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| Marillion in full flow... awesome! |
So, Nathan and I went to our second gig of the month, this time in Manchester to see Marillion. Don't expect unbiased reports of the show, as this was an opportunity to see my favourite band of all time after far too long. The show was at the Bridgewater Hall, which is the home of the Halle Orchestra, and as a result, is a fantastic auditorium. It was the first Marillion gig that I'd been to where I was seated. This was part of the COVID-19 control for the event; it was noticeable that the security was more interested in what we were carrying rather than whether we had evidence of vaccination or LFT testing. Very different to the O2 Academy earlier in the month with Public Service Broadcasting, but I suspect a reflection of the attack at the MEN Arena and at Liverpool Women's Hospital recently.
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| Mr H strutting his stuff. |
We set off from Wetherby around 1630 and crawled through the Leeds-Bradford section of the M62 but made good time, stopping for a cheeky visit to Burger King at Birch Services for dinner. We found the car park and venue without much of an issue, and Nathan was pretty impressed with security in the car park. It took perhaps five minutes to get to the show, walking through a pretty upmarket looking refurbished area with lots of bars and restaurants. Left me wishing I wasn't driving and could get a pint!
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| Easter - a favourite... |
We got queued for the merchandise stand to get T-shirts only to get to the front and find that they couldn't take cards because their reader had failed. That was a disappointment, as I'd not brought a huge amount of cash with me because the venue had stated that contactless was preferred. I have a side mission to get Nathan a T-Shirt as he was a bit down about it.
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| Splintering Heart... |
Our seat was in the Gallery, the third level up and nicely in the centre. Although we were higher up, we had a clearer view of the stage than earlier in the month. The support band, Antimatter, a dark rock duo, looked worth checking out and I saved them onto Spotify for later. They played a 30 minute set, and we had half an hour's break before Marillion came onstage.
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| They played the first three tracks of Brave... |
The sound was loud but clear, and the drums blew me away; I'm used to Mark Kelly's keyboard or Steve Rothery's guitar catching my attention, but this time, it was Ian Moseley. The drums were loud but they didn't overwhelm the rest of the music and singing.
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| Dark Angel Friend... |
The band were clearly on a high, the audience response fantastic and Steve Hogarth was exhilarated, cheeky and energised, and occasionally playing the fool with Pete Trewavas on bass. The set was a mix of favourites and rarities, along with a single new track (Be Hard on Yourself) from the album which is being released in 2022, An Hour Before it's Dark. The album is done, just suffering the supply chain woes that seem to be afflicting everything (especially cardboard shortages). There was a rare outing of 'The Release', which was really catchy.
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| A setlist that mixes favourites and rarities... |
They played from 2030 to 2245, with two very short breaks. I felt that the crowd would have happily spent the whole night there listening. There was a lot of love in the room.
We slipped away at the end, stopping for coffee (me) and chocolate (Nat) on the way home. We got home around 1am in the morning; it probably took me another hour to come down off the high from the energy at the show. And then it was up and about for school and work the next day.
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| Leaving the venue... |
A wonderful gig! It confirmed Nathan definitely loves live music!
19 November 2021
Update: After posting this, I remembered that I'd seen Marillion in Manchester in 1998 on the same date (18th November 1998). Twenty-three years later, the experience was much better. The concert was great the first time, but it was sandwiched between the news that my Grandmother had died in earlier in the day, and being told the relationship I was in was over as we got to the car after the concert. Glad that the ghosts of 1998 are finally put to bed!
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