Not satisfied with 17 gigs in the first six months of the year, this is what my diary is currently looking like for the second half of the year:
- 21st Jul – Mostly Autumn/Bryan Adams, Murrayfield, Edinburgh (Tickets bought, and accommodation sorted)
- 24th Aug – Odin Dragonfly, Fibbers, York
- 25th Aug – Odin Dragonfly, The Fly, London
- 7th Sep – The Reasoning, The Borderline, London
- 15th Sep – Fish, Academy 2, Manchester (Tickets bought, but not sure if I’m actually going to go)
- 14th Oct – Rush, MEN Arena, Manchester (Tickets bought)
- 9th Nov – Mostly Autumn, Grand Opera House, York
- 29th Nov – Within Temptation, Academy 1, Manchester (Tickets bought)
- 16th Dec – Mostly Autumn, The Astoria, London (Still only a possible at this stage)
- 19th Dec – Mostly Autumn, The Limelight, Crewe
At the moment this list is only tentative; there are some other possibilities, Heaven and Hell being one of them. I’m also really unsure about Fish; I’m sure he will put on an excellent show, but I’m not sure how much I can separate the art from the artist.
All but one are artists I’ve seen before; is this a sign I’m getting conservative in my old age? No doubt there will be other gigs that either haven’t been announced, or I haven’t heard about yet.
Update: Marillion have just announced a Manchester date on 30th Nov, the day after Within Temptation (doesn’t state the venue, I’m guessing it’s the refurbished Academy 1 again)
It’s looking as if Porcupine Tree will be in Manchester in Nov/December, though nothing’s been said officially yet.
I know PT have announced a couple of dates down south, but I didn’t know there were more in the pipeline.
Pretty sure Marillion will be touring in late in the year two; Steve Hogarth signed off at The Forum with “See you at Xmas”. Don’t know if they’ll do Manchester, though.
I’m probably going to exceed 30 gigs this year at this rate.
Might be a Railroad Earth UK tour in December; I heard a whisper regarding that one recently.
If RRE come to Britain, it had better not clash with MA
Tickets bought for everything except the two December gigs now
Go to Fish! He always delivers a good show.
But Marillion were really disappointing when I saw them on this tour a month or two back. Crap setlist and they seem to have lost their stage presence.
Where did you see Marillion? I saw the last night of the tour at The Forum in London, and I thought that was a fantastic gig, best I’d seen them for over a decade.
Glasgow.
The set was heavily weighted towards the new (disappointing) album and the Holidays in Eden album (also not a career high). Nothing from Brave, not much (and too late in the set) from Anorak or TSE. Basically by the time they got to the songs I wanted to hear I was fed up anyway.
I’ve read a lot of good reviews of this tour by people that were decidedly lukewarm on the album.
The Forum had a great vibe, and they *did* play both Ocean Cloud and Sugar Mice
As for Fish, I know he’s a great performer, but the fallout from his acrimonious split from Heather of Mostly Autumn has left a nasty taste in the mouth. Washing dirty linen in public (both on his website and to the tabloid press) is a pretty slimy thing to do.
No Sugar Mice or Ocean Cloud at Glasgow.
(
Ocean Cloud would have been fantastic – it is my fave song on Marbles – but no such luck in Glasgow.
I haven’t followed most of the news stories on the Fish/Heather split. All I know I know from the posts on both their websites fairly soon after the split. And the impression I got was that both were saying the same thing – both felt betrayed and both saw that there was no hope of resolution. It wasn’t clear that either of them was in the right or in the wrong and both appeared pretty cut up about it.
So I’m not taking sides – I don’t know either of these people personally but like the music they make. Even if someone is a right [insert expletive of your choice here] it doesn’t mean that they’re not a great performer. In fact, I think Fish is at his best when he’s angry and bitter about something, so this could be a great tour to see him on.
Trouble is, when you’re on first name terms with Heather, it’s very difficult not to take sides. Especially when I saw her on stage just four days after the split.
Since you’re absolutely right about Fish being at his best when he’s angry and bitter, her leaving him has probably boosted his career…