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Pete Trewavas: bass (and guitar for the tour); Steve Hogarth: Vocals (and keyboards for the tour); Steve Rothery, guitar (and bass for the tour).

I first became familiar with Marillion when my brother Dw. introduced me to this English five-piece with Holidays in Eden, their recent release in 1991 and Misplaced Childhood, their most popular from 1985. While the latter had been a commercial juggernaut, it was the former that caught my ear.

Since 1989, Steve Hogarth, also known as h., has been the lead vocalist for the band. My attention has been kept in no small part because of Hogarth’s one-of-a-kind voice and his lyrics, which play more like poems and short stories, often with a valuable lesson thrown in for spice.

“You don’t need money to be rich anyhow, spending yourself is what it’s all about,” from marillion.com’s “Rich”; “No one leaves you when they live in your heart and mind,” from “Estonia” off of This Strange Engine are both fine examples. Sure, it might be simple, but behind the music of Steve Rothery (guitars), Pete Trewavas (bass), Mark Kelly (keyboards) and Ian Mosley (drums) it, well, sings. Besides, not everything that is brilliant needs to be overly complicated.

Though “ Estonia” and “Rich” were not featured, many from the band’s 20+ year history were, including some surprises, on the “Los Trios Marillos” acoustic tour, which kicked off June 12 at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Unlike their Marbles 2004 World Tour, which brought them to the U.S. after being away for seven years, this one saw only Hogarth, Rothery and Trewavas cross the pond for a seven-date mini-tour.

So why did Mark Kelly and “Mosley the Cat” opt not to come over? Let’s ask Mr. Hogarth:

“Well, uhm, Mark is building a helicopter, and Ian’s looking after the dog,” he said from on-stage, decked out in sleep pants and a t-shirt that read “I am in a promising local band.”

The night began with a talented but uninteresting local opening act (for fans, no, it was not John Wesley. I don’t remember the keyboardist’s name, actually). Quickly, my girlfriend and me took advantage of the bar located on the floor below (a very cool element to the Bowery Ballroom, typically expensive NYC beer prices notwithstanding). Once he got out of the way, late arrivers and those who’d made camp downstairs packed the concert hall and impatiently waited the 20 or so minutes before a lone Hogarth humbly made his way out on stage to the no longer contained screams and cheers from the audience.

“The Hollow Man,” from Brave (1994) officially began the trio’s acoustic tour. As with a first song on a first show, played by a person most often found behind just the microphone, not the keyboard, there were a couple minor snags.

”I think I have become one of the hollow men – wait a second,” Hogarth sang in tune to the song as he searched for the right key.

As Trewavas came on stage, the crowd once again lost their minds.

“Please welcome to the stage – although you already have – the incomparable and peculiar Pete Trewavas,” Hogarth said once the cheering finally died down.

The two belted out “The Bell and the Sea,” Trewavas laying down a funky bass line while Hogarth crooned.

Then Rothery came on for Holidays In Eden’s “Dry Land” and … well, you can figure out the rest.

“Why are we here, apart from the sheer fun and the alcohol,” Hogarth said as he casually sipped from a bottle of Beck’s. “We’re here because a DVD came out [from the Marbles tour]. Marbles on the Road, which I thought was a very imaginative title. I wanted to call it ‘ Eugene’ but I was outvoted.”

Steve Hogarth

As the audience laughed, Hogarth lifted a maraca from atop his keyboard.

“That is the best maraca in the world. So much so, I am unlikely to use it tonight,” he said as he put it back down. “It’s like a bottle of wine, you just have to know it’s in the cellar.”

While Hogarth’s fun and quirky sense of humor would pop out now and again throughout their two-hour performance, it was the music fans came out for and they were not disappointed, if the cheers and laughter and the singalongs were any indication.

Highlights included hearing some rarities including “Sugar Mice,” from Clutching at Straws in 1987, prior to Hogarth joining and “Tumble Down the Years,” which Hogarth said they hardly ever play out. There were also the reworked-for-a-trio versions of “You’re Gone,” the first single off last year’s MusicTAP five-star rated Marbles release and “Easter,” from Season’s End, which is largely considered one of Marillion’s most legendary tracks.

There was even audience participation. As Trewavas and Rothery decided to switch instruments for “Don’t Hurt Yourself,” another one off Marbles, Hogarth prompted the fans to keep the beat with the clapping of their hands. Hell, we actually did a pretty good job, if I say so myself.

Of course, one of the biggest highlights of the night had to be when Hogarth began playing the first notes to “Fantastic Place,” a song that prompted Dw., usually one to chill in the shadows and enjoy a show quietly, to scream “Yeaaaaah!!” at the top of his lungs for all to hear. Now that’s passion.

“When I first joined the band, we did this tour called Season’s End in 1989,” Hogarth recalled. “We started in France and worked our way through Europe. I was the new boy and it was a pretty scary prospect playing to what was quite a lot of people who were all looking at me with one eye closed.”

“And they turned out to be the broadest minded people I have ever been in front of,” he added.

“We ended up back in England and we were doing this gig in the Astoria Theater,” Hogarth continued. “We were up in the dressing rooms and there was a queue [four floors below] going all the way around the block of people. It was a typical English evening, cold and rainy and bloody horrible and depressing.

“And I thought, shit, we should really write a song for the fans. They stand out there in the cold for hours. This was an attempt to let everybody know that we know and say thanks and try to explain a little bit what it’s like to be us… it’s really, really strange.”

And from that, “80 Days,” off 1997’s This Strange Engine, was born.

Steve Rothery

That in a nutshell seems to sum up the Marillion camp. From the grateful band, the overwhelmingly supportive fans, the dedicated people that work for the band, everyone – it’s almost like a family reunion when going to a concert. People aren’t pushing other people out of the way just to get to the front, they’re making new friends and recalling past albums and concerts. The band isn’t acting like rock stars with bugs up their butts, they’re laughing and joking around like your slightly irresponsible uncle that you always hope shows up for a couple beers whenever he’s in town. From seeing them live for the second time, it seems like they’re playing for the love of the music and for the love of their fans. It’s really a pretty special feeling.

“I’ve hoped you enjoyed it,” Hogarth said.

“That’s an understatement,” responded a nearby audience member, though I think his words reflected the thoughts of almost everyone that night.

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