LIVE IN CARACAS

After having listened to "Live at the Borderline" (a semi-boot available for review on PA), I was expecting the worse when I saw the setlist.

"Script For A Jester's Tear" performed by Hogarth ! Well, actually he is doing relatively well during this particuarly difficult excercise. Of course he doesn't have the same powerful yet subtle tone of voice as Fish has. The band also seems a bit hesitant (there has been quite a time they didn't play it live).

We'll get the traditional trilogy from "Misplaced" already available on the dreadful "Borderline". Here again these versions are quite superior (which is not too difficult of course). But I will always believe that "Kayleigh" is so personal to Fish that is too much of a chalenge (for Hogarth or anybody else actually) to bring the sufficient level of emotion required while interpreting this beautiful song.

No less than eight genuine Marillion songs on this live release, although that Mark II has already produced two studio albums after the dramatic departure of their frontman. I guess that five years after the clash, the audience was still keen on listening to the previous repertoire (which is easily understandable while you know what came next).

Mark II songs sound a bit better while played live; gaining a bit of energy when compared with their almost uniform tone on their studio counterpart. Whatever the number.

So, this is not a bad live album, actually. Nothing brilliant of course. Just above the status of being for collectors. I rate this work with three stars.

A live release from the Holidays In Eden tour, Live in Caracas was one of the first official live releases from the Steve Hogarth-fronted era of Marillion. It seems the band were still very reliant on Fish-era material to fill out the live set at this point of their career - though that said, perhaps for this one they decided to up the level of Fish stuff for the South American audience, who might not have had that many chances to hear it live with Fish. The future of the band is beginning to hover into focus, though - in a little bit of scatting to Rothery's acoustic guitar between Script for a Jester's Tear and Easter, H teases the opening lyrics to Living With the Big Lie from the forthcoming Brave.

Still, in terms of the performances here the band make a good effort - it's certainly one of the better live shows from the Eden period I've heard. Hogarth handles the Fish-era stuff well - though I'm inclined to agree with ZowieZiggy that H doesn't seem to "feel" the Misplaced Childhood tracks; he seems more comfortable with the Clutching at Straws material, in fact. The Holidays In Eden tracks on here are well-chosen and much improved for a year's worth of refinement on the road, so on the whole I'd say that this is a decent live release which holds up well next to the two Holidays-period shows on the Official Bootleg boxed set. That said, at points H sounds a bit tired and the band seem to be simply offering a lo-fi runthrough of the studio versions of the songs.