Written by:	Jeff
Published:	February 21, 2009
Event:	Marillion
Location:	Le Bikini, Toulouse, France
Galleries:	Marillion - Toulouse, France, 31.01.09 by Jeff (15)

Marillion is one of my favorite bands; I can even listen to albums like "Misplaced Childhood" or "Marbles" several times in a week some time? Luckily the band was in my home town the last day of January and I even had the chance to interview Mark Kelly their keyboardist in the afternoon. For sure it was a perfect day, not just because I met one of the members of this legendary combo but also because it was probably one of the best shows that I ever seen. I will tell you why now?





We didn't have any opener this night and it was not so problematic because after all the more we could get from Marillion, the best it was. The band started with the two opening songs of the first CD of their last double album "Happiness Is The Road". It was a great beginning full of emotion and one more time the sound in the Bikini was just wonderful and probably better than on CD (yes it's incredible but true?). The venue which was approximately sold out (it was the same on the previous dates of the French Marillion tour) with more than 1000 people who were all like frozen by the quality of the interpretation of the band and the wonderful voice of Steve H which sounded perfect from the beginning to the end of the concert. The show was long full of emotion and even if (of course) we didn't have any "old" songs, the band played the best ones of their last albums (especially killers like "The Invisible Man"). This concert was special because it was truly "Progressive" with calm and heavier moment but always with a beautiful deep atmosphere. If I have to talk about this show I should simply use the word touching?





Personally, I didn't understand why the band left the stage so early but when I had a look at the hour, I simply saw that the band was playing for 1h30 minutes. It was so good and beautiful that I simply didn't see that the time was running so fast. Even if Marillion was not the most active band on stage, Steve H talked to the audience and his theatrical performance (which was not "too much" don't worry), gave some really nice feelings to the crowd. It was just cool with great songs like "Out Of this World" or "The Invisible Man" (the new ones were absolutely brilliant too) and the band came back two times on stage to play two encores. The first one with the hit "Whatever Is Wrong With You" plus "Neverland" to finish with "Hapiness Is The Road" and a hypnotized crowd which sang the chorus during some long minutes after the end of the song.





At the end of the show I had a talk about the concert with a lot of people who were at the Bikini this evening and they all agreed with me, it was simply fantastic. I won't lie and even if I like Steve H on CD, I was wondering if he was so good on stage. You know what? He simply showed to everybody that he is among the best singers on Earth (I really believe it). All the ones who still believe that Marillion was only a good band during Fish era are wrong, the band is also fantastic now, different maybe but great (and even probably better). I hope that you'll have the chance to see this band one day, few new bands have the charisma and the talent of this guys, so please don't miss it you'll not be able to see so many class in when all those "old" bands will stop to tour? Marillion was great and I will remember this night forever and won't ever miss them when they will come back in France. Wow I still have shivers when I think about this classy concert?


Many thx to Roger and Frenchie for the accreditation