As is usual for me, no phones or other distractions were utilised during this gig. The author rather prefers to live in the moment, undistracted by technology, and wishes others would do likewise.
Friday September 18th, 2026, I headed off on the National Express coach from Carmarthen to Bristol to once again see Marillion live, crossing the bridge and the border as there are no live shows on this tour in Wales, but it had the advantage of being in the city where my son & partner reside, so the added benefit of taking them out for a delicious Lebanese meal, taking in a couple of glasses of red at local hostelries, and staying over at their house – does life get much better?
To my recollection, I have only failed to see the band on a UK tour twice since seeing them for the first time at the legendary Marquee Club way back in the day when Market Square Heroes was released. They remain my favourite band, and the progression (pun intended) since those heady days is a fascination to me. When Fish left under a cloud (he says, diplomatically), the easiest thing for the four remaining members to have done would have been to recruit a singer who at least closely resembled the tall Scot, and certainly in terms of musical ideas and politics. Stay something like the same, and hope the cash keeps coming in.
That they recruited former Europeans singer, Steve Hogarth (ironically, lauded by Fish a year, or so, earlier on TV as one of his top album picks) and took a long, and at times commercially challenging route to one of the most lauded individualistic of bands, still persistently ploughing their own furrow, and to hell with corporate commercial considerations, is a shining example to me of how music should be. The almost fanatical following they have amassed in that time, and I include myself in that category, is phenomenal, but well deserved, Mark Kelly virtually inventing the concept of crowdfunding that kept the band afloat during those challenging times.
The venue was Beacon Hall, the building formerly known as Colsten Hall in our pre-enlightenment times. It had been many years since I visited, and before discussing the music, credit must be given over to the local authority, who have supervised a rebuild of great taste. The seating circles, the standing stalls, the bars, the security operation, the attendants helping patrons, the ease with which I was able to book – if I were a corporate creature, I would be waxing lyrical about a truly “enhanced experience”, but will limit myself instead to saying it was a joy, a pleasure to be there, and most importantly, the sound was exceptional, something Hogarth himself mentioned as constituting the biggest improvement since the band were last there.
The support act for the tour is Haunt the Woods, an act I was unfamiliar with prior to seeing them, but most certainly will be exploring further. The music was brooding, intelligent, and certainly Helter Skelter, the penultimate track, was a rip roarer. My only mild whinge is for something which afflicts virtually every support act, and that is sound – I found the bass guitar way too high and heavy in the mix, but it is a minor moan.
Our heroes came on at 20:30 with Gaza. It is not without controversy, but, from the perspective of a longtime civil service trade union activist who was one of a sparse number who used to call out anti-Israeli sentiment and, indeed, naked antisemitism, at annual conference, what I love about this track is its core humanity; the fact that, yes, h wrote about it from the perspective of a Palestinian child, but it makes it perfectly clear that the misery being endured by so many applies to both sides of the argument, and it is simply not right that humans live like this – it isn’t, but I despair of any so-called “statesman” being capable of initiating a sensible and lasting peace for all, especially in the social media frenzy which constitutes much “debate” in 2026. Incidentally, somewhat amusingly, the song was dedicated to Ed Sheeran, a victim of a massive, confected, fuss on his US tour.
The band themselves belie their age in the performance. All are now at least in their mid-sixties, and I did see a comment from Rothery recently that he can only see them doing this type of activity for a further six years. They clearly have that in them, and I have always marvelled at how Hogarth has his audience eating out of his hands, prepared to follow him to the end of the live earth. The comedy duo he has formed with Pete Trewavas is as solid as ever, the quip about the three most important events in the year h joined the band still raising a decent laugh. There was an “interesting” exchange later between h & Kelly, revolving around the former’s dedication of Easter to the Irish, and I am not altogether convinced it was friendly banter.
There does need to be a huge shout out to the poor young technician responsible for fixing the night long issues Rothers had with his guitar pedal rig. The poor soul was in and out constantly. After Gaza, h & Pete played an impromptu rendition of The Bell in the Sea whilst this was going on, and during The Great Escape, Ioan & I genuinely thought there was a danger of THAT guitar solo not being performed – we needn’t have worried, of course, and it was sublime, and what a nice touch for the band to revisit that and Mad before it in the city where Hogarth developed the concept over 30 years ago now.
Season’s End has lost none of its power live. This band were singing about climate change or catastrophe long before it became a political trope.
You’re Gone was fun. It always was. This time, it was made even more fun because h introduced the following new song, forgetting the setlist. I blame the Pils!
We had a brand-new track, Ribbons and Lace, dedicated to the many pretty young ladies h noticed inside and outside the venue, and it is a track about getting older. As a peak into the work the band are presently undertaking to bring us a new album, it worked a treat and has me looking forward to it a lot.
There was a nod to the Fish era with the intro to Hotel Hobbies followed by the title track to the album Q magazine on release said that “had it been released by any band other than that named Marillion, it would be a worldwide smash”, and this fine song still has the power to deeply move one. It was, of course, Afraid of Sunlight.
It was a very pleasant surprise to have two tracks from the recently remastered Marillion.com played, Enlightened and a personal favourite, the playful Built-in Bastard Radar.
The band played all of Care, that huge epic suite dedicated to all the care workers who did so much during the pandemic. Angels on Earth is a towering emotional piece, and a stark rejoinder to those who persist, ridiculously, in insisting that “all h songs sound the same”. They do not. This was stunning.
The set closed with The Crow and the Nightingale, a rendition of the song which impossibly gets better each time I hear it, Easter, during which Kelly had a wee blip, which might or might not have been influenced by the exchange before the song with h. Wave led us into Mad and the Marillion fans’ Marillion song, The Great Escape.
Now, how many bands do you know who come back to do an encore, with rapturous applause filling the venue, and proceed to play a somewhat obscure B-side? The Release was the flip to Easter, and, yes, I had to look that up! The set closed with The Space, a song I disparaged on release of Season’s End, but which has grown into a personal favourite, especially live, full of power and emotion.
And that was that. A tremendous evening, and I enjoyed the 20-minute walk back to my son’s home in the cool late summer air simply to come down again. We had bagged some great seats, because at The Beacon, there are about five rows of seats at the back of the standing stalls, the front reserved for wheelchair users, but we saw a couple of seats vacant on the back row directly in front of the centre of the stage with a totally unimpeded view. The light show was great, without being showy, the sound imperious.
If you are a fan who has never seen them live, for whatever reason, or a visitor to this website curious about acts such as Marillion, my advice to you is go along to see a top-drawer progressive rock band at the peak of their powers whilst you still can.
Marillion have provided this reviewer with the soundtrack to his life, and over 40 years since seeing them first, continue to grace my lovely life with so much pleasure. Thank you!
The lineup
Vocals, Guitars, Percussion, Keys Steve “h” Hogarth
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals Pete Trewavas
Lead Guitars Steve Rothery
Drums Ian Mosley
Keyboards, Backing Vocals, Effects Mark Kelly
I recently interviewed Pete Trewavas as part of Edison’s Children.
Read the full transcript at https://lazland.org/interviews/edisons-children-2026
The official website for Marillion is at https://www.marillion.com/
To read my reviews of all Marillion albums, go to the homepage of this website, and type in Marillion in the search bar - they will all come up!
You can explore Haunt the Woods music at https://hauntthewoodsofficial.bandcamp.com/