Lunedì 24 Nov 2008, 2:59
What a weekend. Two nights of Marillion in sheer unfindable (not on my navigation system) and unreachable (snow) venues. Yet the gigs in Heerhugowaard en Zwolle were as great as ever.
Especially Out of this World and Three Minute Boy were absolutely tremendous. Yet also the new material from Happiness is the Road got more depth when hearing it live. Outstanding gems were Essence and This Train is my Life. And Elvis-like Thunder Fly proved to be a real party crasher.
The guy on the left
Once again, I really liked the performance of the guy left on stage, from the crowd’s perspective. And I am not referring to Pete Trewawas (though HIS performance was of course great) but to the mysterious man hidden behind an impressive amount of buttons and other electronic gear.
It is always fun to watch this monitor engineer Phil Brown respond to the numerous hidden and less hidden signs of Los Marillos. And it is especially fun to see the pleasure he’s putting in his work. Both gigs, he was one of the most swinging blokes on stage, or as Steve H. once put it: the coolest guy on stage.
When you see Phil rocking during songs as Afraid of Sunlight it adds new dimensions to the already multi-dimensional Marillion music. This guy almost deserves his own fanclub ;-)
And he saved the evening in Zwolle. During Rother’s solo in Neverland, his guitar started to make some severe feedback noise. Five nonplussed Marillion members and an even astonished crowd were wondering were this strange humming and peeping noise came from.
Showing some utter coolness, Phil Brown walked on stage, and among the thousands of wires and plugs he pulled exactly the right one. The feedback noise died immediately, and calmly Phil returned to his desk, leaving everybody even more nonplussed…..
Wow…..