Live Review: Fish, Manchester Academy 2, 01-Oct-2007
I had serious mixed feelings about this gig. I’d bought my ticket back in May, when both the circumstances and the lineup of the band were very different.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then. I’ve expressed my opinions about events in several forums, and won’t repeat it all again. Let’s just say it was a very deliberate choice to go to the gig wearing an Odin Dragonfly T-shirt.
I wasn’t expecting to bump into the man himself on the steps of the venue. But since you’re reading this, you can tell that I did live to tell the tale. He even made a point of shaking hands with me at the end of the gig.
As for the show itself, Fish was on fine form both in humour and in voice throughout. By by the end of the first song, he dispelled any lingering doubts about the shape of his voice following from his bout of laryngitis that caused the postponment of the original gig two weeks earlier, and the energy levels didn’t drop for the next two hours.
The setlist included most of Marillion’s 1988 album “Clutching at Straws” along with four songs from the new album 13th Star, with a few other favourites from Fish’s near 20-year solo career thrown in for good measure. I can’t remember the complete setlist from the last time he played Manchester, but I don’t think there was a single song common to both nights. I think that says something about the strength of the body of work he’s produced over the past quarter century.
High spots were too many to mention; of the new songs ‘Machmal’ packs a very powerful punch, ‘Circle Line’ and ‘Square Go’ rock hard, and ‘Dark Star’ is even more intense live than on record. I have to say that him singing some of the angriest lines straight in my face was just a little intimidating. That T shirt may have something to do with it. I’d have loved to have heard more of the new album played, but the Clutching at Straws songs came over fantastically well live too. (I still love that album, even though it’s two decades old).
The band were tight and well-drilled. Frank Usher may look old, but he reeled off some superbly fluid solos from that battered guitar. I’ve got into trouble for criticising his playing on Marillion oldies before; after all, there’s only one Steve Rothery. Probably wisely, he didn’t try impersonate Rothers and play the original solos note-for-note, but creatively reinterpreted them in his own style. And his playing on Cliché was mesmerising. Chris Johnson seems to have fitted in well; although it was wierd hearing him singing all the female backing vocal parts.
One of the most memorable gigs of the year, for all the right reasons. If it didn’t quite top Marillion at The Forum or Mostly Autumn at Bury, it came very, very close.
