By Jim Rowland
As gigs and concerts get back to some kind of normality, the title of this tour from prog legends Marillion – ‘The Light at the End of The Tunnel’ tour – seems strikingly appropriate. A valid domestic covid passport, or proof of a negative test is still required for entry tonight, but that seems to be ‘normality’ now anyway, at least for the time being. Tonight’s show is the last of the ten dates of the UK leg of the tour, the second of two nights at the Hammersmith Apollo, and one that is being live streamed via the band’s website.
The last time I saw Marillion at this particular venue was a very long time ago, when they were touring the ‘Misplaced Childhood’ album, although in those days it went under its correct name of the Hammersmith Odeon. Back then, the Marillion fans were obsessively loyal, dedicated and passionate about the band, and I always remember them desperately trying to outdo each other with how many of the words to the songs they knew, and proving it, often a bit too loudly. I always preferred to hear Fish singing them. The music, as well as the frontman, may have changed since then, but today’s Marillion fan is just as obsessively loyal, dedicated and passionate about the band. Perhaps even more so, but thankfully they don’t seem to shout the words out as much.
Whereas the previous night’s show was an all-seated affair, tonight sees the stalls seats removed for a standing option, which makes for a packed, party atmosphere downstairs. When the band hit the stage, I must say rarely have I seen a more rapturous reception for a band even before they play a note, such is the quite unique bond between band and audience. Indeed the party atmosphere is evident when the crowd won’t let the excellent opener ‘Sounds That Can’t Be Made’ actually end, continuing to sing and prompting the band to go into an improvised reprise.
The set spans the whole of the Hogarth era of Marillion from the three picks from ‘Season’s End’, namely ‘Easter’, ‘Berlin’ & ‘The Release’, through to the present day. Material from ‘Brave’ also features heavily with ‘Bridge’, the excellent ‘Living With The Big Lie’ and ‘Runaway’ all lining up alongside the acoustic flavour of the ‘Made Again’ encore. The set has been subtly tweaked each night on the tour, with ‘This Train Is My Life’ and ‘Splintering Heart’ appearing in tonight’s set, whilst the impressive ‘King’ has featured regularly.
A real highlight for me was the brand-new track in three parts, ‘Be Hard On Yourself’, from the forthcoming new album, which quite rightly gets a great reaction, with Hogarth commenting “just wait to you hear the rest of it”. It bodes well for what has already been touted as a more upbeat offering from Marillion, perhaps in contrast to the previous, darker ‘F.E.A.R.’ album, from which the closing encore tonight, the five part ‘The Leavers’, ends things in dramatic fashion.
Steve Hogarth, despite appearing a little sozzled and rambling a little between songs, provides an outstanding performance as the focal point, with voice in truly fine form. With what promises to be a very successful new album ready to go, Marillion are in a good place – there’s plenty of light at the end of their tunnel.
- Marillion’s 20th studio album, ‘An Hour Before It’s Dark’, is due to be released on 4 March.
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