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Marillion: High Voltage

Marillion are no strangers to playing festivals, however their appearance at last year's High Voltage was slightly less usual because it was a very rare appearance for the band at one of the UK's major rock get togethers. In fairness to High Voltage, they do cater to prog bands and their fans on quite a large scale, nevertheless though, the nine songs captured on this album (yes I know the last song is really three joined together) are amongst the band's most easily accessible and even included a number from the brushed under the carpet Fish days.

Put quite simply Marillion are an extremely well oiled live machine and this performance to what sounds like an impressed and slightly partisan audience is no different. Kicking in with the slow build of "The Invisible Man", drummer Ian Mosley and bassist Pete Trewavas orchestrate the whirling mix of keyboards and soaring vocals into a grandiose introduction that is smacked home by Steve Rotheray's sublime guitar work. "Cover My Eyes" veers off in a more straight head rock direction – this is almost as close as Marillion get to commercial – before the "old days" are revisited with a spirited version of the Fish era classic "Slainte Mhath". Guilty of intentionally ignoring this important part of their history for many years, it is no surprise that singer Steve Hogarth still even after all this time sounds just a little out of place with these lyrics. However the song went down a storm on the night and sounds mighty fine here too.

The quartet of "King", "This Strange Engine", "Afraid Of Sunlight" and "The Great Escape" highlight just how consistent Marillion have been over the years and when you consider that almost none of the songs the band played that night are guaranteed staples in their set-lists, it really does show the strength and depth contained right through their whole career. Keyboard player Mark Kelly shines once more on "Neverland", providing the glorious backdrop to another amazing guitar solo and Hogarth's fine voice is as commanding as ever. The under-rated "This Town/The Rakes Progress/100 Nights" triumvirate closes the set out on what was another excellent performance from one of the UK's best ever bands.

A must for fans, a great souvenir for those who were there and a wonderful introduction to the many sides of Marillion – who could ask for more?


Track Listing
1. The Invisible Man
2. Cover My Eyes
3. Slainte Mhath
4. King
5. This Strange Engine
6. Afraid Of Sunlight
7. The Great Escape
8. Neverland
9. This Town/The Rakes Progress/100 Nights

Added: October 14th 2011
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Marillion.com
Hits: 2639
Language: english

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