Music

As I have mentioned on My Other Interests page, I came into music late, around the age of 16, due to influences from work colleagues. I had obviously listened to music on the radio, but I wasn't really interested, not liking any particular genre, and defiantly not buying records or going to gigs.

The older I get, the more I become annoyed with my self, for not having interest in music at an earlier age. The music I now love to listen to these days is from the 70's, the likes of Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Jimi Hendrix, Rush, Deep Purple and Pink Floyd to name a few. Just to have had the opportunity to hear music from such groups when it was released and not many years later.

But as the saying goes "better late than never"

It reminds me of something David Gilmore once said in a documentary about a Pink Floyd album. Something along the lines of he would have loved to hear the album for the 1st time, when it was released. Because as a member of a group you hear the album in bits and pieces as it's being recorded, and by the time the album is released yes you have heard it, but not like the fans will hear it, as a complete album as it should be, where everything is new.

Ron a friend from work, got me into Genesis and a group called Tangerine Dream, you might think you have not heard anything by Tangerine Dream, but I think there is a very good chance you may of, without realising it, they did a lot of film soundtracks, Sorcerer (1977), Thief (1981), Flashpoint (1984), Stephen King's Firestarter (1984) and in 2013, they did music for the hit video game Grand Theft Auto V. They are a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. Sadly Edgar passed away in 2015. R.I.P. Edgar.

In 1986, while on one of my frequent visits into Birmingham with an old school friend Gordon, to look around the record shops, I popped into the Birmingham Odeon, to see what concerts were coming up. To my surprise and joy, I saw that Tangerine Dream were to play the Odeon on March 17th 1986 (the day before my 20th Birthday), it was too much of and opportunity to miss, but before booking tickets, I needed to find out if Ron wanted to come along. This was before mobile phones, and I didn't have Ron's phone number, so armed with the information (date, time and the cost), I went home and had to wait until I went to work on Monday, to see Ron. He was over the moon that Tangerine Dream were to play Birmingham, and even more so that I had thought of him before booking the tickets. So the following weekend, another visit to the Birmingham Odeon to book 3 tickets (at the extortionate price of £6 each) as Gordon said he wouldn't mind coming along also. It was a great night, at one point before it started, Ron turned to me & Gordon and said "I don't know what that guy in front is smoking, but the smoke is green". I wish I had been able to see them play live again.

I think Ron is where my love of prog rock came from.

Status Quo

Status Quo was a group I had heard a lot, and I liked their sound and their songs. Then it seemed no sooner had I got into them, that they announced their End of the Road tour in 1984, I thought, right I need to go and see this band live before they finish, so I managed to get a ticket for the May 27th show at the Birmingham NEC. What a great band they are live. I then had the chance to get a ticket (£10 a ticket, which was a lot of money back then) to see them again on July 21st at Milton Keynes Bowl, which would be their final show (or so I thought). On the bill that glorious day were the following bands Gary Glitter (although to this day, I do not recall seeing him, least said about him the better), Jason and the Scorchers (a band that bad, that they only did around about a 15 minute set before getting jeered off stage), Nazareth, Marillion (I will come back to Marillion) and of course Status Quo.

Status Quo as it turns out hadn't finished, although that line up had decided to call it a day! The new line up still had Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt and Andy Bown, out went Alan Lancaster & Pete Kircher, and in came various other musicians, some who would stay till the present day and others who left.

On 24th December 2016 Rick Parfitt sadly passed away at the age of 68. I like many other people thought that this would be the end for Status Quo but yet again, they proved everyone wrong, and are still making music.

In 2013 Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster and John Coghlan reunited, to do a series of shows across the UK and Europe, under the title of Status Quo The Frantic Four.

All that being said, I only ever got to see Status Quo live twice, and both times were amazing gigs.

