Since the band was promoting their new release F.E.A.R., they managed to play a healthy amount of that record.  Both “El Dorado” and “The New Kings” clock in over a half hour together and along with “Living in Fear," we were presented with close to 40 minutes of new material.  I was happy that they still made sure to perform so much new music because it showed that they are a band moving forward and not resting on the “hits."  Speaking of “hits," while I like the Fish-era of Marillion, the band did not play any tunes from that timeframe.  No one in the crowd, myself included, seemed to care because there are so many great songs from the Hogarth-era that it wouldn’t even be necessary to perform songs from the first four records.  Of the latter day classics, Marbles was well represented, as well.  We got to see great performances of “The Invisible Man” (the show opener), “Fantastic Place," and “Neverland."  Although Brave is one of those pieces of music I tend to listen to as one complete “song," “Wave” and “Mad” (parts I and II of "Goodbye to all That") fit in nicely with the rest of the set without feeling like there was something missing (i.e. the rest of the record).  The title track from Afraid Of Sunlight along with “Quartz," and “Power” were all part of the main set, with the latter being the highlight of the show for me.

While the first encore consisted of “El Dorado” in its entirety, the second encore went way back to 1989 with their hit “Easter."  The show concluded with “Three Minute Boy” which contained a lot of funny ad-libbing from Steve Hogarth.  There are some concerts where one member of the band shines a little brighter than the rest, but in the case of Marillion the band really is greater than the sum of their parts.  Each musician is at the top of their game, yet they make their music the focus. The songs come first.  I would be hard pressed to name a prog band that surpasses Marillion in the live setting, and the show I witnessed was proof.