Fish – The Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool – Wednesday 5th March 2025
THE END OF THE ROAD IS NIGH
As he nears the end of the road to the isles, Fish (let’s get it out of the way although we could simply refuse to mention it, yes – the EX-Marillion singer) leaves his mark in Liverpool. The circle squared off, there’s a long personal history with Fish having first seen him singing, like many others in attendance on the Road To The Isles, over forty years ago.
As those fans, many clad in the new tour shirt or one of a particular vintage, make their way to their seats from a prompt 7.30 start, they’re greeted by a backdrop screens that’s projecting goldfish (no clowns…) circling around the graphics. A touch of calming therapy for what will be an emotional adieu to the grey bearded warrior.
Heading towards closure on tour that’s been almost ecstatically received, Fish is keen to stress that “it’s not Elton John or Status Quo.” This is it, and after juggling the set during the European leg with a dazzling selection from the legacy, the UK sees a more settled set with a clear message of what he wants to say.
OLD FRIENDS
He tells us how he wants to do his final round of touring surrounded by his old friends. He’s referring to the band, who’ve been with him on much if not all his long solo travels. Mickey Simmonds, Robin Boult, Steve Vantsis, Gavin Griffiths and, looking quite socially distanced, Liz Antwi are all seasoned in the ways of the Fish. And then there are the songs. Taking a trip back to the early solo days, the first two solo albums Vigil In A Wilderness Of Mirrors and Internal Exile provide much of the set. With so much from which to choose, and with so many fan favourites not making the shortlist, it’s a thankless task. However, that’s being churlish.
CENTREPIECE GENIUS
While The Company is always – ALWAYS – going to have to end the set, Vigil has – HAS – to be the opener. The brooding intro and uplifting chorus perfect fare. With the bounce of Credo and brassy Big Wedge, the tone is set. Relating tales of their stay at the city’s Titanic Hotel, heading backstage and fetching some warm layers to wrap up a chilly Mickey Simmonds and regular bows to those in the ‘Royal Boxes’ punctuate the tunes. Fish talks of the catharsis of writing and singing more than once; Robin Boult following up in grinding out a dirty riff for Long Cold Day and then the lockdown rediscovery of the centrepiece genius of Plague Of Ghosts.
The latter a progressive tone poem incorporating rock, funk, dub, psych, techno and balladry in equal measure. It’s surely his magnum opus. A twenty five minute epic set closer, that on a Steven Wilson today would be shrouded in pant wetting praise. As the finale, the band employ the old trick of leaving the stage one by one, until it’s just Fish and the packed house singing the “we can make it happen” refrain.
BACK IN THE GAME
And while Shadowplay, Family Business, Cliche and the duet with Liz on Just Good friends (plus blinding Boult solos on the latter two) all cement the early solo work, his farewell album and prophetic lyrics of the title song Weltschmerz are a reminder of how Fish is calling time, going out not just ‘back in the game’, but at the top of his game. As Boult drips guitar notes and power chords, Fish is sounding better than many would have hoped; thoughts of the vocal issues of the past and whether or not the tour schedule was too demanding can be parked.
Our man is in good spirits too. The banter is as much a part of the occasion as the music. Grumpy Rick Wakeman has made an Indian Summer of a career from it. Grendel shouters are fair warned and given short shrift and the absence of any melancholy aspect in his demeanour – until the very end – is marked. “I’m loving all these old people shuffling away to the toilets between number!” he deadpans, reflecting on how we’ve all grown old together. “Shall we wait for you?”
MELTING CHALK HEARTS OF LOTHIAN
Encores are a time when realisation hits that closure is upon us. No pressure but the Misplaced Childhood sequence that follows an exquisite Gentleman’s Excuse Me, simply has to be done. The chalk hearts on the playground wall may have long gone but we do remember. As we do with the always dark, always apt Fugazi before the celebration, albeit with a lump in the throat and a tear in the eye, of The Company.
Fish leaves the stage with four more gigs to go. A myriad of feelings float around the Phil. Reluctance? Relief? Sadness? Pride? Saying farewell is always…challenging. Raising a glass to the company, someone must have quoted Douglas Adams and claimed ‘so long and thanks for all the fish’.
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Categories: Live Reviews
Our day out to see Fish at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
06 March 2025
00:18
So today is the day we go to this “End of an Era gig”. We have had these Tickets for Fish (former Marillion front man) for near enough a year. They have been pinned to the memo board in the kitchen for all of that time and today they were to be used.
The original plan was for Fran and our son Karl to go as I have not really followed Fish or Marillion since they went their separate ways although I did go to the first 2 Fish solo gigs in Liverpool Royal Court theatre but couldn’t get the same feeling that I used to get when they were together.
Unfortunately Karl was having difficulty getting the time off from work so to take the stress off Fran, I agreed to go with her. I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to give her the best day possible.
We found out that on the day we could buy merchandise at The Arts Bar in Hope Street. I decided that would be the first stop on the day as we promised Karl a Tee Shirt which would be 3XL in size. We also planned to have some food at The Caledonia, a Vegan only eatery around the corner from The Philharmonic Hall.
And we arrive at today 5th March 2025.
We ordered a Taxi to take us to The Arts Bar in Hope Street so we could complete our full day out by starting there and buying the Tee Shirt for Karl. The taxi journey was a bit strange, in some of the directions taken, but he got us safely to our destination.
The Arts Bar was a very busy and quite noisey place to walk into and to be honest it was too “over personed” for me to feel comfortable in. However I did manage to get to the merchandise which was a bit disappointing as they only had one style of Tee Shirt.
I asked at the counter about the sizes a conversation that went like this :-
ME: What sizes do you have in the Tee Shirts.