The poster from the End of the Road Finale

Milton Keynes Bowl 21st July 1984

Marillion

So as I had mentioned in the Status Quo section, I got to see Marillion at Status Quo's End of the Road gig at Milton Keynes Bowl. Before I had even thought about going to this gig, I had been listening to Radio One's (back when Radio One played some decent music) Friday Night Rock Show, presented by the legendary Tommy Vance. He played this track (Forgotten Sons) by a new up and coming group called Marillion, Tommy raved about this group, but I couldn't see/hear why, I was not impressed! Then booked my ticket to see Status Quo's End of the Road Finale at Milton Keynes Bowl (now known as The National Bowl), I looked at the line up of bands for that day, and thought oh well I am only interested in seeing Status Quo anyway. So July 21st 1984 arrived, I got on my coach and headed off to Milton Keynes for my 1st ever open air concert. Well when Marillion came on, they blew me away! I was hooked from that day to this!

Marillion's Garden Party gig 28th June 1988

The view of the stage from the embankment at Milton Keynes Bowl

Marillion's set list for the Status Quo End of the Road Tour was as follows:-

Assassing

Punch And Judy

Jigsaw

Script For A Jester´s Tear

Emerald Lies

Cinderella Search

Incubus

Fugazi

Garden Party

Market Square Heroes

As soon as I had the chance, I went out a bought their Fugazi album, which to this day is still one of my favourite albums by them. Shortly after, I purchased their previous album Script for a Jester's Tear. Marillion are fronted by a Scotsman called Fish (Derick William Dick), with Pete Trewavas on bass, Mark Kelly on keyboards, Ian Mosley on drums and Steve Rothery on lead guitar (this is my favourite line up, there have been many other members before this line up, and in late 1988 Fish left the group to be replaced in 1989 by Steve Hogarth "H"). Steve Rothery is the only original member of Marillion from when they started out as Silmarillion in Aylesbury in 1979.

My Marillion record collection gradually grew over the years, a lot of which were picture discs, with the brilliant artwork of Mark Wilkinson, who would eventually do artwork for Iron Maiden.

Over the years I have seen Marillion a number of times since seeing them at the Status Quo gig, I have lost count the number of times I have seen them in the Fish era and I have seen them around 3 times & counting in the Steve Hogarth era.

My only other Marillion outdoor gig was back at Milton Keynes Bowl, for their Welcome to the Garden Party Gig (this was 1 week before I started my basic training in the Army), this was another all day event, and the weather was glorious! The line up for this gig was Marillion, Gary Moore, Magnum, Mamas Boys and Jethro Tull.

Welcome to the Garden Party poster.

Their set list for this day was as follows:-

Garden Party
Freaks
Assassing
Chelsea Monday
Script for a Jester's Tear
Pseudo Silk Kimono
Kayleigh
Lavender
Bitter Suite
Heart of Lothian
Waterhole (Expresso Bongo)
Lords of the Backstage
Blind Curve
Childhoods End?
White Feather
Forgotten Sons
Incubus
Fugazi
Market Square Heroes - She loves you - Let's Twist Again

This was a fantastic gig, I enjoyed all the acts, although a lot of people slated Gary Moore's performance, I myself thought it was a good performance. I never got to see Gary Moore again, which I am annoyed at, as I thought his Blues era music was fantastic, he sadly passed away 6th February 2011. R.I.P. Gary

So as I have mentioned above, Marillion had a change of lead singer, with the arrival of Steve Hogarth. With his arrival came a new direction for Marillion. Fish is a fantastic words smith and poet, H is still a great words smith but in a different way to Fish, were Fish was more of a poetic fantasist, H is more a realist, 2 very different styles. This also heralded other changes, gone was the fantastic art work of Mark Wilkinson, but also the original Marillion type face (the original would always stand out when searching for records/CDs). The post Fish era type face keeps changing, so nothing to catch your eye while perusing the CD racks in your favourite music store.

All that being said and done, I still love the new Marillion, they have gone in a new direction as H stamps his own brand of word play into the music. Due to EMI dropping Marillion for one reason or another, Marillion did something more or less unheard of in the music industry. They managed to get fans to fund an entire US tour, they then set up their own record company, to cut out the need for pressure from record companies and stop their meddling with the groups music, they set up the UK's first Rock n' Roll website. Then in 2001, they again came up with a first, their Anoraknophobia album was put up for pre order a full year before release, anyone taking advantage of this would get a specially packaged CD and have their name printed in the Thank you section, 12,000 people pre ordered this album (I missed the deadline for this by a couple of days, so my name didn't appear on the CD). This helped finance the recording and created a budget to launch the album. This was the start of crowdfunding. They are still doing this to this day

Marillion still have a fantastic loyal fan base, there are Marillion Weekends in various countries every year.

