sympathy

And when you climb

into your bed tonight
And when you lock...
of the door
Just think of those
out in the cold and dark
'cause there's not enough love to go round

[chorus:]
And sympathy
is what we need my friend
And sympathy
is what we need
And sympathy
is what we need my friend
'cause there's not enough love to go round

Now half the world

hits the other half
And half the world
has all the food
And half the world
...
'cause there's not enough love to go round

Marillion 2nd Convention Weekend

March 14th-17th 2003
Butlins Holiday Camp, Minehead, UK
By Ed Sander, Derk van Mourik & Bart Jan van der Vorst

Friday March 14th - Arrival at Butlins

Last Friday March 14th two flights left Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. One was headed for
Bristol airport and the other for Gatwick airport, and both were carrying several Marillion
fans, among which representatives from your very own DPRP team. Derk and Bart landed in
London and before long they were driving a rental car westwards to England's west coast.
In the meantime Ed spent a couple of hours on Bristol airport chatting to two Marillion fans
from Veenendaal (Bernard) and Hannover (Karsten). Bart & Derk picked Ed up in the
afternoon and then the group continued their journey towards Minehead, making a quick
stop for some groceries. Around 5 o'clock we arrived at the Butlins holiday camp where this
year's Marillion Convention would take place.

Soon it became apparent that the Butlins organisation did have a couple of 'slight' problems
dealing with the horde of Marillion fans suddenly flooding the camp. How else would you
explain having to wait in an enormous queue for more than one and a half hours? Because
of this we nearly missed the opening act of the weekend, Gazpacho. After we were checked
in, we hurriedly dropped off our stuff in the small apartment that was booked for us and
made a bit of a run for the main hall. In the end we were only just in time to hear Gazpacho
hit their first note.

Gazpacho played a 45 minute set, all of which was taken from their debut album Bravo.
Attendance was a bit low, because half the convention attendees were still at the check-in.
The band managed to convert quite a few people, as evidenced by the fact that copies of
the album changed hands at the convention merchandise stall like they were copies of the
latest Harry Potter novel. It was very satisfying to see Gazpacho live at last, because we've
had quite a few dealings with them over in recent times. A full review of their gig and new
album will be online soon.

During some of the quieter parts of their set we became aware of what must be the horror
of any fervent concert attendee: the venue was above a discotheque, of which the sound
system was actually so loud that you could hear and feel the low bass drones through the
floor. And as you may know, Gazpacho (and Marillion, too, for that matter) play
considerably slower than the average disco-record. This booming from underneath the floor
continued the whole weekend, but fortunately it was only apparent during quieter songs.

We skipped the White Buffalo performance to

get something to eat in the Fish & Chips
restaurant where even the sausages and
chicken tasted like fish. Remarkable
experience, not to be repeated. We also
noticed how most of the other facilities of the
Butlins camp had a high fairground content,
making the whole seem like a second rate
amusement park with some bungalows built
around it.
Perhaps it is a thing us 'mainlanders' don't
understand, but we were told that there's a
whole string of these holiday parks all along Britain's south-west coast, among which of
course was last year's Pontin's, and that they're hugely popular. As we were kindly
explained by a British Marillo fan, all these attractions are necessary to give people
something to do when they have to stay inside because of bad weather. Wot bad weather?
Every time there's a Marillion weekend there's bright sunshine all weekend!!
In comparison to last year this holiday camp was a whole lot better though. Much better
apartments, better facilities, better concert venue (apart from the discotheque underneath)
and in general a whole lot bigger (but more on that later).
 We got back to the Centre Stage venue just when
White Buffalo rounded up their set. Their equipment
was removed from the stage and Marillion's gear was
made ready for their first performance of the
weekend. The stage curtains were closed, only to
open again at exactly half past 9. To our amazement
two young blonde attractive girls dressed in bikini's
emblazoned with the UK flag and carrying big
cardboards with 'Round One' printed on them started
parading at the front of the stage, and before long,
Steve Hogarth came on stage dressed in a boxer's
robe and boxing gloves for the performance of
Gazpacho.
A complete rendition of the Afraid of Sunlight album
followed, once again proving the classic status these
fine compositions have gained over the past years.
This was one of the highlights of the weekend.
Even a track like Beautiful, which most fans didn't
really care for when it was first released, sounds fantastic when played within the context of
the whole album. The title track and King were fantastic, as always, but the real treat was
the first ever performance of the original, electric, version of Beyond You. Unfortunately this
was also the point where the DJ in the discotheque underneath decided to play some ultra-
fast dance record, so it was difficult to concentrate on the beauty of the song. Tracks like
Gazpacho and Cannibal Surf Babe, which Marillion have played in alternate (in Derk's
opinion inferior) versions during some post-AoS concerts, were played in their original
versions tonight.

