After weeks of careful planning and getting ready, it was almost time to start packing for my train trip down to Germany, excited to see one of my favourite bands again, to take the night train, to meet friends and to visit new places, some of which I have treasured under the form of postcards since my high school days. But… just hours before my departure, because German train driver unions decided to go on strike, my train got cancelled so my 30 seconds of panic were overcome only by the thought that nothing and no one will stand between me and seeing Marillion play live. 15 minutes later my train was rebooked, my holiday rescheduled and my hotel bookings replanned. And the following day after this tiny emotional rollercoaster, I boarded the night train to Hamburg, excited and nervous, and listening to This Train Is My Life on repeat. With my schedule re-shuffled, I had one morning and early afternoon to explore Hamburg, and I chose to go see Miniatur Wunderland, where I really felt like I was in wonderland. Maybe I will write more on that in another post. Maybe not. Soon after, it was time to board my next train to Bremen to catch up with people I haven’t seen in years, laugh, talk, and see bits of the city. This was a brief visit, as the next day I was already on another train heading to Köln. Even if DB managed to delay and re-route the train twice, I was feeling the excitement of approaching Köln. Yes, it was the city where I was going to attend the concert, but it is also home to something that I’ve dreamt of visiting since I was a kid. I kept a postcard I received through mail among my closest and dearest belongings. I kept looking at it thinking that I was going to see it one day. And that day finally came. And in the pouring rain I spent 10 minutes staring at the Köln dome like it was the most amazing cathedral I had ever seen. I am a sucker for gothic architecture, but standing in front of it in the cold, torrential Autumn rain, lit by spotlights, I felt tiny and overwhelmed. And happy. I continued to the hotel, which I specifically booked close to the concert venue, enjoyed a nice dinner that I booked at a place near by (it’s called Shi and the food was delicious), and went to bed early. The second day in Köln was spent visiting the cathedral and wandering the streets, just until it was time to get ready for the concert.

It is amazing how, on a concert day, you see audience members flow down streets from public transportation stations, taxis, bike parkings or simply by walking, drawn to the night. You know where they are going, they know where you are going, you don’t talk but you understand that you are there for the same thing. The venue: Palladium. Huge hall, standing concert, bad visibility from the back, the side view restricted by columns that hold balconies that were not opened for the public. A (somewhat empty) “golden circle” section kept us a bit to the back. People had been there for hours waiting excitedly. I managed to sneak in between some groups to a place from where I could see the stage, and from where I knew that I could sneak in further and deeper into the crowd as the concert went along. A melodic, though a bit depressive opening act (iamthemorning) tried to get us in the mood for Marillion, not that it was needed, but it’s always nice to listen to new music as Marillion has a habit of touring with interesting artists that sound good. Then around 9 pm it was time for the band to go on stage.

They started, as in every gig of this tour, with The Invisible Man which comes with a very theatrical performance. I liked it as an opening piece, it is a good hook to get people into the moment. It was followed by Easter, which probably came a bit too early in the setlist. This song is usually a crowd-pleaser, but this time I feel it didn’t get enough attention from us, as it obviously deserves. After Mr. h’s Summer gigs in Sweden, I got stuck on quite a lot of songs, Sounds that Can’t Be Made being one of them. I was so happy to hear it live again. I think that one of the nice things about the Marillion concerts, for me, is that I don’t know all of their songs, a few of them always catch my attention because they sound unfamiliar, or I haven’t listened to them enough. This was Sounds… last Summer, and Beyond You this time, alongside Lucky Man, Splintering Heart and King, which I know that I’ve listened to but they never caught on or not like Map of the World, the following song, did from the first time I heard it years ago. On to Reprogram the Gene and here we were listening to songs from their latest album, which will soon turn two. It’s unreal that two years have passed already and that the band announced that next year they will start working on new material. Quartz was the song where I finally took out my phone and started taking some pictures. The good thing about it is that it had a really nice background on the screen behind the band, the not so good thing about it is that it’s not one of my favourite tracks, however, people seem to enjoy it quite a bit. It’s nice to have close to ten minutes to observe other aspects of the event rather than taking in every sound coming from the direction of the stage. The Crow and the Nightingale, an emotional ballad with beautiful lyrics and a scent of Leonard Cohen, also coming from their latest album, led us to Care, a four-parts track that closes An Hour Before It’s Dark, the same album released in 2022, a beautiful melodic piece that flows with emotions, carried by the keyboards and h’s voice, with powerful lyrics and a wholesome composition. Or at least that’s how I perceive it. And I totally fell for it after listening to its last part at Mr. h’s gigs last Summer, where you could hear the raw melody of Angels on Earth delivered by only his voice and some piano chords.

And then it was time for the first encore: Splintering Heart and, to my joy, Neverland, played after Mr. h told us that they would have liked to play Gaza on this tour, but chose not to, as to not bring everyone down. I already added the first track to the list of songs that I was not very familiar with, but Neverland is another story. From the first notes, to the lights, to the lyrics, the piano part, having the chance last Summer to hear the story of how the song was written, the audience’s total silence, almost no phone in sight, everyone listening, and the explosion of cheer after Steve Rothery’s guitar part and after the song’s ending. Definitely one of their best live pieces. And one of the songs that yes, I got stuck to after hearing it live for the first time. Because you cannot truly like it until you hear it live. I was totally lost in it.

Quick break for us to cheer and demand more, and after a short fun jam of Seven Nation Army, we got King as an evening closure. A very rock’n’roll piece to close with, a performance that sees Mr. h grabbing a guitar and joining in on the fun alongside Steve Rothery, Mark Kelly, Pete Trewavas and Ian Mosley. And it was over. How did a bit more than two hours pass so fast, I have no clue. It was a great setlist, and yet I know that I would have liked to hear so many more songs. I think that’s the fun thing about the Marillion weekends: you always know that you may get a second chance to hear a favourite, but not in one-evening events. In this situation you need to settle for what you get. After the last goodbyes and thank yous and a nudge to get back to where we belonged, it was time to go home, or to the hotel, same one for many of us, trying to walk back into the life of a regular evening, but knowing that this was nothing close to a regular evening, not even a regular day or a regular trip.

I departed Köln the next day, after a lazy morning at the hotel and a last glimpse at the dome from its front, its side, the Starbucks café while taking shelter from the rain, and the train window. I boarded a train going back to Hamburg thinking to myself: what a fantastic place I visited!