Marillion are a band with a strong and loyal fanbase and recently announced a show at London’s Royal Albert Hall for 2017 – a show that sold out within minutes of the tickets going on sale. Nowhere demonstrates the strength of their fanbase though quite as much as the Marillion Weekends.
Marillion played their first “Marillion weekend” way back in 2002, and they are still going strong. These three day events are a chance for fans from around the world to meet up, meet the band, and enjoy three shows from the band, each with a different setlist, so they include songs rarely played. The 2015 Marillion Weekend was held in March 2015 at Center Parks, Port Zelande in the Netherlands and was recorded and filmed for release. On 20th January 2017 the band will release “Marbles in the park” – a live DVD/BluRay/2CD release recorded on the saturday night of the weekend. For that show the band chose to play the entire “Marbles” album.
ok lets start with the technical stuff – the sound quality is excellent, both on CD and DVD, and the picture quality is excellent on the DVD. The video has been well edited – not so many camera angle changes that it distracts from the enjoyment of watching, but enough that you get to see what matters at the right time.
I started off by listening to the CDs, and absolutely loved them. It’s a fantastic live album that I’d have no hesitation in recommending. Then I put the DVD on, and that really did take things up a level. As enjoyable as the CDs are, once you add in the projections and light show you get the full experience as the visuals work so well with the music and really enhance the experience.
It’s a fantastic release and it’s certain to go down well with Marillion fans and prog fans in general. It’s not just hardcore fans who will enjoy this release – those music lovers who haven’t listened to Marillion much but like me have enjoyed seeing them perform at festivals are almost certain to enjoy this release too. Highly recommended.
Marbles in the park is available on 2CD , DVD , BluRay
Track listing:
CD 1:
1. The invisible man
2. Marbles I
3. Genie
4. Fantastic place
5. The only unforgiveable thing
6. Marbles II
7. Ocean cloud
8. marbles III
9. The damage
CD 2:
1. Don’t hurt yourself
2. You’re gone
3. Angelina
4. Drilling holes
5. Marbles IV
6. Neverland
7. Out of this world
8. King
9. Sounds that can’t be made
- 21.02