Marillion - Usher Hall Edinburgh, 29th September 2026

Marillion are always a treat to see. This is not my first review of the band this summer nor is it my first review of them playing the Usher Hall in Edinburgh, I was here the last time Marillion visited Scotland capital. Tonight was a wee bit different from the last couple of shows I’ve seen. There was no additional percussion, no orchestra and no choir. I have enjoyed all the shows I’ve seen with these extra elements, but it was also great to see the stage filled by the five members of the band I have followed since I was a plooky youth. I almost wrote stripped back to describe the band without these extra components, but ‘stripped back’ is not a phrase that could ever be used to describe Marillion, their sound or their show.



It's been a while since I borrowed the Market Square Heroes 12 inch from a mate and, on the back of that bought the ‘Script’ album. Those two records became the foundation of my lifelong love of this band.

One of the things I love about it all is that the pals I made when we first started getting into Marillion remain pals now. It was great to be at this gig with Paul, a pal from school and in the audience was Robert, one of the guys I met when I was a young lad just joining the BBs. Music can be the very underpinning of friendships and the centre of many conversations between friends. Forty four years on from hearing that first 12 inch, I am glad to still be having these conversations with great friends.

Marillion have, obviously, changed in those years. Tonight, there was going to be no recital of the script. Andy was with us too, and this was his first Marillion show; he was a wee bit disappointed when I told him that if they did play Kayleigh I would pay off his mortgage!

The changes that have been made, have, in my view, been positive ones. I have said so often, that the maturity of playing, the depth of musicality and the texturing in Marillion’s music has grown so much over the last forty years. The first four albums may have been the most commercially successful period of the bands career, but the last 30 have, I think, been the most musically productive.

Tonight the show kicked off with ‘Gaza’. It's often the punks and ska bands that get credited with bringing politics into music, this 17 minute story of a boy growing up in the Gaza strip, certainly demonstrates prog bands can do it too. Singer, Steve Hogart, referenced the atrocity that took place on October 7th 2023 and then left things hanging; the audience were left to join the dots and draw their own conclusions.

‘You’re Gone; from the 2004 Marbles album was next up then a personal favourite ‘Easter’. ‘Ribbons and Lace’ is the track for the new album that has made the set list and, if the rest of the album is as good as this cut, then it’ll be worth waiting for, whatever century it eventually gets finished in.

Hogarth doesn’t sing much by way of Fish lyrics, so he leaves the stage was the remaining four take us through an instrumental version of ‘Hotel Hobbies’. I thought this was a really nice touch, a wee not to the past that allowed all of us sitting in the room to smile and remember those days. It was an equally nice thing, to see Hogarth return to sing the closing verse. Hopefully, the band can think of more was to do this at future shows.

‘Afraid of the Sunlight’ was spectacularly done. Hogarth has, in my view, one of the finest voices in rock and the passion and range of his voice make this a true listening pleasure.

I think we were all expecting ‘Sugar Mice’ as an encore, but it arrived next. Now, forgetting songs and singers for a second, I think the guitar solo in this track is the finest guitar solo in the Marillion catalogue. As it kicked in, Steve Rothery took, for the first time in the evening, a step into the spotlight. It is a piece of music that never disappoints and a sold-out Usher Hall lapped it up. I smiled and, frankly, if they had called the gig at that point, I’d still have gone home happy.

‘Seasons End’ took us to my favourite cut from An Hour Before It’s Dark, the four parts that come together to form Care. This suite takes us on a wee journey ending up with a fine tribute to the heroes who kept us going through covid, (a wee bit political again). Those few years had such an impact on us all, the ‘Angels on Earth’ section reminded us of the contribution so many made to our collective health.

Marillion then went off for a wee break. The house lights never came up and there was a bit of a debate amongst the crowd – “do we have time to go for a pint?” and “do we have time to go for a pee?”. The bars in the venue were close to the auditorium whilst the bathrooms were a very long walk down three floors. We held our nerve on both.

The band returned after a few minutes and took us through, ‘Splintering Heart’, ‘Enlightened’ and ‘The Crow and the Angel’, before ‘Lucky Man’ which is always a favourite. ‘Wave’ and ‘Mad’ took us to the crescendo of ‘The Great Escape’ which brought the evening to a close; well not quite.

‘The Release’ from the Seasons End album was the encore and what an encore it was. ‘The Release’ just managed, I thought, to bring the night together. A sweeping guitar lick coming through the searing lyrics, drum and bass holding the bottom end together so well and the keys cutting through to keep the melody bouncing. It was a fantastic end to a really great gig.

As we wandered out into the warm September night, I reflected on a night of great music with great friends. We went on to chat about tunes and old times. We looked forward to other Marillion shows; the tours yet to be booked and the albums still to be cut. Music is a magical thing, and tonight, five magicians moved a room full of people, laugh, cry and smile. That, in itself, is pure magic.