The acoustic tour Less Is More started in Brighton four days earlier, but this evening Marillion gave a concert in my beautiful hometown. I was rather unsure what to expect, because in general I’m not fond of so-called unplugged gigs, so I had my doubts… However, after Go, Interior Lulu and Out Of This World I was totally convinced that this was going to be a great Marillion gig. The band looked happy, the audience was enthusiastic right from the start and the sound quality was top-notch. Especially Steve Hogarth ’s vocals were amazing and crystal clear, dominating the songs in a way I’ve never heard before. The first highlights were The Space from Seasons End, Hard As Love from my favourite album Brave, and Quartz with a heavenly electric guitar solo by Steve Rothery.

After a short break, the band returned for the second set that was even better with tracks like Cover My Eyes, Beautiful, Estonia (shivers down my spine) and You’re Gone, one of my favourite songs from Marbles. The audience reacted very enthusiastically: they clapped so loud that they finally got the guys back for five encores! Gazpacho, Made Again, Easter (sheer magic), Answering Machine and Three Minute Boy ended this fantastic set. I never saw the band so relaxed on stage and you could tell from the Monty Python-like jokes from Steve Hogarth and Pete Trewavas that they were enjoying themselves too. I never thought that I would say this, but I was overwhelmed by this beautiful unplugged concert. Miracles do happen after all!

Martien Koolen (edited by Peter Willemsen)