Of what?

The second half of the show was what many of the punters had really come for, the complete "Misplaced Childhood". This was the point when the crowd really erupted. Large sections of the audience were singing along to Fish's impenetrable and deeply personal lyrics. (My brother likened them to obsessive Morrissey fans; Ouch!) If Fish's voice had been slightly shaky earlier on, he recovered his strength now, from the eerie "Pseudo Silk Kimono", through the hit singles "Kayleigh" and "Lavender", the dark and twisted "Bitter Suite" and the anthemic "Heart of Lothian." The band made a good job of reproducing Marillion's complex music, with Frank Usher making a credible stab at Steve Rothery's guitar parts.

Call me a heretic, but I've always felt the first side of the original LP contained all the best moments, and the second side dragged a little. So it was tonight; although it still has its moments I think I'd rather have heard Fish's later epic, "Plague of Ghosts."

Having already overrun the official curfew, there was time for just one encore. I was expecting Fish's traditional encore, "The Company," but the big man decided to go right back to the dawn of time and treat the audience to a rousing version of Marillion's very first single, "Market Square Heroes." Are you following me?

Overall, a good show, if not quite a great one. Fish's voice will never be what it was 20 years ago, but it was far from the disaster I feared it might be. The band continue on tour in England (but surprisingly not London, or Scotland), then to south America before returning for some more European dates in the summer.

Official Fish Website www.the-company.com