Marillion stopped in Seattle for two performances to finish their West Coast tour. Or, more accurately, part of Marillion were here. Labelling themselves Los Trios Marillos, lead singer Steve Hogarth, guitarrist Steve Rothery, and bassist Pete Trewavas returned to America for a limited number of acoustic performances.
Their first appearance was for an instore acoustic performance and signing at the Tower Records in Queen Anne.
Having returned late from office hours last night, I hadn't prepared for the day. I woke up early in the morning and, still feeling quite out of it, searched for my copy of Marillions latest album, Marbles, and the tour T-shirt I picked up in London last year.
I'm not sure if it's cool to wear the shirt of the band to a show. I know from "Can't Hardly Wait" that it is most definitely uncool to wear the shirt of the band when you are playing in the band, but wasn't sure whether that ban applied to the audience as well.
Risking uncoolness, I left work early and headed to the store. I arrived about half an hour before the scheduled start of the show and staked out a place near the front of the stage.
It was interesting to observe the crowd that gathered around me. The crowd must definitely a much older crowd than the one in London. I may not be that young any more but I felt strangely out of place. Along with the small children dragged along by their parents, I was doing my part to drag down the average age.
It was interesting listening in on the pre show conversations as the Marillion concert DVD played softly on the store television sets. "Oh, you look familiar. Did I see you in Portland last night?" "No, I remember you from the boulder show." One guy noticed my shirt and said that he thought I must be a long time fan. I spoke with him and his wife for a while and he told me about the online forums and wouldn't I join because there must be more of us in Seattle than he had thought. I talked about the show in London I went to and they told me about the time they were in the UK for a warmup show and then rushed off to the Netherlands for the first two nights of the tour.
The band finally took to the stage and played four songs. If I remember correctly, they were "Don't Hurt Yourself", "80 Days", "Easter", and "The Answering Machine". This was really a great way to hear music live. I was no more than four or five feet away from the band. The sound was clear, loud enough to all the nuances of play but not so loud to be painful. And playing in full daylight added to the experience, with the audience able to see the band and the band the audience.
After the set ended, we queued up for the record signing. Steve Rother signed the inside booklet sleeve while Steve Hogarth and Pete Trewavas signed the CD itself. I mostly stood around in awkward silence unable to think of even the smallest thing to say. These were the people that wrote the soundtrack of my life for the past 15 years, it just felt so unreal. At least I got to shake each of their hands.
Fuzzy out of focus cameraphone pictures to be published on Flickr shortly.
