There was a certain silence in the breakfast room at the hotel on Wednesday morning. The usual plans of what to do on that day were replaced with conversations of the train schedule to Amsterdam Schiphol airport, hugs and promises to meet again in Pompeii. Yet there was so much warmth and friendship still. 

Most people arrived in Utrecht with a certain delay. As Friday morning unfolded, many started to post details about flights, trains, useful info and photos of the venue: Grote Zaal in TivoliVredenburg.

Saturday morning the city was buzzing. Christmas shoppers, youngsters enjoying coffee, decorations and the usual question: I wonder who is here for the same reason as me? The hotel was full of familiar faces, people you meet in other hotels and see at other concerts or those who are actively posting in FaceBook groups. You don’t know their names but you know them. No way of clearly identifying each-other until we all receive the event bracelet. That’s if you don’t see the t-shirts. As the daylight and some weak traces of the sun sunk into a cloudy misty evening, the excitement grew. There was a long queue going around the buildings near the venue. The event on FaceBook was buzzing with posts. It was time.

I made my way to the venue quite late. By the time I spotted an empty seat on the last row, the opening act (Tom Waters) had already started. The place is absolutely amazing. As it was free seating, and as I got there quite late, I was worried that I wouldn’t get a good view. I got a great view. I could see the whole stage, the light show and the reaction of the people. The audience was amazing: not too many phones up, not too much moving around to get drinks. The setlist: Marbles (for the 4th time this year). The good thing about hearing this album live is that it’s a very good record. It also has some of my favourite songs on it, so hearing You’re Gone and Neverland again and again is a bliss. The band usually diversifies things a bit by playing some tracks from other albums, on this evening those being Cannibal Surf Babe (which Steve R. stopped because something didn’t sound right, creating a lot of room for puns), Man of a Thousand Faces, King and Sugar Mice (which as always was mostly sung by the crowd). And the evening ended with Marbles IV and the beautiful transition to Neverland. It was not easy going back to the hotel after such an evening but I knew that we had 3 more evenings of magic, plus I was exhausted from walking around Utrecht and visiting the railway museum. 

Sunday was the second day when we’d get a similar setlist as at all of the other 2025 weekends. I managed to get to the venue earlier and, by luck, I ended finding a front seat and even find great company. Haunt the Woods was the opening act and they captured us with their music and the last number that they performed from the middle of the crowd. The guys’ performance was impressive and they left us in the right mood for more good music. What followed though was out of this world. Though having heard most songs in almost the same order in Paris, Padova and Oslo, the evening unfolded to the best Marillion live performance I’ve ever witnessed. There is not much more to say because there are no other words which would do justice to that evening. It all just fell into place in such a way… no tech issues, amazing coordination and communication between the band and crew, a wonderful and natural flow. Wait, I know: I don’t think I’ve ever heard The Great Escape sounding better. From the emotion in h’s voice to the moaning guitar. Many standing ovations and a lot of content from the band as well, who also realised that they were simply on fire. The evening ended with Three Minute Boy and a lot of us who would have loved the evening to go on and on. But this time, again, the thought of two more evenings with the amazing Marillion would make it easier to get back to the hotel.

The whole trip caught me very tired, so tired that I made a habit out of going down to breakfast, and even though I had coffee, right after I’d go back to my room and sleep a few more hours. I also discovered a great coffee place (Coffeecompany) so right after lunch I’d walk the streets and go and enjoy a creamy and delicious cappuccino, either on the spot or takeaway. I also explored the shopping mall the hotel was located in and got nerdly excited by seeing the lego version of the Enterprise D, Picard’s Enterprise. Out of all the places in the food court I noticed a gyros place (The Gyros Bar) that always had a queue, and trusted it every evening for dinner. And it was delicious! I was also happy I got a hotel so close to the venue. Their breakfast was varied, tasty and the feeling of coming down to breakfast in a room full of people who were there for the same reason gave a very pleasant sensation of community and similar interests.