The main set was closed with two encores, the first of which was a brand new song, Faith, a
nice and sensitive ballad in the vein of the Beatles, which featured Pete Trewavas on
acoustic guitar and Steve Hogarth on Bass (!).
The almost obligatory Easter closed the set and also the recording of the AoS DVD which the
band would try to release the same weekend. Initially this was to be the end of the first
evening's set, but the band had decided to swap some things around in the program. On the
Saturday night they were to play some new tracks from the upcoming album, but it was
decided upon to play four more new songs - in various stages of completeness - on Friday.
Much of the material had a semi-ballad form and there were clear bluesy influences here
and there. The first was called Angelina had a laid back jazzy feel, not too far removed from
the sound of House. The next one was called Neverland, or Huge Neverland as Steve
Hogarth called it. And huge it was, as it featured about six minutes of guitarsolos, which
reminded us of Mark Knopfler and Snowy White. The big drawn-out guitar solo's seem to
have returned. Joy !
Least interesting of all new songs was Don't Hurt Yourself Anymore, which sounded a bit
like a new song in the series of 80 Days, Tumble Down The Years, etc in other words, a bit
of a throw-away pop song.

The last of the new tracks was once again of epic proportions, Pacific Rower which once
again featured huge guitarsolos. Can't wait to hear the finished product - now it's just
hoping they won't do a Holidays In Eden on this one and change it all around!

The evening finished with the ever great Garden Party during which the audience sang along
as loud as possible, trying to make themselves heard in the discotheque below and tell the
people there just how we felt about their music spoiling ours ("I'm rocking, I'm f&*&^
%#$!!")
An interesting side note for us long songs anoraks: the four new tracks with Garden Party
together lasted a full hour. If I tell you Garden Party lasts about seven minutes, plus a
minute or two total in between tracks, you work out the maths!

When the band had left the stage we hung around for a while, meeting several people,
ranging from interesting to irritating. Since we were all pretty knackered by that day's
journey we returned to our apartment around one o'clock.

Saturday March 15th -

The Conquest of the Inferior Zulus

In the afternoon we headed for the Highwayman Pub, one of Butlins' facilities which was
fully reserved for the Marillion fans. It was here that two Marillion pub quizzes would take
place. The results of the first one were announced when we walked in and ordered our first
pints of the day. Initially we were only planning to have a beer and watch the quiz, but
some weird flash of inspiration made us decide to join in as a team. Since most of the other
teams used Marillion-inspired nick names as well, we felt we couldn't stay behind and after
a quick brainstorm we signed up as the not entirely politically correct "The Inferior Zulus" (a
name which only marginally topped less controversial names such as "Holidays In Butlins"
and "Misplaced Manhood").
The quiz turned out to be good fun. It had 4 rounds with different categories, ranging from
'Places' with questions like 'Where does Steve Hogarth end up at the end of Interior Lulu ?'
and 'Where did Steve Hogarth's first live performance with Marillion take place ?'. to 'Film
and TV' e.g. 'What song includes a line referring to Apocalypse Now ?'. Most fun however
was 'To Japan and Back'. In this category, the first line of a Marillion lyric had been
translated into Japanese and back into English using on-line translation tools. The results
were hilarious, and it was up to the participants in he poll to guess what songs these
corrupted lines came from.
Since we had not done all that bad we expected to end somewhere half-way in the top 10 of
contestants. Enormous was our surprise when the quizmaster announced that we were tied
for first place with another team! We managed to give the best answer to the tiebreak
question and so we won the quiz, and won the 'Golden Anorak Award'. We received an
award certificate signed by the band, plus vouchers for free copies of the AoS DVD which
was to be released the next day.

