Member:
hollowman01
Date:
5/25/2002
If there is one band who are almost guaranteed to divide opinion... That band is Marillion.
There are countless divisions even within their hardcore fanbase and Marillion's seemingly endless business ventures continues to provide their critics with more ammunition. One recent venture by Marillion (The Front Row Club) has led to various accusations being leveled at them, foremost of those accusations is that of greed! However, the majority of those who have signed up to the FRC have so far expressed nothing but praise and because I am one of those happy members I have chosen to review one of the FRC releases.
I've chosen the Manchester release for two reasons. Firstly, it really is a quality CD and secondly because I was at the actual show myself! The tour was in support of the then current album marillion.com and many people felt Marillion had something to prove with this tour, bearing in mind that the previous Radiation tour had received a fair amount of criticism due no doubt to the setlist and a perceived denial of their illustrious past.
Unfortunately the beginning of the first song, "Go", is missing the first 30 seconds but rather than replace the track with one from a different show, Marillion elected to go ahead and release the gig as a kind of historical document of one particular night, warts and all. "Go" is performed with confidence and a familiarity that belies the fact that the song is a new one and is received with passion from an audience who are obviously up for it! The first of only two Radiation tracks is played next and "Under The Sun" proves its worth in the live arena with Steve Rothery's guitar almost spitting out the riff.
The highly infectious "Rich" is up next after a brief greeting from h followed by the return of an old friend "Uninvited Guest" which gets the crowd singing along as always. The opening track from .com is given an airing next and the atmospheric "A Legacy" comes across very well live which surprised me because the song follows quite a few twists and turns and more often than not the intricate tracks are the ones that suffer most in front of quite a sizable crowd.
The low point of the evening and the CD for me is "House" which I won't go into too much because I know this song has its admirers but personally I think it's the weakest song they have ever done. The one saving grace of this performance however is that Rothery's guitar is far more prominent than on the studio version. "House" fades into the always brilliant "Mad" and this particular version is as good as any other live version that I have heard.
"Afraid Of Sunlight" is performed to perfection and is received in a manner befitting such a wonderful song. "Deserve" is next and if anything it proves that Marillion songs are best heard live although I still think that the trumpet and saxophone parts are a bit naff.
After a bit of good-natured banter with the crowd, h introduces "Easter" and the version on this CD is possibly the finest live version in existence (Manchester town centre was the victim of an IRA attack and the emotion in this rendition is almost palpable) Rothery's solo is awesome!
The second of the underrated Radiation tracks is up next and whilst I personally prefer the electric album version of "The Answering Machine" the acoustic version is just fine. One song that always rates highly in favourite Marillion songs polls is "The Great Escape" and justifiably so. Brave is my favourite album of all time and "The Great Escape" is performed here with all the emotion and pain that is always on display whenever h sings this song.
The Big Beat version of "Memory Of Water" is the penultimate track of the main set and quite frankly it's all a matter of personal taste as to whether you are likely to like this track, I'm not too keen but it doesn't offend my ears too much. "King" closes the main set and it closes it in style. A powerful delivery of a powerful song but I can't help but feel that this track has been played too often at the expense of other tracks!
The first encore is "Interior Lulu". I know the band feel that they never really got to grip with this track live but I must say I disagree. This by the way is the only official live release of "Interior Lulu" and even though they played it at Pontins I'll be very surprised if that particular version sees the light of day due to it being so obviously under-rehearsed.
The final encores are the old chestnuts of "Kayleigh", "Lavender" and "Slainte Mhath" and are played with surprising enthusiasm given Marillion's eagerness to bury the Fish years. To Hogarth's great credit he sings these songs brilliantly and with feeling.
All in all, I would say that this is my favourite live Marillion cd, due in part to me being one of the crowd but also because I think the set list is one of the most varied they have ever played. A fine document of a great tour.
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