VENDOR: I Have all from S to 5XL
ME: That’s great, could I have A 3XL
VENDOR: That’s only size I don’t have.
ME: (Dumbstruck)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anyhow we settled for a 2XL and hope it fits.
We now move on to dinner and The Caledonia which had been recommended to us by Fran’s Brother Graham whose knowledge of these things is quite good. It wasn’t a long walk from The Arts Bar to The Caledonia, maybe 5 minutes (probably 2 minutes if you’re 20ish) on foot. It was easy to find but unfortunately it wasn’t open, I looked around and there was a couple of young women across the road. After speaking with them we found out that it was temporarily closed due to an electrical fault but if we carried on to the next road on the right, called Falkner Street, we would find a place there that catered for Vegans. This is what we did, we walked down Falkner street and at the bottom of the road was a restaurant call The Quarter. It was a really busy place and all the tables outside were full (it was a nice day weather wise) and there were menus which we perused in order to see if they had Vegan dishes on it. We found something each and when one of the staff asked if she could help us I asked if we could have a table inside. She told us to follow her and seated us at a Table for Two. We ordered drinks Cola for Fran and Coffee for me however when I asked for alternative milk they only had coconut and the Idea of putting that into coffee made me shudder so I settled for black and added sugar to take away the bitterness which didn’t really work. I ordered a Vegan Pizza, which didn’t have any specified size, and Fran ordered a Bruschetta. When my Pizza arrived it was big, really big and covered in Rocket leaves, so many Rocket leaves that I was worried that it may be hiding something. The worry was unfounded as the Pizza was delicious and I grabbed a handful of the salad leaves and threw them on Fran’s Bruschetta.
I managed to finish the Pizza and when Fran had finished we ordered Carrot Cake which was also delicious although, due to me being over pizza’d, mine never got finished despite Fran trying her best to finish it for me.
Back To The Philharmonic.
I would recommend The Quarter the food and service was top notch.
We left the restaurant and walked back to the venue. I had my hip flask in my shoulder bag and had only used it to rinse the Rocket leaves from my teeth so it was still quite full. Realising that the venue may not allow me to take it in I put my coat on over the bag and tucked it back. We had our tickets scanned and I walked in, turned to let Fran take hold of my arm and saw that security was checking her bag hahaha.
The venue was buzzing in the foyer as merchandise was also for sale in there that was annoying as they had more different styles of Tee Shirts for sale aarrgghh. Anyhow we made our way to our seats and sat down. There was some weird swing music playing and as much as that’s not my bag I noticed it was a cover of Jimi Hendrix “The Wind Cries Mary” I did let it go until the next song came on which was a Swing cover of Ozzy Osborne’s “Crazy Train”. I couldn’t help it I just started laughing and couldn’t stop. One of the people stood in the row in front of us asked if I was laughing at the music, and if I had heard Rolf Harris version of “Stairway to Heaven” which was very prophetic as that very song was the next swing version to come on followed by “Smoke on the Water”. Thankfully the crowd had been filtering into the Auditorium and as the chatter increased in volume it drowned out the awful background “music”.
The show started with lights and Rossini’s “La Gazza Ladra” which took us back in time to Marillion at The Spectrum Arena, Warrington circa 1985, Fran heavily pregnant with our youngest and the furthest seats from the stage you could get. (I still have a fond memory of “Beltane Fire” the support band on that night). Once the pomp was over Fish took to the stage, am not sure if it is him not having a warm up routine or something else but it did seem as if he struggled through the first few songs, he was carried by the band and the excellent Backing Singer. Eventually it came together, although the actual sound was not the best (unusual in The Philharmonic Hall), the performance itself did grow. I have already stated that I am not a Fan of “Solo Fish” so it would have taken something extra special to impress me which never happened. Fran however is different and still likes him which is the only reason for this whole day out, I think she liked parts of it but I also had the feeling she wasn’t as wowed as she should have been, especially knowing that this really was the last time she would be at a Fish Concert.
After about 2 and a half (plus) hours the gig ended. I suppose that alone made it a sort of value for money gig for those that didn’t care about the sound etc. And just wanted to be there for the last time to say goodbye to their Idol. Not me I didn’t like it much but as I have said, I was only there as an escort.
Once the gig finished Fran went to the merchandise stall and got a Tee Shirt she liked, while I went outside for a cigarette. All the time I was sitting having a smoke Fish’s wife Simone was stood in the corner deep in conversation with another lady. Fran came out of the Venue with her new Tee Shirt and told me she had just said Hello to Fish’s wife, Simone was going in as she was coming out.
We got on the train from Central Station Liverpool to Central Station Birkenhead. On the train I saw a woman I had met years ago, in Royden Park, named Sue. She’s a big Marillion fan so I asked if she had just been to the gig, she said she had and said “wasn’t it good” sorry Sue I had to be honest and told her I hated it.
In summary I am not a fan of Fish but that doesn’t matter, on the whole I had an adventure which created these memories and had a fun day out. I hope none of my antics spoiled any of it for Fran which she said it didn’t. So on the whole an enjoyable day glad it will never have to be repeated.
That’s quite an adventure!! Shame you didn’t enjoy the show. The music on the PA pre show by the way was Pat Boone doing his versions of some rock classics. The album is ‘In A Metal Mood’. Many may have recognised his ‘Crazy Train’ as the theme music for ‘The Osbournes’.
Thanks for your reply, I did enjoy the day out, I wasn’t there for the show as I mentioned. I bought the tickets a year ago for my wife and our son Karl was supposed to escort Fran. Just made the most of the adventure even when things were going wrong we managed to turn it around.
By the way your Photos are great.