In the evening our apartment was invaded by the Norwegian lads of Gazpacho, where Bart
interviewed them for DPRP. When the beer in our fridge had run out they left, leaving us
with no drinks to wash down the two curries Ed had prepared for that evening. This
unexpected interview made us miss the gig of Aziz, but we did catch a couple of songs by
Martin Grech ..... poor us. This was another 'fine' example of the dubious choices of
support acts for the weekend. It really amazes me how the band could have chosen all
these loud, alternative Radiohead and Nirvana wannabees to entertain the crowd. Then
again, support acts at Marillion gigs have rarely been interesting (with possible exceptions
of Porcupine Tree, Pendragon and erm... well others).
Ed: "It did however spoil some of the fun for me during the weekend; I would have thought
the band would have been able to make a selection which actually matches their own subtile
and professional sound."
Derk: "On a slightly more positive note, I didn't think Grech was all that bad, but I would
have definitely enjoyed him more under other circumstances. As it was, the styles were just
too disparate."
As it would later turn out the audience was pretty much divided on the subject. About half
absolutely loathed the performance, whereas the other half loved it. The same would
actually happen with the next act, John Otway, although
that was more of a 20-80 divide.

John Otway, a middle-aged guy who had scored two minor

hits over a period of 25 years turned out to be a complete
nutter. Besides his own hilarious material he also performed
brilliant versions of Blockbuster (using a guitar with two
necks ..... pointing different ways!), I Will Survive (in Bob
Dylan style) and Body Talk (using a Theramin, a weird
antenna-like instrument which causes strange noises when
you come near it, as well as drum pads which he put in his
pockets and triggered by striking preposterous poses -
fantastic!) and a heckler's version of House of the Rising Sun
(There is ..... WHAT ?! ..... a house ..... WHERE ?! ..... in
New Orleans ..... WHAT'S IT CALLED !? ..... they call The
Rising Sun ..... etc). This 30 minute show had us nearly split
our sides with laughter. If John's ever in your area, make sure you go and see him.
Derk: "I must say that I liked him much more for the stand-up comedy side of his show
than the musical side of it. Very enjoyable, nonetheless."
This evening's Marillion show consisted of a countdown of the top 10 songs which resulted
from the Internet vote. This seemed like a great idea, and probably those who have rarely
seen the band perform live loved the show to bits. And unlike last year's great idea this time
the band actually had a chance to rehearse these songs. Somehow, it didn't quite work
though.
Just like last year with the Marillion lottery, they had called for the services of an
announcer, this time in the form of Big George from BBC radio, who announced the top 10
positions after which the band would play the concerned song. This has been done by Roger
Waters as well during his KAOS on the Road tour. Problem was however that the DJ was
trying to be funny but failed miserably, besides being pissed as well. Just like last year this
slowed the show down considerably and once again during the gig there was no interaction
whatsoever between the band and the audience during the top 10.
Still the idea would -hopefully- result in some songs that have rarely been played live
and/or some old time favourites. Unfortunately the fact that a large part of the convention
attendees came from countries where Marillion seldom
or never play, it turned more into a favourite track
list, rather than a seldom played list.

It started out pretty unexpectedly with A Few Words

For The Dead. This track actually ended up in fourth
position, but the band had decided upon swapping
some of the songs around for a better 'flow'.
Two of yesterday's encores, Easter and Garden Party
had ended up on 11th and 14th position respectively,
and the band continued with the number 12 on the
list: Dry Land. It really surprised me to see this one
so high in the poll, and probably the band as well, so
that must've been the reason for inclusion in the set.
Bart: "I loved it though, although not my favourite
Marillion track, I had never seen them do this one live
before."

