RGG January 2016 - p.34
A sold-out, but all seated Birmingham Town Hall
greeted the solo artist known as Fish (the former
singer and lyricist of Marillion). This ‘Farewell To
Childhood’ tour marks the last time he will
perform Marillion’s “Misplaced Childhood” album
in its entirety before hanging up the proverbial
grease paint mask, to forge a life away from the
musical circus. Opening with a peppy rendition
of “Pipeline” from his “Suits” album certainly
helped focus the attention. Further solo material
followed including “The Perception Of
Johnny Punter”, which incorporated a
simple, but effective tribute to those
who lost their lives at the Bataclan,
and
elsewhere
in
Paris.
Then it was time once more to
embrace the warmth of a shadow
and experience the emotional
roller-coaster of love, lost innocence
and
isolation
that
inhabits
“Misplaced Childhood”.
Unlike most concept albums, “Misplaced” is
virtually devoid of endless solos or over the top
musical interludes and tonight’s performance
was no exception. The softly spoken intro of
“Pseudo Silk Kimono” with its warm swelling
synth sounds, effortlessly intoxicated an
audience already hungry for the evening’s main
attraction. Given this auspicious start, it was no
real surprise that with hardly any
encouragement the entire auditorium got to its
collective feet and for the next forty-five minutes
they remained enraptured by the performance
of this much loved album.
“Misplaced Childhood” spawned a massive hit
in 1985 with “Kayleigh” and two further charting
singles "Lavender" and "Heart Of Lothian". The
highlight of these three songs tonight though
was "Heart Of Lothian", its rousing chorus
helping the audience to find its voice. For an
album with such direct and personal lyrics it
might be a little unusual for it to have found such
wide appeal. However, amongst hopeless
romantics and the broken-hearted, it has
endured throughout the intervening 30
years since its release. The abstract
comfort in knowing someone else
has gotten lost on the
ring-road of life, yet survived,
goes some way to explaining the
album’s lasting appeal, as does
the fact it also contains some
superbly crafted Rock
music!
