Tonight the big Scotsman was going to be playing the Tivoli stage in Utrecht. One thing that had struck me during the 013 gig was the fact that Fish remarked that the 013 audience always has been a very quiet one. He stated that most of the people attending one of his gigs in Tilburg were there to really listen to the music. In Utrecht I soon found out what he meant a few days earlier. The Tivoli venue was packed with noisy people, very noisy people. At times I found myself wondering whether people noticed that there was a concert going on. On the positive side, most of the people in the crowd were enthusiastic to say the least. Shouting and cheering, singing along with the music. Too bad the vocal qualities of most Fish fans are way, way beyond average.

Tonight’s set was identical to the one in Tilburg. The band played two sets, the second being the entire Misplaced Childhood album, followed by three encores, “Incommunicado”, “Market Square Heroes” and “Fugazi”. One of the biggest differences between both gigs was the smaller stage at Tivoli and the massive response by the crowd. It was obvious that the band felt more at home on a smaller stage and looking at the smiles on the musicians faces all were enjoying the enthusiasm of the crowd.

This being my second night and not taking photographs I found myself being a more critical listener. There’s no question that everyone in the hall absolutely loved this gig and I won’t be surprised when it ends up in many year lists but I question whether any objective listener would have made it through the entire two and an half hour. The quality of the musicians combined with the fact that due to the declining vocal capacity of Fish the music was taken down a few keys, resulted in a rather strange mixture with way too many low tones. Every time a guitar solo was supposed to kick in, lead to deception. I stopped counting the times I wished Steve Rothery was there.

All in all I had again a very pleasant evening, not as much because of the actual performance of the band but mainly because of the simple fact that there was a performance of “Misplaced Childhood”. I can only wish that Marillion themselves decide to take the album on the road. Maybe the 25th anniversary?

The pictures are left overs from the 013 gig, three days earlier.

(Review & Pics: Geert Oldenmenger)