Fish dedicates a song to John Lennon as Marillion brings its Misplaced Childhood Tour to Vancouver

mila geran photo

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 14, 1986

By Steve Newton

When Marillion vocalist Fish walked on stage at the Commodore Ballroom Monday (March 10), it looked as though he’d just stepped off the rugby field. Dressed in sweats and runners, with straggly hair and full beard, he could have easily passed for one of those out-of-shape weekend warriors you see wallowing in post-game beers at the neighbourhood pub.

But looks can be deceiving. The six-foot-four grizzly bear became a poetic storyteller during the band’s intricate and beautifully textured songs.

“This is something Joni Mitchell could have written” said Fish, as he dedicated “Jigsaw”–a tune from the band’s second LP Fugazi–to all the romantics in the audience.

Fish got a bit coarse in his onstage rap following, “Jigsaw”, commenting on the oral-sex capabilitiies of North American women. “It’s because of Rodney McDonald’s milkshakes.” He even defended it by saying “We are not a sexist band, this is a known fact.” Luckily the band overcame this low ebb with a stirring version of “The Web”, a 10-minute opus from their debut album Script for a Jester’s Tear.

Fish then left the stage for a bit while bassist Pete Trewavas, guitarist Steve Rothery, keyboardist Mark Kelly, and drummer Ian Mosely (ex-Steve Hackett band) worked out on the tune. He returned in a long black and white kimono, leisurely smoking a fag, and started into “Pseudo Silk Kimono”, the opening track of the band’s latest album, Misplaced Childhood.

“This is our last song,” quipped Fish, but it wasn’t actually–it just led into their last song. Starting with “Pseudo”, the band ran through every song on the album, including the hit single “Kayleigh”, which drew cheers and a few sing-alongs. When they reached “White Feather”, the last song on the LP, Fish dedicated  it to John Lennon, singing, “I will wear your white feather. I will carry your white flag. I will swear I have no nation, ’cause I’m proud to own my heart.”

Called back for the first of two encores, the band played “Fugazi”, which Fish said was about all the differences between the countries in the world. Fugazi is Vietnamese slang for “all screwed up”.

The second encore was Chubby Checker’s “Let’s Twist Again”. “This is a dance floor, let’s use it,” advised Fish, but not many did. It was a rather lacklustre version, and besides, dancing wasn’t the first thing on the crowd’s mind. Like their progressive predecessors Pink Floyd, Yes, and Genesis, Marillion is a band that goes for the mind and soul before the body.

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