Marillion will never again hit the dizzy heights of their 1985 release of Keyleigh, which peaked at No 2 in the UK charts and stayed in the charts for 14 weeks, and the band appeared on Top of the Pops on 23rd May 1985 with this song. Marillion quietly go on about their business without all the limelight that most groups crave, and they are doing very nicely thank you very much.

Below is Marillion's Discography to date.

Green highlight = Fish era

Blue highlight = Steve Hogarth era

1983 Script for a Jester's Tear*

1984 Fugazi*

1984 Real to Reel (Live)*

1985 Misplaced Childhood*

1986 Brief Encounter*

1987 Clutching at Straws*

1988 The Thieving Magpie (Live)*

1988 B'Sides Themselves*

1989 Seasons End*

1991 Holidays in Eden*

1992 Six of One, Half Dozen of the Other (A Singles Collection)*

1994 Brave*

1995 Afraid of Sunlight

1996 Made Again (Live)

1997 This Strange Engine*

1997 The Best of Both Worlds

1998 Radiation*

1999 marillion.com*

2001 Anoraknophobia*

2002 Anorak in the UK (Live)*

2004 Marbles

2005 Marbles Live

2007 Somewhere Else*

2008 Happiness Is the Road Vol. 1

Happiness Is the Road Vol. 2

2009 Less Is More

2012 Sounds That Can't Be Made*

2016 Fuck Everyone and Run (F E A R)*

* denotes albums I have in my collection in one form or another.

This list is by no means complete, there are Fan club only releases, bootleg albums, box sets and video soundtracks.

I wish I could say I am devoted to Marillion the way I was back in the 80's, buying the albums, searching out the picture discs, but with one thing or another (army life for one), I just never managed to keep up, when I used to go to the Fish era gigs, I knew every song more or less word for word (still do), but because I have missed albums, and singles being released, these days when I go to the gigs in the Steve Hogarth era, it's like all the songs are new to me, the odd one I know, and I might know some of the words, but that's about as good as it is going to get for me. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy going to the gigs, and listening to all the songs that get played, I just feel a bit left out when everyone around you is singing their hearts out to every song (just like I did back in the 80's). I am slowly starting to build up my CD collection with the albums I never managed to get when they were released.

In 1994, I went to see Marillion (my 1st time seeing Marillion with Steve Hogarth as lead singer) on their Brave Tour at the Civic Hall, in Wolverhampton. While queuing up out side, I heard other fans talking, some had seen Marillion at other venues on the same tour, and the conversation got around to who the support act was? John Wesley was the reply, to which most of us said who? To be told that he was an American guitarist, and he was going to be doing an acoustic set! To me at that time, I thought this wouldn't be very entertaining, but how wrong I was, I loved it, and promptly bought his CD Under the Red and White Sky on my way out of the venue.

I have to date seen this version of Marillion 3 times, with a 4th already booked for November 4th 2019 in Manchester, on their Marillion with friends from the Orchestra tour. I am really looking forward to this after seeing videos of their amazing gig at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017 with an Orchestra.

When Fish left Marillion back in 1988, he set up as a solo artist, a very successful one at that, not in getting No1 singles or albums, but by continually releasing music and touring to his adoring fans. I have seen him as a solo artist to my shame only a couple of times.

His 1st album as a solo artist was Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors (this is still one of my favourite albums by him). There was a lot of anger towards Marillion within the songs on this album, but with Fish being the wordsmith he is, it made for a great album.

Jump forward to 2019, Fish is still producing music, running it like a little cottage industry, packing and sending out his CD's, DVD's and merchandise from his home in Scotland.

In early 2019, Fish announced that he was going to do a small tour in 2020 to support the release of his forthcoming album Weltschmerz, then he would be doing a final tour in 2021. I thought I must go and see him one last time, so I booked a ticket to see him at Holmfirth Picturedrome on 15th March 2020. The week before the gig, the world started to panic, due to a virus (a new coronavirus - COVID-19) which had started to spread throughout the world. So I thought even though the venue is quite a small venue, I didn't fancy being in such a confined place with possible carriers, so on 13th March I offered my ticket for sale on Facebook, but just as I thought I was going to loose my money, Fish announced the day after his 1st date of the tour (13th March Aberdeen Lemon Tree) that the remaining dates would be cancelled, and he would try to reschedule. I then received an email saying it had been rescheduled for 26th February 2021. So needless to say I am glad I didn't sell on my ticket.

