Album of the Day

Tales from the Big Bus, by Fish (1998): Since it's been announced that the big man will headline Friday night at NearFest this year (as part of a US tour, thankfully), I figured I'd highlight this "official bootleg" from his Sunsets on Empire tour. It's a complete show (basically - it's missing the encores, for technical reasons, and Lisa Simpson's intro, for legal reasons) from Koln, Germany, and I mean complete - there's probably 20+ minute of Fish's interactions with the audience spread around two discs. It's occasionally amusing, but also frustrating in equal measure because he lapses in and out of German when he talks to them! Musically, there's a nice smattering of old Marillion stuff and several solid takes on Sunsets material. The highpoint absolutely is the fire-breathing version of "Jungle Ride." Fish may have lost a few steps over the years, but he's still one of the best shows in the prog universe.