This coming weekend will see the 3rd Marillion Convention being held in Minehead. The band will be playing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights and each set should be different. All that is known about what the setlists will contain is that on the Friday they will be playing the whole of the 2 disc version of Marbles. Last nights show in Aylesbury was a warm-up show for the convention, so a few surpises were expected as this was going to be their only chance to try any songs that hadn't been played for a while. However as the evening unfolded in was pretty clear that they were still keeping their cards close to their chests with regards to which songs would be played at the convention.
The band opened with The Invisible Man and Marbles I and it was at this point that we thought would see the first airing of Genie, however when they followed Marbles I with You're Gone it was obvious that they were sticking to the single disc version of the album for tonight. The sound was very good although their were a few technical glitches with Mark Kelly's keyboards. On a couple of occasions these dropped completely out of the mix for a few seconds. Steve Hogarth forgot how to play Marbles III much to everyone's amusement. As always at a Marillion show the atmosphere was warm and friendly and even more so being a fan club show. So he survived the good natured heckling. We're all on the same side after all!
Made some new friends as well. And enjoyed a great curry after the gig with them.
The Invisible Man
Marbles I
You're Gone
Angelina
Marbles II
Don't Hurt Yourself
Fantastic Place
Marbles III
Drilling Holes
Marbles IV
Neverland
After the Marbles tracks came a few surprises. The title track from Brave and then two songs from the This Strange Engine album which to my knowledge have only been played once before. Accidental Man is one of my favourites and I was well chuffed at its inclusion.
Brave (the track)
One Fine Day
Accidental Man
Deserve
Between You & Me
Although the set seemed brief they played for just over 2hrs. All proceeds from the show went to the Tsunami Appeal.
Plenty of surprises still a lot to look forward to this weekend (sorry I will miss the Yes session). Ocean Cloud is gonna be awesome!
Minehead here I come!