So Weltschmerz was released on 25th September 2020 in various formats, a double vinyl gatefold album, a standard double CD and a Deluxe 4 CD and Blu-ray (I pre-ordered the Deluxe version). I got it delivered around 29th September, WOW! what an album.

Since more or less the start of lockdown, fish has been doing a 2 hour live feature on his facebook page every Friday evening (more often than not, I would miss the live showing but I would watch it at a later date), entitled Fish on Fridays, where he answers peoples questions, and generally reminisces about various points of his life in the music industry, he has also kept everyone up to date on the end process of the Weltschmerz album, while also playing a few tracks from the new album, and his back catalogue. We get to meet the wonderful Simone (Fish's wife). Poor Simone had to deal with the postage side of the albums (checking the pre-orders and printing the delivery labels), while also dealing with emails and other orders. There was always the question regarding the tour, was it still going ahead? Fish had no answer, but he more or less believed it wasn't going to happen (as the country looked like it was going into a second wave of covid-19). Then in mid October, he broke the news, that the rescheduled February gigs are to be cancelled! So I got a refund! When he will tour again, he is not too sure, time will tell. I still hope to see Fish live again, even if it maybe his farewell tour.

Iron Maiden

So back to me and Iron Maiden, I eventually saw the light when the album Somewhere in Time was released (September 1986), the 1st thing that got my attention with this album was the art work by Derek Riggs. The 1st time I saw this album cover was round a friends bedsit, I had just completed my Basic Training in the Army, and had come home on leave before getting my 1st posting. He had put the record on for us to listen to, but my attention wasn't on the music straight away, I was glued to the gatefold album cover, I sat there just studying this cover, it just blew my mind with all the detail in it. I soon listened to the album and got hooked!

Iron Maiden soon released their next album Seventh Son of a Seventh Son (April 1988), just in time for their headline appearance at the Monsters of Rock concert (20th August 1988). As it happens I was on leave from the army, and a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to go, I said if I could get a ticket I would love to! There was a coach company (Central Coachways) in Walsall which I had used many times to go on day trips, (I don't think they are still in business), but they used to sell concert tickets with coach travel included. I popped in to see if they had any tickets left, to be told, that due to demand they had got more tickets and had to put on extra coaches! So I was off to Donnington Park to see Iron Maiden for the 1st time! The same friend had tried to introduce me to a relatively new and up and coming band from the States (Guns N' Roses), again at 1st I wasn't keen! I then saw the line up for Monsters of Rock

Monsters of Rock 1988 Poster

I wanted to see Maiden of course, but I was also looking forward to seeing Kiss, David Lee Roth and Guns N' Roses (to see what all they hype was about), the rest of the line up, I wasn't bothered about. So on that Saturday morning, I called round for my friend, we made our way into town to catch the coach to Donnington Park. Because my friend had got his ticket way before me, he was on a different coach to me, but we said we would look out for each other once there.

I don't remember how it happened, whether the coach company had got their timings wrong, or due to the amount of traffic heading to the gig, but by the time we got into Donnington Park, I had paid a visit to the toilet, gone to the merchandise stand, and got a drink, Guns N' Roses had just started their set! This was by far the biggest audience I had ever seen at a gig (107,000 fans), needless to say I didn't find my mate, but I enjoyed seeing the bands I had wanted to see, and Maiden's set was fantastic, and as the fireworks shot into the night sky, I turned and started to make my way towards the exit, turning back occasionally to watch the fireworks, it was at one of these moments that I turned to see the fireworks, I turned back to head out, who should I literally bump into? my mate who had asked me to come along to the gig. It was a fantastic gig, the only down side besides getting there late, which paled into insignificants, was the death of 2 fans who got caught up in the surge to the front when Guns N' Roses came on stage. R.I.P.

