Marillion - Kernowfornia Festival Review

It is very rare that I see a band live in Cornwall. Since the Cornwall Coliseum closed for good in 2003, although in truth the venue had been on the decline for many years before that, bands very rarely venture to Cornwall - with the South West in particular being a bit of a wasteland when it comes to regular live music. Plymouth and Exeter occasionally do their bit, and Torquay seems to be really trying to make itself the South West's live music hotspot, but Cornwall really lags behind - with Falmouth and Truro really the only places which occasionally host bands of note. The seaside town of Looe, though, has often held festivals on its beach under various guises - and this year the latest attempt at a long-running festival for the town, Kernowfornia, kicked off. A weekend-long affair, the festival boasts national and local artists playing over two stages on the town's beach - and it picks up where other long-standing festivals left off over the years. Looe is not somewhere that I had been for many, many years - but upon seeing that one of my all-time favourite bands Marillion were to headline the first night of the festival I knew that that would change, so it was with excitement yesterday that I headed down into Cornwall for an evening of live music. It should be noted, though, that this piece is purely a review of Marillion's set. Whilst I had a day ticket for the festival, I only attended in the evening - getting to the site just when The Magic Numbers, who were the third 'biggest' on the bill, were finishing their set. I will not cover the festival as a whole, then, as I did not really engage with it in a meaningful way. There were a couple of prog-adjacent bands earlier in the day, such as Pure Reason Revolution and Haunt the Woods, who would have been worth checking out - but in an effort to save precious annual leave I worked yesterday - meaning that I did not get to Looe until after 5pm. After getting some dinner in a local pub, too, which did not start serving food until 6pm despite the town being full of festival-goers, much of the festival's first day had passed by at that point. The pub meal was decent, though, despite seemingly much of the menu being 'off' - and it was a pleasant way to spend an hour or so before heading down to the festival site itself. The town was surprisingly shut down, with the local businesses clearly not enterprising enough to capitalise on the festival-goers - but the festival site itself was buzzing. With a large bar and a few food options - perhaps people were happy with the on-site provisions - but given that it was possible to come and go throughout the day I am surprised that more of the shops were not open late. Thankfully the weather was decent throughout the day - with the rain holding off. It did get a little chilly in the evening but that is to be expected - and it did not seem to put off any festival-goers as the site seemed busy throughout. Whilst I was on-site for Brit-poppers Embrace's set, I cannot say that I was really paying attention enough to review them. They were pleasant enough, but they did not hold my attention - so it was only Marillion that I was there to see. Funnily enough, and despite the above, this was my second time seeing the band in Cornwall - having previously seen them at Carnglaze Caverns back in 2009.

Following the band's gear being fairly hastily set up following Embrace's set, the band took to the stage with very little fanfare. There was no atmospheric intro music to set the scene - with frontman Steve Hogarth casually addressing the crowd before the opening drum loop of the poppy anthem You're Gone got the show underway. I was unsure which route the band would take setlist-wise with this headline slot - but they decided to largely focus on the poppier and slightly more anthemic side of their songwriting. There was less of the band's proggy, atmospheric side on show, despite a plenty of fans in the crowd, but this was probably wise given the likely number of casual fans and those who knew little about the band in attendance. They had around 90 minutes to play with, which is less than the band would usually play for, but they made it count with a 14-song setlist which impressed die-hards and casuals alike. It helped, too, that the live sound mix was excellent. Hogarth's voice was loud and clear throughout - and the emotive soloing of Steve Rothery (guitar) also really stood out as a result. Following the hooks of You're Gone, though, there was a brief pause whilst an issue with Mark Kelly's keyboard rig was fixed, during which time Hogarth told a story about having a crab sandwich earlier in the day. He was in a cheeky mood all night, and spoke with the crowd a lot - and he elicited a few laughs during the delay, but thankfully once the issue was fixed the show proceeded without incident. A suite from 1994's Brave followed this enforced break, with a couple of sections from the lengthy Goodbye to All That creating a bouncy atmosphere before the more plaintive and emotional The Great Escape introduced the uninitiated to the band's more dense approach. The fixed keyboards really powered through here - with Hogarth delivering the song in his usually acrobatic way. This suite saw the band through the initial wobbles - but I think it is fair to say that a powerful rendition of Afraid of Sunlight really brought the set to life. The piano-led pseudo-ballad is played live regularly for a reason - and it exploded out of the speakers as the band ran through it, with Hogarth's bridge vocals especially powerful. There were no real surprises in the set, with another live favourite in Easter coming soon after, during which Rothery delivered one of his best solos, but there were still songs I had not seen the band do live before. Despite having seen the band many times, I had never seen them perform big singles Kayleigh and Lavender before - but the 1980s hits were wheeled out for the casuals and everyone sang along. I had not seen the band do Beautiful live for many years, either, so that soaring pop anthem was a real treat - whilst the newer, denser The Crow and the Nightingale showcased where the band are now, as much of the material played was older. By this point the end of the main set was in sight, but the acoustic-led, jaunty Man of a Thousand Faces proved to be a hit with the crowd, during which Kelly played a busy piano solo. It was left to the epic King to close out the main set - and there were plenty of cheers to call the band back for more. There was time for a bit more, thankfully, and the only real true lengthy epic of the night Neverland was deployed. Hogarth sang the song with all of his usual power and delicacy - whilst the lengthy closing section contained a lot of atmospheric guitar playing. The final section of newer cut Care acted as a great coda to the prog epic, too, and the night came to an emotional close. The setlist was:

You're Gone

Wave

Mad

The Great Escape

Afraid of Sunlight

Easter

Kayleigh

Lavender

The Crow and the Nightingale

Beautiful

Man of a Thousand Faces

King

-

Neverland

Care - Part IV: Angels on Earth

Whilst I did not really engage with the festival properly, and felt like a bit of an interloper turning up to essentially watch one band, I nevertheless had an excellent evening in Looe last night with Marillion. The band brought their all and delivered a great, festival-friendly set to a decent-sized and appreciative crowd - and I would not be surprised if a few casuals were converted as a result of the big hooks and emotional guitar solos on offer. The band are currently working on a new album, which I look forward to hearing in due course - and I hope that next year sees a proper tour from the band, too.