Marillion — Rockefeller, Oslo, Norway, 29 November 2000

Jan-Jaap van der Geer

I attended a fantastic concert yesterday at the Rockefeller in Oslo, Norway. It was 6 years ago since Marillion performed live in Norway. At least I was told. I've only been here in Norway for 1.5 years, and for me, it has not been quite that long since I saw them.

Anyway, they started off with a big surprise for me. They played an acoustic set, starting off with Sugar Mice. I have never heard that one performed by Steve H, I think. It was great. It sounded very fragile, but in a very positive way.

After that they played Afraid of Sunrise and Lap of Luxury. At least, that's what the setlist said I took with me. I think they actually first played Cinderella Search and then Lap, but who cares. Cinderella Search was also a surprise to me. Two songs I never heard played by H, and that after so many years... Great! The acoustic set concluded with The Space. During the whole acoustic set the public was very enthusiastic, they just didn't stop applauding between the songs.

After that they played 80 Days. Not my favourite, but OK. The Answering machine was great, followed by Cannibal Surf Babe, I still can't understand why this song is (was?) hated so much.

Then they played Mad, Go and Rich. The Uninvited Guest was also nice to hear again.

This was followed by a song for the new album, Clockwork Quartz (Or is it Clockwork & Quarz?) There's something scribbled between those words, but I'm not really sure if it is a miswriting or a symbol...) It sounded OK, but I think it is difficult to judge new songs during a concert. It seemed quite a long song. This song was followed by _The Party. Didn't know it, but someone nearby knew (part of) the lyrics, so it was either not new or a cover? Dunno.

These unknown songs were followed by the singalong Easter. The Great Escape was of course a highlight. Cathedral Wall was great.

They made us work really hard for the encore, consisting of Garden Party and King. Great stuff! I was afraid the public would go home after the first encore, just as they did after the recent Spock's Beard gig. Although the public was great during the whole concert, once the first encore was over, they just went home, so there wasn't a second encore, of course...

Thank goodness this public was wiser. So there was a second encore consisting of Kayleigh and Lavender. The first part of Lavender was only sung by the public. Great! After Lavender they played another Fish-era song. As the last encore isn't on the setlist, I can't verify what it was. I'm not good at titles, I was pretty sure it was from Clutching. It Was great, though!

It was a great concert. Not as great as the recent Spock's Beards concerts, but that's not so strange, because they recently took over the second place from Marillion in my own private top 3 bands, with Genesis still firmly on top. I would have loved them to play Interior Lulu and/or Script, but I'm satisfied anyway so...