June 15th, 2008
My ears have finally stopped ringing. The Fish show yesterday was absolutely incredible. The setlist was roughly like this:
Slainte Mhath
Circle Line
Square Go
So Fellini
Manchmal
Hotel Hobbies
That Time of the Night
Warm Wet Circles
Arc of the Curve
Dark Star
Faith Healer
White Russian
Cliché
Incommunicado
Sugar Mice
The Last Straw
It was a thrill to hear the Clutching at Straws stuff live. It was the first Marillion album I ever bought and Onkel Fish avoided all of it except “Sugar Mice” back in 1997 when I saw him last. My throat went raw during “Slainte Mhath” as I screamed “Waiting on the whistle to blow!” a few too many times. Lots of memories behind all that stuff. At the risk of being one of those people I’ve hated forever who only wants to hear old stuff, I’ve got to say that the new material was great as well. “Square Go” was vicious and “Arc of the Curve” is my new favorite from the new album. I just love the Fripp-like sustained guitar. And of course there were the obligatory stories including the one about having been at the festival with the Ian Gillan-led Black Sabbath at which transpired the incident which inspired the Stonehenge bit in This Is Spinal Tap.
More later but, for now, here’s some footage of Fish getting the crowd fired up at the beginning of “Faith Healer”
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