Bart: "Next up was When I Meet God followed by the

song that I hadn't voted for, but secretly had hoped it would make it into the top 10
nonetheless: White Russian. This was played during the Afraid Of Sunlight tour, which I
regrettably had to miss -despite having a ticket for it- due to school commitments at the
time."
With this song the DJ proved to be a genuine DJ (i.e. an ignorant twat) by announcing this
song as a 'drinking' song.
Hogarth did a good job with it, even though he seemed to
sing it in a lower key than Fish's original.

Another unexpected one, but also not played since 1997

live was Estonia. From this point onwards however, the
setlist consisted mainly of favourites that have been been
played during most of the recent tours. The This Town
trilogy for example. Fantastic, but also featured in nearly
every tour since its rediscovery in 1997, and played during
almost every Marillion gig in the past two years (including
last year's convention). The same goes for Sugar Mice and
Warm Wet Circles/That Time of The Night. Terrific songs, really, but not really rare live
material either.

One that is, is the always fantastic Berlin, which has only been played on a few occasions
since 1991 (most notably the 1996 Made Again tour and the 2000 Zodiac gigs).

The number one wasn't a surprise, but it was a real treat. Not played with Steve Hogarth
since 1992, and celebrating its 20th birthday this year: Script For A Jester's Tear. This one
nearly blew the roof of, or the floor actually. The jumping of the people caused the floor to
bounce so much that I feared it would collapse and we all would end up in that dreaded
discotheque downstairs. The floor held though and we safely reached the end of the song.

Ed: "For some reason the old Fish era material didn't go down with me as well as during last
years Night of the Jester performance by Fish himself. I would personally have preferred a
selection of songs which are fan favourites but are rarely played live."
Bart: "I disagree with Ed here, as I felt Fish's performance was utterly destroyed by the
poor acoustics of the venue he played in. Also, nostalgia factor aside, both band and
vocalist did a better job at the song tonight."
Derk:: "Script was definitely the highlight of the weekend for me. This song is so powerful,
both lyrically and musically, and the hundreds of Marillion fans singing along at the top of
their lungs (yours truly included) made this an unforgettable rendition."

The band left the stage, but not before long the DJ
reminded us that he had announced a joint number
1 position. The band returned for the ever great
This Strange Engine. Rare live material? Not really.
Top 10 material? Definitely. Joint number one with
Script? Bollocks! Good encore though?
Certainly! :-)

As during past years performances the 'blue pain'

section of the song was extended and used by
Steve to give his opinion on the coming war in
Iraq, using lyrics by Sting from Spirits in the
Material World ('there is no political solution, to our
troubled evolution') and Russians ('there is no such
thing as a winnable war, it's a lie we don't believe
anymore'). A nice touch to the evening.

The band returned for two more encores, the first of which was obviously one of their own
choices: Cover My Eyes (voted 45th in the Internet poll) followed by The Space... (another
favourite that is performed all too rarely and ended up at number 26 in the poll)
Once again, this set is a Marillion fan's ultimate wet dream, yet the fact that so many songs
have been played so many times before (and many of them recently) made it a bit
disappointing. I can understand how people from Marillion-poor countries would vote for
some of these songs, but five of the 13 songs played tonight were also played during last
year's weekend!
Then again, you can't have a fairer way of choosing a setlist than a fan poll, so there.

The complete list of voted songs can be found here. It is really surprising to see how low the
Brave material ended up in the list. The first Brave track to appear is The Great Escape,
which at number 32 is flanked by tracks such as Enlightened, Splintering Heart (Moles
version), The Release and Born To Run.

After the show, the main hall, which was a big, wide structure with bars on both sides,
stayed open until 2 o'clock. Unfortunately, the lack of atmosphere in the hall combined with
the DJ's choice of obscure 60's and 70's music did not really create a party mood among
those present.
That evening, Bart and Derk ended up at a party with the Norwegians, while Ed had made
his way back to the apartment through hordes of drunken campers to catch up on some
extra sleep.

