Marillion Weekend - The Shows

Night 1 at Marillion Weekend 2009. The author watched this show from the mezzanine. This was the one night where we knew pretty much exactly what was going to be played. The band first performed their 1989 album Season's End in its entirety. Right from the opening number "The King of Sunset Town" the musicianship was really on this night, though there were some issues from those on the floor with the sound quality. Also the author's cousins had some trouble with their view being blocked by a tall chap who they claimed looked like Xerxes from the film 300. h highlit the first set with his vocals on "Berlin" and "The Space".
The second set consisted entirely of material off of Marillion's latest album "Happiness is the Road". Included was "The Man From the Planet Marzipan", which is an amazing song but hearing it always manages to enrage the author, as marzipan is, as all reasonable human beings know, just so very nasty. Seriously, why couldn't they call it "The Man From the Planet Caramel Nougat". The second setlist also featured some amusing costume decisions, as h decided to wear a white robe, which made him look like an alter boy... which was pretty creepy as Steve Rothery had a black on black suit which made him kind of look like a minister.
Due to a lot of this material being new to the author, and the fact that the author didn't think of keeping track till the next night, this was the only show for which BIV will not be providing a (possibly accurate) setlist. However, rest assured that the evening was capped off by a McDonalds run, headlined by some chick leaning over the counter showing off her amazing ass for all of her fellow McPatrons.


Night 2 featured a pretty interesting idea which worked out extremely well. The band worked backwards in their catalogue, performing a song from every year since h joined the band. One great thing about this set is it gave the band an opportunity to play some songs that they don't play very often, making once again for a couple of notables that the author had never seen performed live.
The author scrambled down into the main standing area for the second night, which turned out to be a fantastic move. The fans were in full form for this one, particularly from the point that the band rolled into the 2001 entry "When I Meet God". Two things of note happened in during this number. First of all, the author first noticed the sound quality issues on the low end were cleared up (there was significant rattle earlier in the show), and second of all, the guitar solo was absolutely nailed by Steve Rothery, and the normally reserved guitarist wore an incredibly smug grin, because he fucking knew it.
After the "1996" (1995) song and consistent fan favourite "Afraid of Sunlight" there was one of those random and beautiful audience experiences. The band couldn't start their next song because the audience just wouldn't stop cheering. And it got louder, and louder. It was the middle of the set, we weren't begging for an encore, there were no crowd pleasing cliches from the band ("we thought they knew how to rock in Shelbyville, but nobody rocks like MONTREAL!!!"), it was just 700 to 800 people going fucking bananas (actually the author was reminded of Wendel's Last Stand for the Leafs, as described by DGB). The band had to stand and take their applause like it was the end of the show. Eventually things calmed down, and h declared, "Now I know I'm in Montreal".
Of course, the band wouldn't let up. The aptly-titled "Out of This World" was the follow-up, and the author completely lost his self control for the remainder of the show, which went beyond 1990 and directly into some rarely-played Fish-era material, namely "Slainte Mhath" and "Garden Party" (Ian Mosley fucking killed the drums on the former).
h told us that night 3 will be even better, to which Pete Trewavas quipped "no it won't". The latter claim is far more plausible, but with these guys you never know.

(possibly accurate) setlist - night 2
2008 - this train is my life
2007 - somewhere else
2006 - real tears for sale
2004 - the damage
2003 - genie
2002 - fantastic place
2001 - when i meet god
2000 - map of the world
1999 - legacy
1998 - cathedral wall
1997 - estonia
1996 - afraid of sunlight
-----fans-----
1995 - out of this world
1994 - the great escape
-----encore 1-----
1992 - no one can
1991 - the party
-----encore 2-----
1990 - cover my eyes
1987 - slainte mhath
1983 - garden party


Night 3 proved to be damn near as good, and may have been even better had there not been some stage monitor issues. It was another great idea by the boys, who decided to play their "shortest set ever" at 10 songs. The concert lasted 2 1/2 hours. They pulled off the long and complex numbers amazingly well for the most part, and somehow managed to salvage a stellar performance out of the clusterfuck that occured during "This Strange Engine". First h's cricket bat (it's a cricket bat that plays little samples) failed. He gave it to the roadie. Then it still didn't work. When the roadie went to hand it back the second time, h decided to hell with the cricket bat and sat down to play the piano instead. The piano didn't work. So h just sat down in front of the drums for a while. Then the vocals came back in, so he sang for a bit, until he was cut off by a premature keyboard solo by Mark Kelly, who had had monitor issues all night and was going by visual cues. So h decided "fuck this, ima go crowd surf for a while". That took a little while so there was some additional soloing by Kelly and Rothery. Then with the crowd buzzing, and after everyone had a good laugh the band slaughtered the final "Blue Pain" section of the song.
There was also another epic crowd noise moment, after "Ocean Cloud" was over, the band once again couldn't start their next song because the crowd wouldn't settle down. They were able to continue their set only after settling the crowd down with a little Brokeback-themed country music. Then they dedicated the next number to the gay people in the audience as compensation for the cheap shot. The evening also included the author correctly pointing out the Xerxes dude from night 1. The band ended the show with the ever-awesome "Neverland", and we the crowd were left, total strangers bonded by witnessing something special, bound as part of a community, because for us that is a large part of what being a Marillion fan means.
Thank you Marillion for the best weekend ever.

