Closing out the theatre tour, Marillion’s onstage mischief completely disarmed Brno (2018)

Location: Brno / Sono Centrum / Czech Republic
Date: Saturday, 08.12.2018

Brno. At least once a year, Brno. Just to reset yourself. Great beer, great food and of course (still) great prices. Oh, and plenty of hospitality too. A music and gig lover has to tie a visit like that to some concerts. Mandatory. That’s also how Rockline has been getting more and more concert reports from the Czech Republic lately (Judas Priest 2015, King Crimson 2016, Dirkschneider 2016, W.A.S.P. 2017). A tradition worth keeping up and nurturing. So the plan was to leave our stopover in Vienna, where on 5.12.2018 the two of us caught the British art rock brilliance of Marillion, and keep wandering some 130 km northeast, into Czech Moravia, where we set up camp in Brno for a few days. So we got there three days before Marillion did, as they wrapped up their European theatre tour (Theater Tour) by rolling into Brno.

Sono Centrum sits about a 15-minute walk north of the very center of Brno. Unlike Gasometer in Vienna, it’s a much smaller venue, one that reminds you more of the Gallus Hall at Cankarjev dom. The small floor fits maybe 200 people, and then come the galleries right away, with extra balconies above them. A fantastic space for gigs. Especially when it comes to acoustics. Packed to the rafters. The Marillion show in Brno was also one of those that were completely sold out on this tour.

The Brno show was something special. It was the final one, the last night, so the band allowed themselves a lot more cheekiness, way more looseness and wildness than we got three days earlier at the Vienna gig. Marillion, with Hogarth up front, came across as especially naughty this time, thanks of course to the pranks and the incredibly good mood of the aforementioned frontman. Hogarth greeted the crowd right at the start and asked whether he, as a “typical English arrogant know-it-all,” had pronounced the word Brno correctly.

The setlist was identical to the one from three days earlier in Vienna. On those few “theatre tour” shows the band did play other songs too, among them: Beautiful, Sugar Mice, Gaza (which replaced El Dorado in the setlists), The Space, Neverland, Out of this World, while one of the two Essen shows was a total exclusive. It boasted a completely unique repertoire, adapted at the last minute. Marillion played half of that show acoustic, because of Mark Kelly’s unexpected accident before the gig. After the warm-up from Jennifer Rothery and Riccardo Romano, the British art rock heavyweights took the stage and, as expected, kicked off with an ambitious piece, the twenty-minute composition called El Dorado, taken from the album “F.E.A.R.” (Rockline review HERE). That tonight’s get-together with Marillion would be something truly special was hinted at by Hogarth’s very entrance into that song. He completely missed the first verse and then improvised his way out of the mess, unable to shake off the looks of astonishment aimed at him from the left, especially by Steve Rothery. Hogarth really did remind you of that devilish Hogarth from Verona 2016, when he’d tipped back one pint too many. And yet. The band is hellishly experienced, and it’s pretty obvious that very little can knock them off course. Things quickly and routinely fell back into place, and the machine of the famed Marillion perfection started running at full tilt. The band built an outstanding wall of sound.

The band felt great in the smaller, but incredibly warm, organic-sounding atmosphere of Sono Centrum. Hogarth was constantly talking to the crowd, kept putting his superb sense of black humor to work, and even took a swipe at the French in passing, saying that the development of their culture naturally depends on revolutions, touching on current events in that country. Before Afraid Of Sunlight he introduced the whole crew. Not just his bandmates in Marillion, but the entire team that travels with Marillion on tour. From the driver to the tour manager, the guy selling the official merch, all the techs and the lighting guy, and he didn’t forget to mention his son Nigel either, who looks after “H”‘s own stage gear (microphone, guitars, keyboards) and his sound. The ever-unpredictable Hogarth practically forced his bandmates to keep a particularly sharp eye on him the whole time, because his head was flashing with ideas nonstop. He brought a theatre of spontaneity to the stage throughout, and the band often had no idea what he’d cook up next. This was especially fun to watch in the intros to songs, where at one point he “enraged” Kelly so much that Kelly stepped out from behind his keyboards, snuck up behind Hogarth’s back and theatrically “grabbed” him by the neck with both hands, as if to say: “That’s it, I’ve had enough of you.” All of it, of course, in the spirit of pure mischief and theatrical onstage tomfoolery.

This general mockery the band took the stage with this time grew from minute to minute, and in both obligatory encores, the all-out orgy between crowd and band really took off. The band “bought” the audience, and they were eating out of its hand. Waves of enthusiasm, nonstop ovations and roaring chants that never let up. Terrific communication from Hogarth and the crew, with a lot more stage activity from Trewavas and Rothery too, compared with the experience three days earlier in Vienna. Even Rothery, who always dutifully sticks to his left side, made a few rounds up and down the stage during the show and, like a big boss, checked that everything at the gig was working as it should.. You could feel that the band was happy to be wrapping up the tour, even though they enjoyed every single moment of this unforgettable, one-of-a-kind show in Brno.

If there was ever a gig where the band left their heart on the stage, it was the one in Brno.

author: Aleš Podbrežnik
photos: Aleš Podbrežnik

Setlist:
1. El Dorado: I. Long-Shadowed Sun
2. El Dorado: II. The Gold
3. El Dorado: III. Demolished Lives
4. El Dorado: IV. F E A R
5. El Dorado: V. The Grandchildren of Apes
6. No One Can
7. Quartz
8. The Party
9. Seasons End
10. Sounds That Can’t Be Made
11. The Leavers: I. Wake Up in Music
12. The Leavers: II. The Remainers
13. The Leavers: III. Vapour Trails in the Sky
14. The Leavers: IV. The Jumble of Days
15. The Leavers: V. One Tonight
16. The Great Escape
—encore I.—
17. Wave
18. Mad
19. Afraid of Sunlight
20. Three Minute Boy
—encore II.—
21. Cover My Eyes (Pain and Heaven)
22. Garden Party