Ed: "I find it quite difficult to accept how sloppy the choice of musical entertainment around
the Marillion performances (read: support acts and choice of DJ) has been and how it
spoiled much of the weekend's fun. 'Close but no cigar' is how I would sum up this second
evening."

Sunday March 15th - Swap the Mix

When we arrived back at the main hall there was an enormous queue lining up towards the
entrance, running all through the fun fair of Butlins. Must have been at least 100 meters.
Fortunately once the doors were opened the queue disappeared very quickly and we were
back in the immense 'Center Stage' hall.

First item on today's agenda was Swap the Band, which -just like last year- turned out to be
one of the highlights of the weekend. For every song one or more band members would
leave the stage to be replaced by fans who had auditioned via tapes and had been carefully
selected to play with the band. Most of the time this resulted in a fine display of talent
among the fan base.
First up was Frenchman Jean Niederlander, who drummed on Cover My Eyes. Having heard
the band perform the same song the night before, it struck me how, even with such a
seemingly simple rhythm like Cover My Eyes, the change of a drummer can change the
whole sound of a song. Not that Jean did a bad job, far from it, but it just sounded different.

American Dennis Cheatham did a fair job singing Quartz - certainly not an easy choice. He
was followed by Darren Newitt who gave a whole new (almost metal) spin to the all too
familiar solo in Kayleigh - great stuff! At the start of the song he seemed a bit unsure and
uncomfortable strumming those gentle chords, but the solo was definitely more up his
street.

Once again Hogarth had to leave the stage, this time to be replaced by Michelle Aragon,
who gave the song A Collection a whole new dimension with her angelic voice. Very nice -
wouldn't mind seeing this as a bonus track on some CD or DVD in the future.
Next up was Brigitte Kreigenhofer and she too proved a wonderful replacement, this time it
was Pete Trewavas to bite the dust when she took over bass duties for Map Of The World. A
hilarious moment followed when Pete refused to leave the stage after handing over his bass
to Brigitte. H said something in the vein of "go on, push off" and Pete seemed genuinely
pissed off by that remark. H threw him one of his maracas to "give him something to do"
which Pete then tossed into the audience, like an annoying school boy. Great hilarity, but
didn't really seem a joke at the time.
The next song was the only song from Brave to be played in the entire weekend: Alone
Again In The Lap Of Luxury on which Tom Vance did a fair job playing the guitarparts.
They saved the best for last. For Incommunicado two members were replaced. Massimiliano
Salani took over keyboard duties from Mark Kelly, while Richard Egan took the mike. Both
did a fantastic job. Massimiliano played a note-perfect rendition of Kelly's fiddles and solo,
while sporting a Wakemanesque stage outfit. Richard Egan sounded neither like Fish nor
Hogarth, but it was his enthusiasm and the way he 'played' the audience that really made
him stand out and steal the show.

As a final 'encore' almost, was Matt Coffey, who had played some fantastic drums last year
on King. Last year he had had to sell his drumkit to come over for the convention,
apparently this year he sold his house, so the band had decided (last minute) to let him do
one song with the band as well. Unfortunately for Hogarth he chose to play The Space...,
which H had sung only the night before. "I hoped I'd never had to sing that one again"
exclaimed H before the start. He managed fine though, and Coffey did his usual best behind
the kit, even though he wasn't as heavy metal as last year.

Following the Swap the Band event we got the Questions and Answers bit. The band was in
a good mood and therefore the whole thing ended up being an informal, tongue-in-cheek
affair with several highlights, like the band members trying out each others instruments,
with Ian Mosley playing piano, Pete Trewavas drumming and Mark Kelly pretending not to
be able to hit a triangle. Also, the Convention Book with loads of pictures from fans who had
donated to charity and had been photographed was raffled during the afternoon.