(possibly accurate) setlist - night 3
a few words for the dead
this town/100 nights
this is the 21st century
ocean cloud
-----fans-----
-----gay country-----
if my heart were a ball it would roll uphill
interior lulu
kayleigh/lavender/heart of lothian
the invisible man
this strange engine
neverland


Cast of Players
vocals, piano, stage antics - h
keyboards, samples, beer - Mark Kelly
drums, fags, not giving a fuck - Ian Mosley
guitars, refusing to sing - Steve Rothery
bass, smart ass comments - Pete Trewavas

All photos by Terry Blake

Marillion Weekend - Prelude

Marillion Weekend Canada 2009. Oh. Fuck. Yes. If you don't know Marillion, congratulations. You are a part of the majority. In fact, Sound on Sound once described the band as "the best kept secret in the music industry". Anyways, how about a little bit about the band...

Marillion were formed in the late Mezozoic era (the late 70's), so it's fair to say that they've been around for a long time. Their music can best be described as progressive rock, but that's not really the point. This is a group that has always done things their own way, and has always defied the odds. They peaked, as most bands do, with their third album, 1985's Misplaced Childhood, a concept album featuring a series of suites interlaced with spoken word passages, released at a time when Madonna and WHAM! topped the charts.

In 1988 the Marillion's front man and lyricist Fish left the group, which for many observers marked the end of the band. But, in what would become a common theme over the years Marillion soldiered on, hiring a new singer, Steve Hogarth AKA h. After proving to their fans that Marillion wouldn't go away with two strong albums, Marillion did what very few bands do by peaking for a second time in their career with the albums Brave and Afraid of Sunlight. And they did it by breaking the rules once again. Released at the height of the grunge/alt rock movement, 1994's Brave featured eerie sounds, barely audible vocals, and several complex song arrangements. But in spite of heavy critical acclaim, the decision to make a single 50 minute music video featuring most of the album's material was a good indication of how the material was to be marketed, and the public was not given access to it. The follow up album Afraid of Sunlight spawned the tour which gave the author his first Marillion in Montreal experience, which would forever change the way that he looked at live music and the relationship between performer and audience.

The next few years would see Marillion struggling to maintain creative control over their music, which cost them a great deal of label support. Due to a lack of funds, the band were unable to tour in North America to promote their 1997 album This Strange Engine. But in this challenge a silver lining was found, and the Marillion fan community really came into its own. Marillion fans in North America actually started a fund raising campaign, and people payed $60,000 out of their own pockets to fund a Marillion tour in North America. It was the first sign to the outside world that Marillion fans are not your average music lovers. As the label troubles continued, Marillion were forced to stop playing in North America, but the dedication of the fanbase and the ability to communicate directly with them via the internet would be the key to the band's success.

In 2000, Marillion made an unprecedented move by marketing their next album to their fans before it was even recorded. The idea was that the fans would pre-order the album, and the money from the pre-orders would finance the making of the album. More than 12,500 fans pre-ordered the album which would become Anoraknophobia, which greatly diminished the band's reliance on finance from the label, leaving them with complete creative control over their work. The result was something that is almost unheard of in the music business. Marillion peaked a third time. The follow up album, 2004's epic double CD Marbles, is considered by many fans and the band itself to be Marillion's best record, making them the only band that the author has ever heard of who can say that about their 13th record. Marbles also had a strong pre-order campaign, though the pre-orders financed the promotion, not the album itself. The result was Marillion scoring their first UK top ten hit since 1987 with "You're Gone", and embarking on their first North American tour in 7 years.

The return to Montreal was breathtaking for the band and the fans, who showed their appreciation after the first song with such an ovation that the band could not start their next song for probably 5 minutes.

Over the past 6 years, Marillion has continued to provide a different experience for fans, by putting together Marillion Weekends. These are events which feature 3 days of concerts, often with different themes, and normally including a past album performed in its entirety. For 6 years these weekends have been held in the UK and Europe, but when it came time to have a Marillion Weekend in North America, there could be only one choice for the city. And so Marillion fans from Toronto, Ottawa, New York, Connecticut, Denver, and Jesus knows where else, descended on the Olympia in Montreal, PQ....

(some of the facts and figures contained are from wikipedia)