Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Place: Plovdiv / Stari rimski amfiteater / Bulgaria
Concert date: 24.09.2017
Attendance: 4500
Two days after the unforgettable concert spectacle in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv and its ancient Roman amphitheater, where Devin Townsend Project played and, among other things, performed their unforgettable studio album »Ocean Machine« in full, from the first note to the last, the very same stage went to Marillion. To be perfectly exact, there should have been one more show in Plovdiv between the two. But it got scrapped because too few tickets were sold. So the Manfred Mann’s Earth Band gig went down the drain, and we rounded off our three-day stay in the middle of Plovdiv with a show by the cult British art prog rock outfit.
The amphitheater in Plovdiv holds between 5,000 and 7,000 people. The Devin Townsend Project show at this venue was completely sold out. For Marillion, somewhat fewer people turned up. Generationally speaking, you could say that the people who came to see Marillion were basically the parents of those who watched Devin Townsend here two days earlier. Around half past seven in the evening it looked like the venue wouldn’t be fully packed, but by eight the stands had filled up completely. Plenty of tourists were sitting in the stands, especially from the United Kingdom, taking the best seats in the amphitheater, which of course meant digging deeper into your pocket. Dressed in classic fan gear, or »Marillion kitsch«, they showed off their allegiance to the band from a mile away, while diligently stocking up on pints of beer before the show. Their fanaticism can’t compare to the »Rush trekkies«, but you can draw some similar parallels.
We caught Marillion in an amphitheater last year too, when the guys played in Verona, Italy, on 10.09.2016, and it was already clear there that venues like this are tailor-made for the music Marillion create. It was clear from the start that Marillion’s show in the Plovdiv amphitheater would be something completely different, unique and unforgettable. For the second year running, the quintet is heavily showcasing their current studio album »F.E.A.R.«, or, »affectionately« put, »Fuck Everyone And Run«. Over the past two years, Marillion have been on stage practically non-stop. We caught them as recently as the end of this July at Germany’s Rock Of Ages festival, where they played the album »F.E.A.R.« in its entirety. But there they weren’t the headliners and so were limited on time. This time the situation was different. A Marillion concert always runs a good two hours. Plovdiv was no exception.
Just past eight in the evening, Steve Hogarth »H« (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion), Steve Rothery (guitar), Pete Trewavas (bass, backing vocals), Mark Kelly (keyboards, backing vocals) and the oldest member of the crew, Ian Mosley (drums), took the stage. To thunderous ovations they diligently took their places and, in the style of grand, seasoned masters, kicked off their latest show. As expected, the band devoted the opening stretch of the show to numbers from the current album »F.E.A.R.«, but this time, unlike at the show in Germany’s Seebron, they didn’t play it in full. After the opening Eldorado came the »Marbles« hit You’re Gone, and the theater shook with a wave of roaring enthusiasm from the crowd. At this show too, Marillion approached things like great musical gentlemen who leave nothing to chance and instead all pull together toward a single goal: flawless performance and the sheer joy of playing their own original music, which is an absolute one-of-a-kind in the musical universe of this solar system. These men get better with age. »H« once again sang fantastically, at a top-notch level. A man who works wonders with his »throat« and falsetto, a true vocal chameleon, a singer of a thousand voices and vocal colors. On top of that, »H«, like a great stage actor, dosed out the songs with deeply felt gesturing, contorted himself into the most unusual poses, twice stepped fully off the stage up to the edge of the wall separating the empty floor from the stands, and fired up the crowd even more. During one of the breaks, someone in the crowd bellowed: »Steve I love you!!!« and »H« masterfully spun it around and had the whole theater laughing, saying: »Where are you?!? Are you good looking?«.
The whole performance was once again accompanied by a rich stage set of abundant spotlight beams and themed film projections adorning the backdrop. Rothery was grinning his way through the show, often approaching his solos with his eyes closed, and his distinctive guitar playing once again incredibly evoked the influences of David Gilmour, Andy Latimer and Steve Hackett. Extraordinary control over tone, exceptional fine mechanics. Soft and refined. On the other side, Trewavas’ famous bass filled the space in contrast with its energetic rattle, and all this chemistry and the gripping atmospheres they create would be unimaginable in Marillion without the refined Mark Kelly on keyboards, whose contributions set the whole musical performance rolling on giant waves of stormy passion and emotion.
The band played the expected Fantastic Place in the set, and in the final stretch Marillion touched on the album »Marbles« twice more, with the superb Neverland (to close the regular set) and the first encore, which they opened with Invisible Man, which once again set off a wave of intense emotional reactions from the crowd. From the masterpiece called »Brave« (1994) Marillion again played Mad, which they’ve loved playing on stage again over the last few years of their career, and the return of King, with which they paid tribute to departed rock’n’roll stars, was no surprise either, though oddly the accompanying film projection didn’t feature the one and only Frank Zappa. From »Sounds That Can’t Be Made« the guys delivered the excellent title track and right after it the energetic Power. The band sent the crowd into delirium especially with the only song written in the eighties, when it tackled the »Clutching At Straws« classic Sugar Mice. Afraid of Sunlight, Real Tears for Sale and Man of a Thousand Faces also found their place in the set. In the second encore the band surprised with a performance of »Radiation« from the song Three Minute Boy, and a good two hours were gone in the blink of an eye.
Another encounter with the magic that keeps you in a trance long after the show, in a kind of parallel world beyond reality and logic. The world of Marillion’s music. A unique world that is born anew only at live meetings with this extraordinary art rock band. A band that bets everything on ambience and emotion. And once again they’ve spellbound and enchanted their audience. Marillion remain a musical brilliant of complete authorial originality and unique charisma, with a self-made, self-sprung musical craft all their own. Once again, in a single word: unforgettable.
Setlist
1. El Dorado:
– I. Long-Shadowed
– II. The Gold
– III. Demolished Lives
– IV. F E A R
– V. The Grandchildren of Apes
2. You’re Gone
3. The Leavers:
– I. Wake Up in Music
– II. The Remainers
– III. Vapour Trails in the Sky
– IV. The Jumble of Days
– V. One Tonight
4. Fantastic Place
5. Mad
6. Afraid of Sunlight
7. Sugar Mice
8. Real Tears for Sale
9. Sounds That Can’t Be Made
10. Power
11. Man of a Thousand Faces
12. King
13. Neverland
—encore I.—
14. The Invisible Man
—encore II.—
15. Three Minute Boy
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