steve hogarth at St Bride’s Church, Liverpool. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Steve Hogarth and Liverpool are made for each other. In the past few years he has made the pilgrimage-like trek away from the touring with Marillion and delivered shows with just himself, a piano and an array of compositions, much loved songs and the odd story in which to regale and entertain audiences with.

For the fourth time; Steve Hogarth, the front man for the Progressive/Rock giants Marillion braved the December cold and the natural beauty of St. Bride’s and gave the crowd assembled a night of inevitable charm and passion in which to think fondly of and revel in over the Christmas period.

With a huge quantity of songs in which to choose from and certainly a number of stories in which to go through, Steve Hogarth opened up the night with songs that included This Train Is My Life and the much loved George Harrison track Here Comes the Sun and another Beatles legendary track I’m Only Sleeping from the album Revolver.

Steve Hogarth’s love of Liverpool is well known and is never averse to putting any number of Beatles tracks in his one night stands that he performs when he comes to the city. Mixing Marillion classics, old and new with renowned and auspicious songs from different periods of every genre is what makes Steve’s nights so well attended and so well liked. With the title track from the new Marillion album Sounds That Can’t Be Made, the enchanting welcome to adolescence in the hypnotic The Party, the haunting Beautiful and the outstanding After Me being mixed between tracks such as Abba’s The Day Before You Came, Leonard Cohen’s Famous Blue Raincoat and John Lennon’s Instant Karma, it made for a great night out for all concerned.

Steve Hogarth finished off a night of tremendous fun with the audience having enjoyed the evening immensely with the encores which included House, the stunning Fantastic Place and a passionate and fervent Three Minute Boy, which itself was interspersed with a stunning rendition of the Elvis Presley track, In The Ghetto.

It is a shame that Mr. Hogarth only comes to Liverpool once a year as he is no doubt much enjoyed by a lot of music lovers in the city.

A great night out provided by the voice of Marillion.   

Ian D. Hall