I was there and one of the first to support h in his crowd surfing.

So much to say about this performance. I was in the audience and was one of those tender hands. First thing you must know is what are Marillion Weekends. They play 3 different 2,5 hour shows in 3 nights. This is the 2nd encore of the last night. The band and the crowd are exhausted at this point. The keyboards were too loud in the mix, the cricket bat wasn’t working, we in the crowd were feeling so bad for Steve. Steve wrote in his diary about this evening and it ended up being the song Montreal on the album Sounds that can’t be made. Thanks for your reaction!

Marillion is a team, and they're in the game with the fans. Everyone supports each other. That is what makes it the best experience.

I recently got back from the 2022 weekend of Montreal. It was my first weekend and I was really excited. Mark Kelly had a problem with his keyboard on the second night when they were performing “Sierra Leone” from their new album “An Hour Before It’s Dark” and the band was all relaxed and cracking jokes and it was a lot of fun. There were some other bugs with Kelly’s keyboard and Steve Rothery but they were all cool about the whole thing and the audience didn’t even care. They were all thrilled to be there with the band! I enjoyed your reaction very much! This Strange Engine is a wonderful song

I was there. It was awesome!

Best band

I was there!

Amazing performance

After the "Blue Pain" stanza, there is a very nice sax solo sample that Hogarth is supposed to trigger via that "cricket bat". If the cricket bat wasn't functioning at the beginning of the song, throwing it to the floor in between the amps didn't help much. So, where there was supposed to be a saxophone wailing high in the mix, there was dead air. These guys take a lot of pride in the faithful reproduction of their studio cuts, so Hogarth was visibly frustrated by the tech problem. I think the sax sample was the most noticeable omission, but Hogarth behaves as if there were others he could not trigger, so, denied his normal role at that point of the song, he goes crowd surfing. He's not a very big guy. That hypnotic guitar solo being played by Steve Rothery while Hogarth surfs around on top of the crowd is generally considered to be the best of many wonderful solos he's created over the decades, with some fans, instead, voting for the long melodic solo within "Easter", which carries on for many extra measures, sort of like the long solo in the "Firth of Fifth" seems neverending, and then you are devastated when it actually does end. Marillion uses this tune frequently to thank the fans and introduce the band members, which to me ends up making this the one song in their h era catalog where the studio cut is better than the live performance.

I was there, magical moment and a great example of how live music has its own life.

The - very long - lyrics for this song: There was a boy who came into this world At the hands of a holy woman in a holy place He wore a red coat and walked a bulldog Saw them reflected in the mirror of the lakes Lived in the shadow of the mountains With the smells of disinfectant, dusty old leather And the polished wood of his bed No more than a baby feeding swans on the river Holding the hands of his mother And the wax paper bag of yesterday's bread And his father on the other side of the world On the ships railings and some far away tide With the silent dry tear of home thoughts from abroad In his far away eyes In his far away eyes The smell of the wax on the wooden floor Mixture of polish and soap No children to fear or to play with Rows of empty hooks for the coats An upright piano and the boys in the choir Still remind him of just before he was born Remind him of just before he was breathing Strange misty visions of God Turn the cities into families Into villages of souls Hovering in the air while they're sleeping With their houses invisible Chase the moon between the buildings Running as fast as I could run Send to me the ghosts of Christmas Whispering, "You're the only one" And ever since I was a boy I never felt that I belonged Like everything they did to me Was an experiment to see How I would cope with the illusion In which direction would I jump Would I do it all the same As the actors in the game Or would I spit it back at them And not get caught up in their rules And live according to my own And not be used, not be used To find the fundamental truths It was going to take some time Thirty five summers down the line The wisdom of each passing year Seems to serve only to confuse Seems to serve only to confuse Daddy came out the navy and took us away To his dirty grey home town And he worked down on a coal mine for National Service So that he could be around There was a magical purple in the chrome of the exhaust Of his Triumph motor bike And a warmth of oil and metal and the thrill of the hard corner Holding tight From the horizon Came home from the Navy to the mine From the horizon To buried alive Took his dream underground Buried his treasure in his faraway eyes And one day as the boy lay sleeping in the sunshine Of a half remembered afternoon A cloud of bees with no particular aim, and no brain Found the boy, decided that his time had come Came down out of the sky Stung him in the face Again and again Blue pain Screaming like baptism Intravenous, Jesus! Like being chosen Blue pain from something with no brain I can't explain It's happening again It's happening again Oh Mummy, Daddy, will you sit a while with me Oh Mummy, Daddy, will you jog my memory Tell me tall tales of Montego Bay Table mountain, flying fish, banana spiders, pots of paint And the sun on the equator Setting like an ember thrown to deep water From crimson to black But coming back Tomorrow On the horizon The blue pain Fades to a point where it doesn't fade It stayed Blue Stirred his red coat heart to this strange engine This love This love This inconvenient, blind, blood-diamond This puzzle I don't understand That knows no faith And tries and fails And tries again Stares at the sea The night's dark deep For one last time And bleeds And bleeds And dies for you And lies And is to blame And is ashamed And is not the same And is true And is true

