Words by: Robert Sutton
Images by: Robert Sutton Photography (Facebook)
Billed as the ‘Farewell to Childhood’ tour it marked the 30th anniversary of the release of the Marillion album ‘Misplaced Childhood’. Fish played two sold out shows at the Islington Assembly halls in London, where he sung the entire album for perhaps the last time. The UK tour comprised of eight dates, with the London stop being the only city on the tour having two nights.
Support for the night was from Lazuli. Follow Lazuli @:lazuli-music.com
Fish came out on stage and personally introduced us to Lazuli, a five piece French progressive/electro rock band. I’m not sure many of us in the audience had heard of Lazuli before. I overheard one guy saying that he had looked them up on the internet and stated that they had five albums to their name… Well I looked them up as well and they actually have six albums to their name with ‘Tant que l’herbe est grasse’ being their latest released in 2014. Although not many of us knew any of the words to their songs, we did show our appreciation at the end of each song. I think the band themselves were very grateful for the opportunity to tour with Fish and genuinely appreciated our applause from the audience. The best remark for me was from Dominique Leonetti, who thanked ‘Mr. Poisson’ for the support and the opportunity of the tour.
Fish: Follow Fish @: fishheadsclub.com
The band opened up with ‘Pipeline’ from Fish’s 1994 ‘Suits’ album. This was followed by ‘A Feast of Consequences’ from his latest album of the same name. And after a little tale about a doctor’s surgery he sung ‘Family Business’ and then ‘Perception of Johnny Punter’ from the 1997 ’Sunsets on Empire’ album.
Well what can I say? The night was really all about Fish and the classic album ‘Misplaced Childhood’ and with the unmistakable gentle intro, we were off. Then launching into ‘Pseudo Silk Kimono’ with everyone in the audience singing along… And yes as Fish said, we all are a little older (only a little), just a bit fatter (OK, a bit more than a little in my case) and certainly with a lot less hair and eyesight that isn’t too brilliant either. But we all have that certain spot in our lives where we can remember what we doing when ‘Misplaced Childhood’ was released.
Next up was the classic ‘Kayleigh’. It made me wonder just how many of the people in the audience had named their children Kayleigh following the release of this song. Then another classic Lavender, Bitter Suite and Heart of Lothian followed of course. ‘White Feather’ marked the end of the album and the end of the set and the band said their farewells and left the stage.
The night was clearly not over, as it wasn’t long before the band returned to the stage to rapturous applause from the audience. The audience’s enthusiasm was rewarded when Fish played ‘Market Square Heroes’ from Marillion’s debut single in 1982 for their first encore. Again it was another crowd pleaser and again the audience just about out singing Fish on this song…
The band then left the stage again, but was back quite quickly for the second and final encore of the night. The drinking song ‘The Company’ was our reward. This track concluded the evening’s performance and I have to say what an excellent night’s performance it was. With an excellent support band, Fish and his band were in great form. The audience was in great form as well, eagerly participating in the evening’s festivities. Excellent night all round… So all I have to say is ‘Thank you Mr. Poisson’.
Setlist:
1: Pipeline
2: A Feast of Consequences
3: Family Business
4: Perception of Johnny Punter
(5-14 from Misplaced Childhood –Marillion Album)
5: Pseudo Silk Kimono
6: Kayleigh
7: Lavender
8: Bitter Suite
9: Heart of Lothian
10: Waterhole ( Expresso Bongo)
11: Lords of the Backstage
12: Blind Curve
13: Childhood’s End
14: White Feather
Encore 1:
15: Market Square Heroes (Marillion Song)
Encore 2:
16. The Company