Next up was Marillion Mix, the brainchild of Steve Hogarth, in which musicians from Marillion
and support acts would be randomly chosen to play a classic song. Unfortunately, this didn't
really seem to work. Most of the bands had mysteriously disappeared or certain musicians
did not really know how to play the concerned songs. It also resulted in long interruptions of
utter chaos between the performances. Nevertheless we got some fine pieces of
spontaneous fun, with perhaps Born to be Wild being the best. For this song, John Otway
was picked as vocalist (imagine a load cheer of enthusiasm from the crowd here) while
Peter Trewavas was assigned to play John's Theramin appliance. Especially this combination
resulted in a hilarious performance. I almost laughed my head off. John's attempt to play a
gentle part on his Theramin during Fake Plastic Trees was a moment to remember as well.
The chaos ended with the band playing Wish You Were Here to which Steve Hogarth forgot
the lyrics and Pete, who knew the lyrics, started singing but his mike was switched off. So
the crowd took over from him. Nice moment.

Marillion was to end the afternoon with a short set, for which they picked two of the new
songs because they had 'seemed to go down well on Friday'. Good to hear the new stuff
again, but I would have preferred to hear some more classic Marillion tunes instead as their
last performances of the weekend (as a full band that is). Seemed like a bit of a lazy choice
to me.
Not long after the last note of Neverland was played, people started to run for the
merchandise stands at the other side of the camp to buy a copy of the Afraid of Sunlight
DVD, as if there were only a few copies available. The Marillion crew had however done
some good thinking and had placed several people selling the DVD along the road towards
the location of the merchandise stand, thus avoiding the formation of enormous queues
(which is a good thing because we had seen enough of those already). Amazingly, they had
actually managed to film a show and get it on sale only 40 hours later !! Now, all we could
do was hope that it was a good one. A review of this DVD
has already been published on DPRP recently.

We skipped the two support acts of this evening to grab a

burger in one of the camps restaurants and returned in
time for the performance of Stranger By The Minute. This
hobby band of Steve Rothery and Peter Trewavas turned
out to be a nice closing act for the weekend, playing all
kinds of good old classics by The Beatles, Tom Petty, ZZ
Top and others. The crowd, partially equipped with
inflatable guitars, really seemed to like them. Steve
Hogarth replaced the band's singer (not really the best
frontman I've seen) for Drive My Car and Come Together
while Mark Kelly and Ian Mosley also joined in for a song or
two.

After the performance of Stranger By The Minute a new DJ

took over and his choice of material was a lot better than
on the previous two nights, also judging from the large
group of folks having enormous fun with their inflatable
guitars. Since we were pretty tired from the hours of standing and drinking beer, and since
we had to leave the holiday camp by 10 AM the next day, we didn't make it a really late one
this night.

Monday March 15th - Staring out over the Bridge

After packing and tidying up the apartment we left the camp around 10 o'clock. Since Ed
had to be at Bristol Airport only at 2 o'clock and Bart and Derk would fly from London as
late as 7 PM, we decided to take a little trip to the Severn Bridge. After some slight difficulty
in getting as near to it as possible without actually having to cross it and pay the 9 pounds
toll (!!) for crossing the bridge and back, we finally got a good view of this location which
plays such an important role in the Brave story. The weather was slightly foggy and the
low-tide had dried out most of the river, but that didn't keep us from enjoying the view and
making a whole series of silly pictures, using self-timers on the camera's. The Inferior Zulus
promo shoot, so to speak. A fun way to end a fun weekend.
A few weeks later we actually found out this wasn't the Severn Bridge at all! Between the
release of Brave and our visit a whole new bridge has been built and the M4 motorway has
been rerouted! This couldn't spoil the fun we had however. But thanks to all the people
rubbing it in after reading the review :-)

Ed: "When I finally arrived back home at 8 PM that evening I looked back upon the whole
weekend. Had it been fun ? Yes it had, but largely because of the company I was in. Would
I do it again ? Probably not. Besides the fact that al of this had cost me a small fortune I
think I might have had higher expectations than could be met during the course of the four
days. Like last year, I still think that the band has found a relatively easy way to make a
shotload of money. I still haven't figured out if they should be applauded or criticised for
this initiative. It's probably a combination of both. The whole AoS DVD is of course a nice
souvenir, but it also seems like a cunning plan to get even more money from the fans while
they're there. Besides this, the weekend did have a few disappointments, as described
above. But still, it was a weekend worthy to remember ... in all possible ways."

