MickK
Stellar DJ
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Wheres the bar ?
Posts: 290
Sheffield, England
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Friday the 14th of September saw Marillion visit Sheffield for a date in their Sounds That Can‘t Be Made tour to support the new album of that name, they were supported by Mr. So and So. The concert was a sell out at The Corporation which is a venue just off West Street near the Sheffield University facilities. The large hall has a standing capacity of 1,000, so not bad going to sell it out, it’s a long time since I‘ve been in standing crush like that.
Support artist Mr. So and So come from the Leigh area in Lancashire and have been around since the late 80s and have previously supported Marillion on the Radiation tour. They played a set consisting of songs from their last album Sugarstealer and some new material which they hope to release in the future. Interestingly the band have been trying to raise money on Pledge Music for the new album, tentatively titled 'Truths, Lies & Half Lies'. They play heavy type of prog with two lead singers Shaun McGowan and Charlotte Evans and some pretty unusual and accomplished solos from guitarist Dave Foster.
Marillion took to the stage around 8.45pm, and launched straight into material from the new album, kicking off with the albums 17 minute opening track “Gaza“. Steve Hogarth stormed onto stage bedecked in white CND shirt. What can you say about Steve ? He comes across as part crazy and part intellectual with so much passion, he is a brilliant front man for the band and there no reason to even think about the Scottish bloke he replaced. The track “Gaza” has come in for some controversy due to the subject content of the lyrics being about the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the Middle East. When Steve eventually got round to talking to the audience he reflected briefly on the song saying he wrote the lyrics without taking sides and is more concerned about the children who are suffering in the conflict.
The band featured four songs from the new album but it was some of the more well known stuff which raised the roof, there were three tracks off “Marbles” with a fantastic performance of “Neverland” probably being the highlight of the night. Steve Rothery gave his usual master class of guitar playing, how come people who are good always make it look effortless ? Pete Trewavsas didn’t jump around as much as I’ve seen him in the past but there wasn’t much room on that stage. You struggled to see Ian Moseley on the drums, Ian is certainly not as flamboyant as Neil Peart, but lets face it he’s got nothing to prove after all these years. Nice to see Mark Kelly in good nick on keyboards as the bloke has had some health problems this year, with trouble with his hearing.
“It’s been a long time Sheffield” mused Hogarth, and it has been a number of years since the band played the Steel City, Steve did a solo show back in 2006 but I reckon it was August 2002 since the band trod the boards at Hallam University, 10 years yikes !! Too long. Hogarth then went on to wish two people in the audience happy 50th birthdays, “It must be nice to have a 50th birthday - must try it” mused the 53 year old Hogarth (same age as me). The first encore consisted of “A Few Words For The Dead” with Trewavas sporting double neck guitar and then the band returned for a second encore, with the audience making several suggestions. “Grendel” shouted one punter, with Hogarth replying, “Well it could be ‘Grendel’ ….. In your mind”. In fact it was “Sugar Mice” and the audience was in magnificent voice with Hogarth being made redundant by the refrain from the crowd of “Blame it on me, you can blame it on me, We're just sugar mice in the rain”.
Faith restored in a fantastic band, “Sounds That Can’t Be Made” is supposed to be as good as “Marbles” … lets hope so. It’s out on Monday.
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