MIRRORS

The third and final album from the Marillion Weekend 2005 is taken from the Sunday performance, and sees the band focusing on their more low-key and atmospheric material, much as the companion album Smoke focused on up-tempo and energetic stuff. This time around, the album feels a bit more constrained than Smoke did by the fact that the band couldn't include any material from Marbles. (They'd done a full performance of the album on the Friday night - as documented on Marbles By the Sea - so it would be a bit cheeky to repeat songs the same weekend.)

As I said with Smoke, I think the decision to present a gig this long with this little variation in the mood also hurts the set list; in particular, many of Marillion's best songs take the listener through a variety of moods in a single piece (think The Great Escape from Brave, or the This Town triptych), and the combination of a constrained setlist and the lack of variation in the mood makes it a slight chore to listen all the way through.

Still, it's an intriguing trip into Marillion's more mellow side, and includes an early live version of Faith - which wouldn't see the light of day in a studio version until Somewhere Else. of Faith - which wouldn't see the light of day in a studio version until Somewhere Else.