Bart: "Partially agreeing with Ed, I relativize the whole thing a bit and compare this
convention to last year's. The band and management have made all efforts to improve all
the low points of last year: better accommodation, no/shorter lines at the merchandise and
autograph sessions, better venue, better stage/sound etc.
Unfortunately, many of last year's high points had also disappeared. The main thing lacking
was atmosphere. The whole place was just too big. Last year everyone you met was a
Marillion fan, this year it was difficult to even find certain people. I have friends of whom I
know they have attended the convention, yet I have not been able to meet up with them!
Last year, after the gig, everybody went to the bar, which stayed open till late. This year,
the only option was to stay in the concert venue (big, unattractive and no atmosphere at
all) or spread out to the many apartment-parties that were held. I didn't have a problem
with non convention attendees being present in the holiday park, but I disliked the fact that
there was nowhere to go for us after the music had finished.
And worst of all the prices. We only came from relatively close, yet spend a small fortune.
Imagine people flying over from the US or Australia. And then to punish them with charging
3 quid for a beer ($5) or 8 quid for a hamburger (that's 14 bucks US!)
So would I go again next time? Possibly yes, I'm still crazy after all these years, but I for
one am glad that the band announced that the next convention is more likely to be held in
2005, rather than next year. May I be so bold as perhaps to suggest mainland Europe?"

Derk: "I had a pretty good time, actually. I liked most of the performances I saw, the quiz
was hilarious (especially the fact that we won it, against all expectations), the company was
great (tnx to my fellow travellers, the guys from Gazpacho, and others I met during the
convention), the beds were good, Ed's cooking was fantastic (and his snoring inaudible,
thank the gods!) and the weather was fine.

In many ways it was better than last year, in some ways it was not. For instance, I really
had a blast at the end-of-convention party last year, but this time it just didn't really
happen. Much has been said about the Marillion-ness (or lack thereof) of all the aspects of
the convention itself, so I won't go into that too much. About the prices, I will only say that
it is a known fact that England is expensive. Besides, it's the venue that sets the prices for
the bars. It's not something that Marillion can change, so blaming them for it is useless,
IMO.

On the subject of the next convention and would I go there again: yes, I probably would,
but it would definitely be great if it would be held on the mainland this time. Then again,
doesn't everyone want Marillion to play in their backyard?"

Setlists:

Friday, March 14th Saturday, March 15th

"Before First Light" "Marillion Top 10"

Gazpacho A Few Words For The

Cannibal Surf Babe Dead
Beautiful Dry Land
Afraid Of Sunrise When I Meet God
Out Of This World White Russian
Afraid Of Sunlight Estonia
Beyond You This Town
King The Rakes Progress
100 Nights
Faith Sugar Mice
Easter Berlin
Warm Wet Circles
Angelina That Time Of The Night
Neverland Script For A Jester's Tear
Don't Hurt Yourself
Anymore This Strange Engine
Pacific Rower
Cover My Eyes
Garden Party
The Space...
Sunday March 16th Sunday, March 16th
"Swap The Band" "Stranger By The
Minute"
Cover My Eyes
 Quartz Gimme All Your Loving
Kayleigh Proud Mary
A Collection White Room
Map Of The World Drive My Car
Alone Again In The Lap Come Together
Of Luxury Something
Incommunicado Come Up and See Me
The Space... (make me smile)
Free Falling
"Marillion Mix" The Midnight Hour
Heard it Through the
Born To Be Wild Grapevine
You Really Got Me Mustang Sally
Fake Plastic Trees
Wish You Were Here

Angelina
Neverland