013 - Tilburg,The Netherlands - 2 May 2004

It really has been a very long time since I last saw Marillion do a live gig. I think it was in The Hanenhof in Geleen (The Netherlands) in 1998, just after they had released their rather disappointing album "This Strange Engine".

So, it is six years ago and the reason why I decided to "give" Marillion a second chance was the release of their new fantastic prog album "Marbles". (For a review see our archives).

Marillion proved that they are still a very progressive, almost symphonic rock band and I was really excited hearing songs from "Marbles" on stage. Trewavas, Hogarth, Rothery, Kelly and Mosley played the complete retail edition of "Marbles"; however instead of "Drilling Holes" they played "The Damage", a track from disc 2 of the double album.

So, they started with the magnificent epic "The Invisible Man", where Hogarth showed some heavy emotions and silenced the audience from the start. The single "You're Gone"(already no.2 in the Dutch Pepsi Charts) turned out to be a nice sing-along track, while the four short "Marbles" sections sort of connected the other songs to "strengthen" the feeling that this is a concept album (see the interview).

The last track before the break was "Neverland", also a superb prog epic with amazing guitar passages from Rothers. After the 15 minute interval Marillion played "old" songs from "Anoraknophobia" ("This is the 21st Century" and "Between you and me"), "Radiation" ("Under the Sun") and "Afraid of Sunlight" ("Cannibal surf Babe"). Songs that do not belong to my Marillion favorites, but fortunately the superb album "Brave" was featured with three excellent songs:"Bridge", "Living with the Big Lie" and "Made Again" were the highlights after the break. However I would rather have heard more new songs from "Marbles", like e.g. "Ocean Cloud" or "The Only Unforgivable Thing". Maybe next time and that next time will be on 26 May, same place, same time, other setlist, hopefully…

Martien Koolen