Fool's Company Part 1: Night Of The Jesters

The idea: presenting two consecutive concerts at the 2002 convention of the Company (Fish's fan club) in Holland, one featuring exclusively material from Fish's days with Marillion, the other featuring early solo material and songs that were hardly (if ever) performed live. The downside: releasing the concerts as two separate DVDs. And so Pt. 1 consists of excerpts from the "Marillion show" (the singer excluded a couple of self-declared unreleasable performances, including butchered renditions of "Garden Party" and "Incubus," even though the subsequently released companion CD set, Mixed Company, included them). One must understand that this was a one-time project, that Fish had to put a band together almost from the ground up, and that there was too little time to think about new arrangements (hardly enough to rehearse, as a matter of fact). Therefore, quasi-verbatim transcriptions from Marillion's studio recordings are performed live by a band that features a second guitarist (enhancing the rock edge of the music) and two female backing vocalists. The role of the latter becomes obvious early on. The show opens with "Script from a Jester's Tear," and despite being well-rested, Fish's voice cracks from the get-go. The backing vocalists and the highly enthusiastic fans attending the sold-out event will carry the singer throughout, the crowd's singing often filling in for the now-unreachable notes. The main dish is a complete rendition of the Misplaced Childhood album (the first such performance in 16 years). The band has rehearsed enough to pull it off convincingly, but not enough to sound relaxed and add some fancy. Truth be told, it is a bit stiff (and the Mixed Company CD makes it even more obvious since there are no visuals to cling to), but the effort is laudable and fans will enjoy. On the other hand, the performances of "Torch Song," "Slainte Mhath," and "Forgotten Sons" are truly good, and it feels like Fish and the band are so relieved that Misplaced Childhood is now behind them that they are suddenly able to enjoy the concert and stretch beyond the score. The show has been filmed with a least four cameras and is presented in 4:3 ratio; 5.1 Surround Sound and 2.0 stereo tracks are offered, but surprisingly the stereo mix is significantly better. The DVD could have done without some cheesy video effects, but otherwise the editing is tasteful and to the point. Fish moves a lot less than he used to and he didn't even try to resurrect the costumes and make-ups from days of yore (probably for the better), but this Pt. 1 remains a nice thing to watch and listen to -- but it is a far cry from a definitive Fish-era Marillion recording. If you cannot bear the thought of nostalgia, by all means please go back to the two-CD live set The Thieving Magpie. This first DVD also includes a 30-minute interview with Fish, who goes on at length to explain the genesis and realization of this first concert. ~ François Couture|