Saturday 17 December 2011

Marillion - HMV Institute Birmingham

Full Set List



A lovely souvenir of the night - Thank You Stephanie!


The encores were equally impressive starting with 'The Invisible Man'from the excellent Marbles album. Then we had a surprise! 'h' said 'we are now going to play you a hit single' and we were treated to a rousing rendition of Kayleigh. Wellit was nearly Christmas after all and a rarity from a modern day Marillion set list for sure. The evening finished with Three Minute Boy.

Fans I spoke to said they had never seen 'h' sing with such intensity- A brilliant night.



The set continued some classic songs including King, Man of 1000 Faces, This Strange Engine and finishing with my altime favourites Afraid of Sunlight and the Neverland. What more could you possibly ask for?



Pete Trevawas joined Marillion in 1982 and also is a member of Progressive Rock supergroup Transatlantic.

Pete Trevawas



The set continued with 'Cover my eyes' and the wonderful and emotive 'King'.

Mark Kelly joined the band in 1981, replacing previous keyboardist Brian Jelliman.

Mark Kelly


Steve Rothery is the only member of Marillion's founding lineup who remains in the band to this day and is regarded by many fans of the band as providing their defining sound of Marillion. He is heavily influenced by Dave Gilmour of Pink Floyd and named Jeff Beck as his favourite guitarist.

Steve Rothery




Marillion opened up with 'Splintering Heart' from the 'Holidays in Eden' album which has a wonderful beat and showcases the emotional power of h's vocals.

Steve 'h' Hogarth


Before Marillion we had Tin Spirits.Formed in 2008 they included former XTC guitarist for some 20 years Dave Gregory. They played a couple of their own songs as well as some covers including a very impressive version of 'Tom Sawyer' by RUSH. Also as you might expect a version of XTC's 'Senses working overtime' from 1982.

Dave Gregory




Brilliant to see Marillion again who constantly keeping evolving yet remain below the radar for most people. Having said that there is an amzingly loyal and knowledgable army of fans who follow the band. It is very hard to actually pinpoint their genre of music; progressive rock possibly is the closest but there is so much more to them. In Steve Hogarth (h) you get amazing vocals, rich with power and passion. Wonderful guitar artistry from Steve Rothery. A rhythm section (Pete Trewavas on bass and Ian Mosley on drums) was really strong complementing the guitar and vocals well. Keyboard wizardy provided as always by Mark kelly.
There is a previous Marillion review in the blog archive July 2010.

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