Monday was a break day for the band, so instead of playing for us they took the time to do an ”audience with the band”. But before this audience, I went and hanged out a bit with a bunch of cool people from all over the world (even Australia) and Mark Kelly, who was kind enough to gather his Patreon subscribers for a short chat, answered our questions and took photos with us. And the place we chose even had a cat who came to us to inspect, supurrvise but not socialise, yet it managed to draw our attention for a few moments. The event itself, besides the excitement of meeting Mark, also offered me the chance to talk to other fans and share our Marillion experience. It was short but very pleasant. And riding the positive energy of such a happening I went on to watch the audience with the band.

This is the evening when all the countries represented at the event get a shoutout. Lucy (manager and master of events) made it clear that we are cheering for the people, not the politicians. Yay for Romania, I was not the only one. People that travelled from far away got a lot of cheers, everyone cheered for everyone and Ukraine got a long and respectful cheer. Then we spent 40-45 minutes hearing the band talk about their new album, seeing them open presents, hearing answers to questions that Lucy collected from fans in advance, and other fun things like the band signing balls and throwing them into the crowd or fans being  rewarded with a photo with the band for whatever reasons: from traveling from Australia to their Marillion story. The evening ended with a concert by French band Lazuli.

The last night was the one when I actually queued before the doors opened. People had already became frustrated with the attitude of some in the queue. I don’t really understand why, as the venue had great visibility from all rows but I can understand that everyone wanted to be as close to the stage as possible. The opening act was none other than Marillion’s own tech Euan Hammond. Though a bit too poppy for my taste, he made me think of a combination of James Bay and Ed Sheeran. His stage presence was fun and his excitement was contagious. I believe he really made people get into the mood of the evening and proved to be quite an entertainer. 

Marillion started with Splintering Heart. But while the band were on stage and we could hear mr h from in front of us, we were surprised and amused to see him hanging on one of the venue’s balconies, to the delight of those closer to the spot. And to make things even better, the second song was El Dorado, which was perfect. This Town, The Rake’s Progress and 100 Nights got us out of the loom and gloom and depth of El Dorado just to be thrown in an ice cold bath by Gaza (with tech spoiler from Mark’s side). Like The New Kings, Gaza is a song that is incredibly actual, though released on an album from 2012 (and what an album). It’s full of energy and melancholy and proof that Marillion can easily flirt with heavier stuff. I mean that image of h rocking his guitar was mind-blowing, but again the whole performance was. And then, to everyone’s delight, the first last song of the evening was This Strange Engine, which is a storytelling masterpiece and a fabulous musical piece. 

Before the weekend started it was made known to us from different sides that the last evening will bring something totally different than the previous Dutch weekend from Port Zélande. The anticipation was deafening. On the previous evening, when we met Mark, he teased us with the topic but offered no spoilers. And though they didn’t play a song I wanted to hear, right about after TSE I just couldn’t believe that I got to hear all of these songs.

The encore started with the whole Care, another song full of meaning and emotions, and then we got to hear The Leavers, sprinkled with forgotten lyrics and tech issues, but the best finale for the last weekend of the year. Since the events are only scheduled to happen every other year, and knowing the meaning of The Leavers, the song fell right into place, and drowned the hall, audience and band, in confetti. But since the evening could not end on a heartfelt tone, the last encore brought to us Garden Party, the band’s most played live song. I am a fan of the video more than of the song itself, but the band seem to enjoy playing it and it is a crowd pleaser. Everyone was singing along, dancing and clapping. If I were to use one word to describe this evening that word would be ”intense”. 

And just like that, even though one by one there were 21 pieces, taken all together on narrative and composition, Marillion entertained us for a whole evening, a bit over two hours, as always, with only 8 songs. But the end of this last evening hit us all with the reality of the end of the event. A short walk to the hotel, packing, an attempt to enjoy the adrenaline of the moment but ignore the empty space in your stomach led me to the breakfast room goodbyes of the morning after. A weekend, a convention, a gathering of people, call it what you will, the music brought us together. I am sure that on the spot I noticed way more details than what I managed to capture in this post but I don’t have the space and capacity to remember everything. Some things will remain in that concert hall. It took me almost a week after the event to put this post together anyway. I had to sleep on it, metaphorically and literally as the tiredness of the trip, gloomy December and vacation feeling left a mark on me. I am sure that whatever I’ve forgotten will eventually surface and make me smile.