My Iron Maiden Monsters of Rock 1988 Ticket

To date (2018), I have seen Iron Maiden 4 times, the first, as mentioned was Monsters of Rock 1988, which still remains my favourite of the 4 gigs. The reason being, it was my 1st Maiden gig, the atmosphere of this legendary open air rock venue and Seventh Son of a Seventh Son was such a great album.

The second was 1st July 2011 at Sheffield Motorpoint Arena, on the Final Frontier Tour, another great album, the down side for me, was the fact we were standing, and I was suffering from back pain (especially if I stood for long periods). The support act was an Australian band called Airbourne (very much in the style of AC/DC), I quite enjoyed their set, but I wouldn't rush out to see them again.

The third time I saw Maiden was 11th May 2017 at Leeds First Direct Arena, on their Book of Souls Tour, yet again another great album, which was Iron Maiden's first double studio album, and it also had some epic tracks on it, the Empire of the Clouds at 18:01minutes, being their longest track to date. Shinedown were the support act, and I was looking forward to seeing them, as I had heard a number of their tracks on Planet Rock radio (my radio station of choice). I loved the gig, but I wasn't sure if it was just me, but the sound quality was awful, When Bruce Dickinson had a little banter with the audience, I could hardly hear what he was saying, this was the same when both acts were playing also. It just sounded really distorted at times.

The fourth time I saw Maiden was my 2nd favourite Maiden gig, it was 06th August 2018 at the Manchester Arena, on their Legacy of the Beast Tour, the support act was Kill Switch Engage. We didn't bother going in to see the support act as none of us was that keen.

There was a major hype surrounding this tour, mainly about it covering some of their lesser played live tracks, but also due to the size of the stage set and the props to be used, which included a 90% sized replica of an actual Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb registration number AA 853 from 302 Squadron that saw active duty in 1941, which came over the stage as the first notes of Aces High started to play. It was an amazing gig, with all the props and pyrotechnics.

The 90% sized replica of a Supermarine Spitfire during Aces High.

The set list for The Legacy of the Beast tour was as follows:-

Intro – Churchill's Speech

"Aces High" (from Powerslave, 1984)
"Where Eagles Dare" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)
"2 Minutes to Midnight" (from Powerslave, 1984)
"The Clansman" (from Virtual XI, 1998)
"The Trooper" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)
"Revelations" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)
"For the Greater Good of God" (from A Matter of Life and Death, 2006)
"The Wicker Man" (from Brave New World, 2000)
"Sign of the Cross" (from The X Factor, 1995)
"Flight of Icarus" (from Piece of Mind, 1983)
"Fear of the Dark" (from Fear of the Dark, 1992)
"The Number of the Beast" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
"Iron Maiden" (from Iron Maiden, 1980)

Encore

"The Evil That Men Do" (from Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
"Hallowed Be Thy Name" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)
"Run to the Hills" (from The Number of the Beast, 1982)

The main concert backdrop with the stained glass effect

Like most groups, Iron Maiden have had changes to their line-up, Steve Harris formed the band in 1975, and is the only original member left in the current line-up. Dave Murray joined just before their recording debut, and the release of The Soundhouse Tapes EP in 1979. Paul Di'Anno was lead singer with Doug Sampson on drums. Guitarist Dennis Stratton joined in 1979.

Due to not being able to cope with the demands of touring, Doug was dismissed, and Clive Bur joined the line-up. In 1980 Their self titled debut album was released, later that year Stratton was replaced as Adrian Smith joined the band. While supporting Kiss on their Unmasked European Tour, Paul was dismissed due to drug and alcohol abuse affected his performance.

While in his current group Samson, Bruce Dickinson was approached to replace Di'Anno in late 1981, and he joined shortly after.

Nicko McBrain joined shortly after the release of their 3rd album The Number of the Beast, to replace Clive Bur, who left for personal reasons.

In 1990, Adrian Smith was asked to leave due to lack of enthusiasm, he was replaced by Janick Gers (from Hartlepool), a friend of Bruce Dickinson, from his solo projects.

Bruce then left the band in 1993, to pursue his solo career further.

Bruce was replaced by former Wolfsbane lead singer Blaze Bayley in 1994. two albums were made during the time Blaze Bayley was with the band, The X Factor (1995) and Virtual XI (1998). Blaze Bayley left the band in 1999, when he heard Bruce Dickinson was to return.

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