when you’re there in the moment. My God, what a brilliant song! And Hogarth reaches back for the song’s emotional climax. Additionally, Berlin’s intensity is heightened when performed live. 20 years later its still razor sharp and Marillion executes it with precision on this night.
After performances of b-sides The Release and The Bell In The Sea, the band spends the rest of the evening showcasing songs from the marvelous new album Happiness Is The Road. The spacey introduction to The Man From The Planet Marzipan starts in as Hogarth comes stumbling out like a space alien dressed what can only be described as some sort of Eastern Indian formal wear. Many comments after the show wondered if he was simply boiling in the suit, but he never broke stride and performed like a true pro. The evening ended with the title track, with h sitting on one of the theater’s platforms that flanked both sides of the stage. An especially moving rendition of the title track and the crowd was really into it. The set ends with the entire crowd chanting, “Happiness is the road!” Night one ends, everyone’s exhausted…but there’s two more nights to go.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
1990-2009
Set List
This Train Is My Life
Somewhere Else
Real Tears For Sale
State Of Mind
The Damage
Genie
Fantastic Place
When I Meet God
Map Of The World
Legacy
Cathedral Wall
Estonia
Afraid Of Sunlight
Out Of This World
The Great Escape
No One Can
The Party
Cover My Eyes (Pain And Heaven)
Slainte Mhath
Garden Party
I will preface this by saying that if Marillion has performed a better set list, I’d like to hear it. Within the first 20 minutes they had performed 2 songs that I really wanted to hear (Somewhere Else and Real Tears For Sale). Starting from their newest disc and working their way backwards, tonight was a song from every album they’ve done since Steve Hogarth joined the band in 1989. Aside from hearing two songs that I just love, the next surprise was hearing the lovely State Of Mind, which hasn’t been performed live on the band’s last tour….and it sounds marvelous live. Hogarth especially sounded great.
The other song I wanted to hear was Fantastic Place, from the Marbles masterpiece. It wasn’t played at the European convention, but brought out for us….which is perfectly fine by me. Absolutely stunning performance! Loved it! As the set list progresses, it becomes clear that Marillion will drag some songs out of moth balls—the first being Anoraknophobia’s Map Of The World. I’ve always enjoyed this song (co-written with Nick Van Eede of Cutting Crew) and it seemed to get a warm reception from the crowd. Nothing could prepare us for the latter part of the first set, which could go down as one of the most memorable moments in live Marillion history (the other happened on the 3rd night, but more on that later).
A powerful moment was the original footage of the tragic death of Donald Campbell (who lost his life attempting a boating speed record) during the haunting Out Of This World, which is written in remembrance of him. Both the song and the footage visibly entranced the crowd. Not performed in Europe, the band played “Afraid Of Sunlight”, which happens to be another song that I’ve always wanted to hear live…and it was a stunner. STUNNER! After the song’s completion, the crowd responds with a extended ovation that visibly left the band both elated and stunned. The crowd only got stronger as the cheers and roars got louder. You could lip read a member looking at one another and comment on how loud it was. After the crowd finally settled down, the band pulls out another NA only addition in The Great Escape.
The band comes back out and performs No One Can after many years left in the vault. I don’t think it’s a particularly favorite song on the band, but it was fun to hear. After Holidays In Eden’s representatives were completed, it was time to go way back into the catalog with a couple of Fish era tunes. Hogarth finishes off especially strong, leading the audience in claps and chants. A particularly funny part during Garden Party when h sneaks behind Mark Kelly and gets him to sheepishly sing ‘violins’ for the “Swooping swallows…” section, but gets a very evil smirk from Rothers as Hogarth attempts to get him to sing the next line. He either doesn’t know the line, or will not sing under any circumstances. Everyone in the hall had a blast this night—crowd and band alike. Easily the best of the 3 nights.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Epics
A Few Words For The Dead
This Town / The Rakes Progress / 100 Nights
This Is The 21 Century
Ocean Cloud
If My Heart Were a Ball It Would Roll Uphill
Interior Lulu
Kayleigh
Lavender
Heart Of Lothian
The Invisible Man
This Strange Engine
Neverland
Many have said that this was the most bizarre gig Marillion have ever played. Not that I have anything to base it from, but I could easily agree. It began brilliantly with A Few Words For The Dead; however, during The Rakes Progress it was clear that Rothery’s guitar wasn’t up enough, which seemed to agitate Pete to the point that he yelled, “We can’t hear the guitar. Please turn up to the guitar!” That’s not all that bizarre, I agree. The evening just took on a strange tone from that moment on.
