MARILLION WEEKEND Leamington Spa, UK
6-8 MAY 2011

The third and final convention of 2011 returned to home shores, but at a different location to the Weekends of previous years held at Pontins and Butlins - the Assembly in Royal Leamington Spa. A more intimate setting for another 3 nights of fun and games in the fabulous Art Deco surroundings. Once again a set of fantastic support artists below entertained us all.

SUPPORT BANDS

FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY
Pete & Robin	Antimatter	Lisa Cuthbert

CHARITY

Something a little different for charity at the UK Weekend. Superfan Malcolm Harris has travelled to all 9 Marillion Weekends from Perth, Australia and kindly helps us out at the merchandise shop too!

This year he commissioned some very special limited edition Marillion logo belt buckles to be made and sold these at all 3 Weekends donating the profits of £200 to our chosen charity for the UK Weekend which is The Pelican Cancer Foundation.

They support medical research and medical education to improve surgery for bowel, liver and urology cancers – cancers below the belt. To achieve their aims Pelican has become a `centre of excellence` for sharing life saving, life enhancing knowledge and skills to future generations of surgeons and cancer teams www.pelicancancer.org Thank you Malcolm!

YOUR LETTERS

just wanted to say a very big thank you for all the help that I was given (as a disabled person) at Leamington. The venue was absolutely brilliant - couldn't have been more helpful. And Lucy and Stephanie were great, coming and checking on us periodically. It made a HUGE difference to our experience of the weekend. We had a fantastic time - thanks to the band for yet another wonderful experience. For me, it was better than Port Zelande - and that's saying something!

Liz Stone UK

Thanks for a great weekend in Leamington guys, can't list all of my highlights as there were just too many. Hope all the band have a good rest before getting back into the Studio and producing another amazing album. :)

Andrew Reynolds UK

I'm still coming down from the amazing high of the weekend in Leamington! It was mine and the good lady Jo's wedding anniversary and our first full weekend away without our little daughter. It was our first convention too (what have I been missing?!!!). It was an incredible event. Some special, special memories that will stay with me... this is my top 10, in no particular order:
* Brave ... H ripping and crushing flowers as he sang, so full of raw emotion, brought the song to a new level.
* King ... that awesome wall of sound at the end seemed so much more powerful than I've heard before ... shivers running down my spine.
* Estonia ... gulp ... I was reduced to tears, thinking about my mum. Jo gave me a squeeze and the pain went away ... Neverland followed and seemed to be a great way of saying "thank you" to her for that.
* Ocean Cloud and TSE ... two of my favourites, played in full. I was just going nuts at the end of TSE.
* Voice From The Past ... never one of my favourites but it took on a new intensity live ... a revelation!
* Three Minute Boy ... the audience sing along had me grinning from ear to ear, especially when the band came back on and jammed along with us.
* Gazpacho ... really delivered, H was into that 100%, awesome.
* Invisible Man ... another of my faves, intense, perfect.
* Jo chasing after Mark on the Friday night ... "Another hug please Mark" ... bless her, far too much wine! Sorry about that.
* "The Family" ... Dorothy and Simon it was great to meet you, we'll be sure to get our photos to you. And thanks to the guys that let us move forward so that Jo could get a better view on the Sunday night. Only at a Marillion gig would people do that - a better quality of audience I think! Oh, and Pete, thanks for lobbing your pick in our direction on Sunday night. Jo thought she'd caught it in her cleavage but it was actually stuck to her sweaty hand!

Kevin Bull UK

Thank you for organising the photo with the band for me and thanks for your patience with my hounding! Great weekend, great organisation and all lovely people.
http://beardedmonkeyactivity.blogspot.com/2011/04/challenge-32-shake-hand-with-40-people.html

Matt Boorman, UK

Thankyou is not enough to say in words for last weekend our first convention and it certainly will not be our last ,as I said to H you have given us so much over the years This weekend really did rock. Hope the roof is alright at the venue. Made some wonderful new friends and its true it is a very spiritual feeling thanks to everyone involved xxxxxxxxxxxxxxCome back to Leamington in December please .

Marie Villiers UK

Do we really have to wait for two years for another weekender? We do - Oh Bummer!!! Thanks for a truly BRILLIANT three evenings of FANTASTIC music - there is no other band so generous. Still buzzing and the voice is still a little horse.

Simon D Forrest UK

What a wonderful weekend, every night different and band had amazing energy and power. Still on a high from it and my glow sticks are still working !. Thanks to H and the boys.

Phil Colby UK

As well as my wedding and being at the birth of my 2 children the marillion weekend is/was a memory I will cherish forever, being with a fantastic group of people, watching a band that appreciate the fans as much as the fans appreciate the band. Thank-you to you all.

Glynn Potts UK

I had an amazing weekend, I always think that the whole team work hard to create something special for the fans, and they do brilliantly at it! Thank you to the band and Lucy for all their hard work, passion and dedication. Its very much appreciated!

Paul Levy, UK

What an awesome weekend, never been to a convention before, just totally blew me and my son away.

Paddy.g UK

H's voice sounded amazing throughout, in fact I thought the sound at the venue was really good. Rothery was on fire. Unbelievably Splintering Heart was my highlight. The passion in the audience singing 'There's a hot hard hurt' with all their might made the hairs on the back of my neck tingle. Awesome. Friday night was a superb show. Sunday night was a great show - liked the glow stick idea.

Dave Wallace UK

A fantastic place is where I am right now. batteries recharged over the weekend, at what has to have been one of the most PERFECT weekends of my life. Perfect is all I can say about the shows...........no more, no less, simply, wonderfully, PERFECT. I met some great people, I had some huge laughing sessions, I enjoyed kindness and courtesy on levels i've rarely met before, I queued for hours with several other mad folk, enjoying the chocolate brownies from the cafe next door,limping up the stairs to try to get to the front and finding that those who had queued had a wonderful sense of fair play and gave me space to enjoy the show from a centre front position ( I simply couldn't get up those stairs as fast as they could, due to a knee injury sustained a few weeks ago, and, because I had been ahead of them in the queue, they felt I should have the space................ unheard of! wonderful, generous souls..love you xx). Sang my heart out, cried a few times, laughed my head off at James and Tony's cigarette lighter iphone apps....so funny......held hands aloft with everyone else during Happiness is the Road............then hugged, got hugs in return......said our thankyou's and fond farewells...........and smiled all the way home. Thank you, marillion and everyone that is part of the wonderful M family........thank you for putting me back in the happy zone of life. Thankyou....xxxx

Sheelagh Jones UK

This weekend in Leamington was perfect in every way. Impossible to improve. You dont need to change anything, if/when you are planning a similar event in the future. Thank you to all concerned.

Andrew (“Barnes”) Wood, UK

Just got back to the office after driving back from Leamington. It was a great weekend, great venue, great atmosphere and great people. Thanks to Lucy, Stephanie, the band and all involved.

Neil Fawcett UK

That was superb...back home but still buzzing. What a weekend!!!! The band did us proud, and the feeling of family was superb...how many rock gigs finish and everyone starts hugging and shaking hands before you leave the venue - surreal. It was good to meet and have fun with such a bunch of decent people. Saturday night was the real highlight for me out of the three musically, but last night was also extremely special in a different way - it just felt so intimate, just as if it was us and the band cracking a few jokes over a few beers, with bonus of the band playing songs which we wanted to hear Many, many thanks to everyone involved in making that such a special event.....can we have the same next weekend please (yes, I mean NEXT)?