After last year’s experience in Stockholm, I really wanted to attend a Marillion weekend again. And since beautiful music is hard to say no to, here I was starting my Summer holiday with a trip to Berlin. First time visiting the city but all I could think about were the two live gigs that the weekend would bring. I got in the mood of it all quite fast, even before taking off from Stockholm, because on the flight I ran into other people going to the event – easily recognisable by the Marillion t-shirts. And then I giggled every time I saw a Marillion t-shirt on the streets of Berlin, thinking to myself “I know what you are doing here”.
So after a day of taking in as much as the city has to offer (lots of history, culture, good food and angry museum guards), it was time to attend the first evening. With a vague idea of what they were playing during these weekends, there I was ready to take in the music. And I had a lot to take in.
On the first evening they started with songs from An Hour Before It’s Dark, and for the third time I saw them start a gig with Be Hard on Yourself. Since they didn’t dedicate a whole evening to this album, as they did at the gigs I attended last year, they scrambled the order of the songs and jumped to Only a Kiss and Murder Machines straight after, to continue with Reprogram the Gene. So far so good, I was very well acquainted to all of the songs. Afterwards they played Fantastic Place, and ever since then this song is on repeat on my Spotify. Then they played Map of the World, which happens to be one of their songs that my brother introduced me to, and one of my favourites from them, so you can imagine that seeing them play it live was an absolute joy. No One Can followed, and it was dedicated to a couple that were in the audience. I think this song is what started the whole Marillion interest in our household, through my sister. They took us on a journey through all of their discography, which I promised myself to go in depth with in full sometimes at the beginning of the year, and I am still working on it. If you wonder why, it is mostly because I listen to an album and I get stuck on it for a few weeks in a row. Shuffeling through their catalogue is no longer an option. Afraid of Sunlight was lovely, and so was White Paper. They spoiled the veteran troops of fans with Warm Wet Circles and That Time of The Night. Even though I was fairly young when this album came out, I was more than happy that they included these songs in their setlist (yes, they are from an album that I already got stuck on) and I was impressed how good they sound with Steve “h” Hogarth taking care of vocals, and how thrilled the fans get, even from the first chord. They ended the first evening with two encores: during the first one they played Care, and for the second one they played Berlin, which was a bit… self-explanatory. First night in a wrap: I didn’t know one song.
The second evening came after a day of walking around in a warm Berlin and climbing all the way to the top of the Victory Column. I had my encounter with German security again, this time because my backpack was too big to be taken into the concert venue. As a note: it’s the type of small backpacks that fit a bottle of water and a sweater. Before I got more annoyed with the security guard, I went to another door where both me and my backpack got the green light to attend the concert. The evening started with the traditional An Audience With, the part of the weekend when the band sit on stage, answer questions, play games, when the audience get to cheer when hearing the name of the country they come from, and when special fans get to be rewarded for their loyalty, usually with a photo with the band, which is like a cherry on the top of it all. The setlist debuted with a trip down memory lane all the way to Brave, which is the album that started it all for me. I must admit that this evening brought more songs from albums that I didn’t have the chance to listen carefully to yet, however, I knew that I need to have patience because Sierra Leone was going to pop in the setlist at a certain moment, which it did. I still believe this is one of their best live pieces. One of the cool things about Marillion gigs is that you get a lot of good music, and bits and pieces of the stories that stand behind them. The story about the train ride that inspired This Train Is My Life reminded me of all the train rides that I took late at night, watching cities pass one after the other, most of the times on my way home. But it also reminded me of watching trains pass in the night, seeing them somewhere far away and hearing the rumbling of their wheels on the tracks. The evening ended with The Leavers, a five-part song from their 2016 F.E.A.R. album, almost 20 minutes of extraordinary work, and one of those songs in which the parts don’t make sense on their own, you’d have to listen to it all to truly listen to it.
What is Marillion like? That is hard to put in words, because you cannot fully describe music. It’s emotional, political, sometimes even brutal, relatable and captivating. What it is like seeing them live: it is probably one of the best live bands I have ever seen. I am still convinced that their gig in Stuttgart last Autumn was the best live gig I’ve ever attended, but these two evenings are strong competition. The band is amazing, from h who is the main link with the audience, which he interacts and jokes with, to the hypnotising guitar parts of Steve Rothery, the fabulous keyboard and piano pieces of Mark Kelly, the deep bass of Pete Trewavas, whom h is chatting with the most during the shows, under the steady rhythm of Ian Mosley’s drums, from behind which he keeps an eye on the stage & audience. Or just does the band’s finances in his head, as they shared with us during the weekend’s An Audience With that finances are his responsibility. Their concerts are a treat, a wonderful display of good music which I enjoy listening to, a fact that runs in the family.
Spinning Words 