Marillion anecdote: I was passing through London in 1983, at loose ends for an evening, so I picked up Time Out (as one did) and scanned for interesting gigs. The listing for the Marquee Club (back when it was in the middle of Soho) showed Marillion, whom I'd never heard of, with the description "Classically influenced rock with dramatic vocals - remember that stuff?", and I though, why, yes, I do remember it and rather liked it. It was essentially the release party for their first LP. I was blown away. While their musical arrangements at the time were often derivative of Genesis, the vocalist, Fish, had some of the best stage presence I've ever seen. I've never seen a crowd clapping along so enthusiastically and accurately for songs in odd time signatures.
They just slayed with "Forgotten Sons", during which Fish popped on a combat helmet, picked up a mic stand, flipped it around to hold it like an assault rifle, and patrolled the stage, working with the lighting to use shadows to good effect. This is video of that song, from a performance later the same year, in a larger venue, not as amazing as the Marquee gig (the mic stand patrol jam gets dragged out, along with the "approach..............friend"), but I'm impressed at how well recorded the audio and video are. The lyrics are quite clear, and brilliant:
They just slayed with "Forgotten Sons", during which Fish popped on a combat helmet, picked up a mic stand, flipped it around to hold it like an assault rifle, and patrolled the stage, working with the lighting to use shadows to good effect. This is video of that song, from a performance later the same year, in a larger venue, not as amazing as the Marquee gig (the mic stand patrol jam gets dragged out, along with the "approach..............friend"), but I'm impressed at how well recorded the audio and video are. The lyrics are quite clear, and brilliant:
