It’s hard to believe that lead singer Steve Hogarth, the newest member of Marillion, joined the band over 37 years ago, yet some people still think Fish fronts a “Heavy Metal band from Scotland”. Nothing could be further from reality.
The Hogarth front band has now released 16 studio albums over that time compared to the four they released with Fish, and tonight’s show, with a run time well in excess of two hours, draws mainly on Hogarth’s albums and rightly so.
It’s a bold move to open with the epic “Gaza”, musically and lyrically ambitious in scope, and Hogarth delivered a highly impassioned performance dripping in emotion.
“You’re Gone”, with an almost Britpop beat and a huge soaring chorus, was Marillion at their most direct before following up with a silky smooth “Fantastic Place”.
Marillion are in the midst of recording a new album for release at an indeterminate time, and tonight we were treated with a lively “Ribbons and Lace” for a sneak preview of what is to come to whet the appetite of the sold-out Glasshouse.
Hogarth can tell a good story or two, and prior to “Out Of This World” he regaled that the song was based on Donald Campbell’s fateful attempt at breaking the world water speed record on Lake Coniston and that this very song inspired Bill Smith to raise the Bluebird from the bottom of the lake in 2001. Smith just happened to be in the audience to receive the applause.
The centrepiece of the night, alongside “Gaza”, was the deeply moving “Care”, a beautifully crafted piece reflecting on mortality which shimmered with a deep and genuine emotion as Mark Kelly’s ethereal keyboards created a silken sheen across the song. Quite a difficult song to follow, but the equally atmospheric “The Crow and the Nightingale” stepped up to the challenge.
“Easter” and the gorgeous “Season’s End” from Hogarth’s very first album with the band were genuine highlights, and guitarist Steve Rothery’s solo during the former was worth the price of admission alone and brought one of several standing ovations received throughout the course of the show.
With a few select moments from their ambitious “Brave” opus coming towards the end of the main set, it was left to the rarely played B-side “The Release” and the touching “Sugar Mice”, one of only two Fish era songs, with “Hotel Hobbies” being the other, where Rothery again stepped up to deliver a show-stopping solo of genuine class.
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