Perhaps you’ve seen the YouTube clip of Marillion’s country song. Just innocently jamming between songs, it turned into a tribute to Brokeback Mountain that got everyone laughing, but causing h to apologize to any of the ‘gay guys’ in the audience. A very lighthearted moment, but odd nonetheless.
So, the set continues with Ocean Cloud, which received another thunderous applause that rivaled the previous nights (but fell short…which you couldn’t tell by the stunned looks on Marillion’s faces). Rarities like a blistering version of Interior Lulu and Kayleigh/Lavender/Heart Of Lothian were resurrected after years in exile, much to the delight of the crowd. First set over. In the books. Done. Now, this is where it really gets weird.
Band re-emerges for one of my favorites, The Invisible Man. A wrong sound sample triggered by Mark Kelly is the only blemish during this. That (and everything) is overshadowed by Hogarth’s dramatic interpretation of the main character. Really is something to see the theatrical side of Hogarth as he acts out the song’s lyrics.
Now, from watching the DVD’s, I know whenever Rothery straps on the black Strat, they’re doing a pre-Anoraknophobia tune. With that and h wielding his cricket bat, I knew a dream of mine would be realized: to be at a Marillion show when they do This Strange Engine. Sure enough, I hear, “There was a boy who came into this world…” and I was ecstatic. From an otherwise forgettable album, This Strange Engine is easily one of their best songs and a crowd favorite. As the song’s pace begins to quicken you could tell that something was amiss…it was the cricket bat. Hogarth and a stage hand battle with this thing for what seemed to be an eternity. Keys being pressed and horrible sounds coming out, the song was taking a downward spiral and h was visibly upset. So much so that in a fit of rage, he takes the cricket bat from around his neck and slams it to the ground and it skips off stage. He then attempts to use his keyboard as a replacement, but it too produces a horrible sound. This song means something to h, so you could tell that this upset him a great deal. I (along with everyone else) battled with feelings of sympathy and uneasiness as we looked on. He just sort of strolled over to one of Pete’s basses and acted as if he was impaled by the head of the bass. After that, he simply sat on the drum riser with his head in his hands, but we were there for him as the hall erupted into a thunderous applause as if to tell him that everything will be OK. The crowd is still behind the band. So, as I am watching Rothery’s amazing solo, I notice something out of the corner of my left eye. I look over and it’s Hogarth crowd surfing and headed right towards me. I quickly step over to help him. He is carried all the way to the back of the hall and I had time to take a quick shot before heading right back at me. I quickly had to step over and help him back to the stage. The events of the past 5+ minutes became the talk of the night and for the following week. This could’ve easily been disastrous; however, h took a negative and turned it into a positive. The crowd loved it!
Night #3 ended with the triumphant and awe-inspiring Neverland. After what had plagued the band all night, they closed out with a searing version of this instant classic. A perfect way to draw the first ever Marillion Convention in North America to a close.
The days subsequent to the convention have been very strange. I (along with many others, as evident from the online forum at marillion.com) am having a tough time letting this go. To describe this weekend in mere words is impossible. My imagination has boundaries for events like this. I can say, “Oh man, the weekend was so awesome!”, but it doesn’t quite do it justice. What’s a word that goes well beyond awesome? You tell me, and it still wouldn’t be enough. The performances aside, the formation of new friendships and the experiences I had from Thursday to Monday will be with me forever. Per my opening statement, I had always heard about how special these weekends are. Now I know. It’s indescribable. I hope it impacted the band as much as it did us because we need another one over here in 2011. I have feelings of ‘needing’ to get back more than ‘wanting’. If there are Marillion fans that have always wanted to attend, but passed, all I can tell you is do yourself a favor and go. You will be so glad you did.
Edited by E-Dub - April 13 2009 at 22:26
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Marillion Weekend - Montreal
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