2013 Marillion Weekend, Port Zélande

This weekend promised to be something special… And it was! Why, I hear you ask? Because Marillion was going to play “Brave” live in its entirety, that’s why! I still have fond memories of the concert in TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht in 1994. That night, ‘h’ came on stage and announced that they would play the whole album and asked us -nicely- to listen and “save the applause until the end”… And my goodness, did they deliver. You could really hear a pin drop!!! Until the last notes of “Made Again”, that is… When those faded away, it stayed quiet for about 5 seconds and then an ovation erupted from the crowd I had never experienced before, goosebumps all over!!! The roar must’ve lasted for at least 4 minutes and I think I saw Mr. H quickly wipe some tears from his cheek when he walked off-stage… And “Brave” was only half of the show, because the band came back for an encore which included -among others- “Easter” and “Garden Party”. That last song almost got me thrown out of the venue by ‘h’, because when he started announcing the song with “A while ago, we received an invitation for a party…” -and Mark was playing some ‘scary’ twiddly-bits (alegedly, the party was held in Count Dracula’s castle…)- he paused for a few seconds and by that, my big mouth was triggered and I yelled “Get on with it!”, because I loved the funny interlude! Steve obviously misunderstood my excitement for impatience (which I assure you, it wasn’t!), he wasn’t pleased with the interruption and warned: “Do that again and we’ll have you thrown out by security! And remember, we have your money anyway…!”. Oops… That absolutely wasn’t my intention! I didn’t even realise he was talking to me until later. Luckily, I was able to offer Steve my sincere apology at a Port Zélande weekend… Back to this one. For me personally (and I think I can speak for many others), this dark & moody concept-album is easily in the top of best albums ever. Of any band! The whole show around the live performance was even more impressive than the one in 1994. Especially ‘h’ tearing apart the bouquet of tulips during “Runaway” sends shivers down my spine every time I see him do it! One moment on the DVD I watch over and over again is when just one single tulip is clinging to the mic-stand for a while and then drops… Call me a sentimental fool, but that tiny detail alone? Wow! And of course, another moment that stood out was when Jennifer Rothery walked on stage in a white dress to light the candles surrounding Steve during the song “Brave”. I wonder why my viewfinder became so misty all of a sudden? The rest of this Marillion Weekend wasn’t half bad either… ;o) Enjoy the photos!