MARILLION ST DAVID’S HALL, CARDIFF 17/11/21

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Marillion are one of those bands I just don’t get. 

It’s not that I don’t get their musical intricacies or their enduring success in the face of industry apathy and oh-so-cool music press snobbery. It’s not that I can’t get my head around the fact that they can’t really be defined (hard proggy emotional ambient avant-garde rock with a bit of added funkadelia?). 

No. I mean, I don’t get why they aren’t huge. 

They know how to write sparkly riffs and soaring soundscapes topped off with a band sound, lyrics and vocals that hit you right here. Their repertoire ranges from ready-made radio hits (demonstrated tonight with The Release and You’re Gone), to story songs that can bring an audience to tears (Runaway had someone a few seats away from me snuffling into a tissue… at least, I hope it was emotion and not the dreaded lurgi…). Their frontman, Steve Hogarth, crackles with charisma and sings with passion and power and faultless precision. The rest of the band are clearly virtuoso musicians. When you see the success of bands like Muse or Radiohead (clearly influenced by Marillion) or Genesis or Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin (clearly influences on them), you just know they could’ve ruled the world. I don’t get it.

But after tonight’s gig at St David’s Hall, I’m glad I don’t get it. If Marillion had become the world-striding stadium act they could’ve been, the audience in Cardiff wouldn’t have been enraptured by the epic 10-minute (but still hugely catchy) new song Be Hard On Yourself from their fan-funded soon-to-be-released album An Hour Before It’s Dawn, or the breath-taking crowd favourite Neverland. Instead, they would probably have been confined to creating hits, feeding the industry monster.

As for an actual review of the show… As a seasoned journalist, I believe it’s always important to remain critically impartial. But it’s hard to be critical of a show that’s this good. It was raw yet faultless; it made you want to dance and cry (not usually at the same time), but most of all it felt as if those of us in the audience had been invited into a secret society of musical brilliance. 

So, in a way, this review is a call to anyone who reads it not to give Marillion a go. Call me selfish, but those of us who have discovered their music are quite happy with them as they are, thankyouverymuch. We don’t need them to suddenly become too big to be allowed to write songs like The Party or Easter or The Leavers. So don’t try and catch them on tour or buy their new album when it’s out and for the sake of all that’s good and right with the world, please continue to ignore them.

Review by Craig Hooper

MARILLION @ ST DAVID’S HALL, CARDIFF – PREVIEW

A legendary rock band who risked losing £500,000 because insurers wouldn’t cover their tour due to Covid have turned to their fans to make sure they stay on the road.

Marillion will play in St David’s Hall in Cardiff on November 17th – but only because their fans have put up the cash to cover most of their costs if Covid strikes and they’re forced to cancel the tour.

Lead singer Steve Hogarth told Keep Cardiff Live that the band could have been left destitute if they’d toured without insurance.

He said: “If any of us in the band test positive for covid during the tour then we’re done - you’re not allowed in the next building. We’d have to cancel the tour, as Genesis have just done. 

“If we have to cancel this tour it will cost us about half-a-million quid. There’s not an insurance company that will touch artists at the moment, thanks to Covid. 

“It hadn’t even occurred to the band how much money we’d lose if one of us tested positive, so we’d already put the tickets on sale before that was pointed out to us. 

“So we had a crisis meeting and our genius manager, Lucy Jordache, said ‘Why don’t we crowdfund the insurance?’”

Marillion all-but invented crowdfunding, with fans pre-funding tours and albums in 1997 - well before Kickstarter or Indiegogo were a cheeky glint in the internet’s eye. The first time they did it they revolutionised the music business – now they’re looking to do it again with their Lightsavers campaign, literally saving the Light at the End of the Tunnel tour. 

Fans can pledge money which gets put into an escrow account – a kind of ‘holding’ account. If the tour plays out as planned, they all get their money back and if they don’t, it gets used to cover the costs. But every fan who pledges gets a ‘money-can’t-buy’ item in return, whatever happens.

Steve said: “So far we’ve raised around £150,000. That’ll pay for the bus, the trucks and most of the sound and lights if we have to cancel. Of course we don’t want to cancel so we’ve got to be super careful to get through this tour and give everyone their money back. 

“We’ll be effectively in quarantine. Even on the days off we can’t go into a shop or café. It’s going to be well weird because we love coming to Cardiff and enjoying what it has to offer.

“The band will be in a total bubble. We’re not even going to be able to mingle with the crew. No friends and family backstage. Nothing.”

Marillion last played Cardiff two years ago and their unique blend of Pink Floydian prog, Zeppelinesque riffs, soaring melodies and poetic lyrics means their loyal army of fans will be desperate to see them return.

Steve added: “It will be incredibly exciting being back in front of that crowd and walking onstage and listening to the response of the fans because they’re like a family and it will feel like a homecoming.

“Audiences in Wales tend to listen more. They tend to be much quieter in the show and then erupt at the end. I learned that the first couple of times we played St David’s Hall. I thought we were dying until the end when everyone went nuts.”  

Preview by Craig Hooper

Marillion’s ‘Light at the End of the Tunnel’ tour arrives at St David’s Hall on November 17th and you can find out more about the Lightsavers campaign at www.marillion.com