Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Marbles

A couple of weeks ago I was in the lovely (it actually is a nice little city) Wolverhampton to attend the second of two Marillion weekends this year.
I must admit that I thought nothing could top what I was a part of in Holland, but as usual Marillion proves me wrong time and again. The Friday night was amazing, and my favourite song, This Strange Engine, was breathtaking. And the Sunday night, when we chose to stay in the back with our somewhat taller friends, we ended up having a blast. The Civic is smaller than the tent in PZ (Holland), so we had a decent view. Minds and hearts buzzing from
Now, my partner and I had high hopes for Saturday night, as we missed the first part of this particular concert in Holland, stuck behind all the tall Dutch people...they sure are tall...And after this rather disappointing Marbles night, we were really looking forward to the UK one. We went early, and stood at the front. We had the option of getting seats, and I'm pretty sure my heels would have loved that, but my mind decided that my eyes likes to see the expression in the band's faces when they perform, so we let pain be pain, and prepared for sounds and the magnificent lights, and the out of this world music.

The Invisible Man was not just the first song on Marbles, and also on the concert, it was so much more. I have never heard or seen that piece of music been performed to perfection like that before. It was like being in a Shakespearean Theatre watching a play. And it was perfection in a way where strong emotions and musical brilliance danced an exotic dance.
I love Marbles, the entire album. I love every single song, even the ones that many think a bit odd. I love the fact that it's based on Peter Pan, I love the fact that it plays with words and chords, I love the fact that it holds duality, complexity, simplicity, it's possible to interpret on high academic levels (and I have...and will continue to), and I love that I was there with the love of my soul enjoying it.
For me, however, The Only Unforgivable Thing was the song I really looked forward to.

And then it started, the song I had waited for...probably being all weird and strange for having waited for that, and not The Invisible Man, or Fantastic Place, or even Neverland.
But this song is something else. It resonates on a deeper level with me, and it has since the first time I ever heard it.
The man I love held his strong arms around me most of the concert, and being there with him was such an honour. He's warm when I am cold, and cool when I freak out, and reads me better than anyone ever did. He just wouldn't let go when the song came...and I'm glad he didn't, I think I would have fallen if he did.
At first I was just looking at the band, singing along, feeling the normal Marillion magic...but then something took over, and I shut up, and suddenly it was only me and the band there. I could still feel the strong arms around me, but I seriously spaced out...on music. I could feel I almost stopped breathing, but I was, and along with the air, what filled my body was the etheric notes and words of this sapphire of a song.
I had conflicting emotions within. This is music that should be taken to all corners of the world, to heal all that is broken, inspire world leaders to do better. But then again, it's music that should be (and is) only mine, as it is so personal (People who have read Leo's book about fans will know exactly how personal), Marillion's music is my precious.
I wasn't singing along anymore, I couldn't. It wasn't just a song to which I knew the words and could sing along...it was a whisper that echoed through time, it was power, it was amazing.
I then, still alone with the band, I felt deeper thoughts beginning to rush through my mind, thoughts of how I was part of something that was on the outside of life's mundane and generic routine. How I felt blessed with senses able to perceive these high emotions...and when the song came to its end, my tears were running, but not because I was sad. They were running because I was happy. And that happiness just kept going long after the song ended. In moments like that I feel I'm reaching out of society's thoughts of reality, I feel I'm reaching out and touching an eternity with answers and truths; truths only visible through the magic of music...
I was there for the rest of the concert, but sometimes the mind has enough, and for me this was it x

Thank you, Marillion, for gracing the world with your fantasy music. It truly is epic and mind blowing. My life is richer from your inspiration and musical journeys. It is an absolute honour to be at your concerts.
xxx





I am adding here a little paragraph from my book, The Tenth Muse, where The Only Unforgivable Thing is described through the ears of a person who has been blinded and captured by the evil forces...
I think this song has an amazing duality and it is almost a novel in its complexity, and almost naive in its simplicity...

"A soft sound started almost like a whisper, it came from the room, and it came from everywhere, it came from him, and it came from her. It was a beautiful sound that just kept on filling her soul, her mind and her entire being. She knew that was what she had been looking for in all the shops and all the people she had met in the past. This feeling of just being and listening and escaping. She felt she could let go of all the fear that had surrounded her lately. The sound was mesmerizing. And then came something that sounded like a heartbeat. She could feel it pound in her body like a strange engine. Was it her heart? Could her heart possibly sound on the outside of her body like this, as if it was coming from the universe itself? No, this was something bigger, but her heart found the same rhythm. The beating heart was mixing together with the beautiful sound from before. And for a blissful moment that lasted forever, she could feel her broken body start to fight for life. Two more elements sounded in the room, and their sound echoed everywhere, and each one of them made perfect sense. It was like a happy marriage of sounds. One sharper, stringy sound, resonating in her mind as a dichotomy to the heartbeat, making her want to open her eyes and see what could possibly produce the sounds that were making her ears and her soul feel more alive than ever before. Seconds later she heard a similar sound. Only this sound was deeper, as a mix of the heartbeat and the sharp stringy sound. She could feel that every single thing she heard right now just had to be there to make the other sounds make complete sense. And she could feel they were building up to something. Something that filled her with the most blissful anticipation she had ever felt, and yet she was nervous, because she knew it would change her. She knew that what was coming would heal her, that she would get her life back, and that she would find a truth not many people had yet. And there it was, a voice. It was soft and sharp, deep and high…It was the voice of the earth and sky, it was the voice of light. It could shake the foundations of the highest mountain, and it could bend the biggest trees like the forces from a storm. It was the voice that knew all the secrets, and at the same time it explored all the wonders of the world, searching for answers to new riddles, new questions that hadn’t even been asked yet. The words he sang reached inwards in her broken body and made the evil evaporate into his oblivion. Whatever he decided became the truth, and she would never ever doubt that fact for as long as she lived. " *

Read more here: http://www.bullseyeshop.nl/c-2490001/roman/


* The Tenth Muse, Silje Haarr, published by Bullseye Publishing 2014. 

Thank you to Phil Slessor, the amazing photographer, for finding an image from The Only Unforgivable Thing on Saturday in Wolverhampton.