ShareFish performing his Road To The Isles A Farewell Tour at Rock City Nottingham on Sunday 2nd March 2025.
Images and Review by Kevin Cooper
A sold out Rock City turned out on Sunday night to bid the former Marillion singer, Fish, a passionate and powerful farewell as he embarks upon his Road To The Isles – The Farewell Tour after forty years in the music industry. Winding up his career for retirement to the Western Isles to become a crofter, it was bound to be an emotional night.
As the band began to take their places, they are joined by Fish as he opened with Vigil with a huge smile on his face. There was full crowd participation on the thundering Credo and a pulsating Big Wedge which saw keyboard player Mickey Simmonds, who has rejoined the band, play the lines that he had composed.
Long Cold Day saw Fish’s collaborators, bassist Steve Vantsis, guitarist Robin Boult, drummer Gavin Griffiths and backing vocalist Liz Antwi, all formed an extremely solid backing for Fish. The band’s playing was immaculate as displayed during moments such as the vast six part song, Plague Of Ghosts, which is full of intricacies and details, whilst the darker, murky atmosphere of Shadowplay, a highlight from 1991’s Internal Exile album, added a different dimension to the performance.
For the first of three encores, Simmonds and Fish showed just how good a song writing partnership they had in the early days with a beautiful keyboard and voice rendering of A Gentlemen’s Excuse Me, which is still one of Fish’s best lyrics, before he nodded to his Marillion days with the rapturously received Kayleigh, Lavender and Heart Of Lothian, all power ballads and triumphant pop rock which resulted in some very emphatic sing alongs.
For the second encore there was a truly rousing version of Fugazi, which had the crowd punching the air before the final goodbye came in the form of the third encore, The Company, which saw the emotion wash over him.
Thanking the crowd for their unrelenting support, he reminded them that his name is actually Derek and that he will only be Fish for another couple of weeks. After one final long moment alone on the stage, he left with one hand raised to the crowd in salute and quietly left.
This had been a genuine last chance to see an icon of progressive rock in a live venue and it was undoubtedly a remarkably poignant moment.
