Eight years before the Marillion renaissance that came with 2012’s Sounds That Can’t Be Made and last year’s acclaimed F.E.A.R., the band made one of the best albums of their careers with the startling Marbles. Back in 2002 they’d been roundly mocked for their Marillion Weekends: a threeday event in gusty holiday parks, attended by their ardent fanbase. Fast-forward to 2015 and the Marillion Weekend at Center Parcs, Port Zelande. With their pledge campaigns, crowdfunding and sold-out weekends, Marillion look like the band that grabbed the zeitgeist and never let go.
This lushly packaged live CD/ DVD celebrates the band on a high, playing Marbles in its entirety in a marquee that can only be described as cavernous. The slick direction and production – lasers, projector screens, sweeping shots of the stage as cameras drift by – highlight a band at the top of their game, just before they’d eclipse even themselves.