FYI: the lyrics are all based on Steve Hogarth’s younger days and about his dad. It is almost literally his biography. In his first H Natural show (a truly solo show) he literally tells that story instead of doing the song and it was then that I realised it was “all true” :-).

I remember buying this album and I didn't give it much of a chance at the time. I think I'm going to have to revisit it after hearing this magnificent track.

Not sure this was the best choice to meet this tune (except for the visual aspect). You shall listen to the album version for sure, but there is a live version caught in Paris from the album Piston Broke that I love so much ! I was there in 1997... Time flies

This is the infamous performance when all of H’s midi tech failed; you’re spot on. The middle section should have a sax solo which H triggers using the midi cricket bat; then the midi to his keyboards failed too! But the rest of the band and the superb fans saved it; most of it was improvised :) One of the best bands in the world :)

Not the performance of this epic song that I would have chosen for you. In fact, I would have told you to make sure you had read the lyrics first, as it can be a lot to take in. A very personal song for Steve H, and a bit sad that all the technical issues had to happen. A great song for a Marillion fan, but not one to show you so early in your journey I feel. Don't let it put you off - there are plenty more that I am sure you will love.

@MusicWithToddLedbetter

2 жыл бұрын

I thought it was great is a lot of ways, I hope I was clear in my reaction. I've had many on stage mishaps myself and it's not easy to overcome, but Steve did in my opinion. That's one thing that makes it great.

@paulf2557

2 жыл бұрын

@@MusicWithToddLedbetter Wasn't criticizing your reaction - it was just, well let's say this has gone down in Marillion folklore as how quickly the s**t can hit the fan in a live performance - basically, as Charles says a little while ago, this was the last song of a Marillion weekend - three nights of different sets totalling almost 8 hours of music - so really was the climax to it all - the rest of each evening was so perfect that when the faults started happening, especially in such a personal song to H, it was hard to watch and listen. The crowd obviously helped Steve through the crisis - and it all ended happily with them carrying him around. I have watched this show many times, and it now seems like an old friend, just wish you had seen a "perfect" version first. Isn't calling your heart "This Strange Engine" wonderful though? This is a big Marillion favourite song for the fans - certainly one of mine. Steve H really is a magical performer on stage. And as you say the rest of the band really hung in there through the gremlins. More long ones coming.

That wooden thing is a basically a cricketbat with miditriggers attached to it. In his early Marillion days he had gloves with triggers on his fingers so he could play certain keyboard parts anywhere he would want to. But these triggers would corrode through him sweating so he arranged to attach them to that cricketbat. He initially had an actual cricketbat but I think he has now a plastic one, I think it is his third one now. Hogarth can sometimes be a bit of a prima-donna on stage but that comes with being such a huge stage persona. This performance was indeed a bit ragged which leads me to believe it was a true encore, not well rehearsed. They sometimes do that and not always the result is superb but always passionate.

@MusicWithToddLedbetter

2 жыл бұрын

That's what it looked like to me, Thanks for the conformation Chris.

As said by everyone else, not the best first impression of a fantastic song. Kudos for sticking with it. You seem very keen on Pete's bass work. He has posted some brief masterclasses explaining some of the lines he played, one is the intro to this song. The band as a whole have a great KZread channel, giving you little insights. For the bass masterclass, kzread.info/dash/bejne/ip6tuql_d920dKQ.html

Great reaction Todd, although not the best version of this beautiful son, too much distractions. Please listen, watch and react to Neverland by Marillion live. Out of Season 2009 concert in KZread. A Peruvian friend from Dallas, TX who is following you. Luis 🇵🇪

I know a lot of better versions of this fantastic song. Nevertheless, this performance reveals a lot about the magic of my favourite group. Please check out „The new kings“ from their latest studio album F.E.A.R. from 2016. You can find a live version from 2019 in Cardiff.

One of my favorite songs but not the greatest live version. Typical of the band getting relaxed towards the end of a weekend set.

Not the best version. They totally fucked it up. Try another version of this magnificent song.