October 21, 2025 – A Better Way of Life

So Rush ended up adding more dates to their tour after all, and yet Chicago remains the closest they’re coming to Omaha. I’m not complaining, though. I got into the last two Chicago dates, so I’m all set. Maybe I’ll end up doing more shows, maybe not. There’s still a ton of time between now and when the tour starts.

Moving on from that, I’ve done a lot of cooling down from my post-ProgStock high. It’s insane how much can happen in just one day. I broke into the H-Natural DVD I bought from the merch stand, one of several H-related merch items I picked up during my day there. It was great to listen to while doing some cleaning around my apartment. I only listened to/watched a little over half the performance since I had to leave to go to work. Speaking of Marillion, tomorrow, October 22, marks 9 years since my very first Marillion concert. What a show that was. I can still feel it today, the profound awe I experienced as song after song was played. Unlike the earliest shows I went to as a young teenager, I do have some existing photos from that night, which were taken at the very end of the show, from the first row of the mezzanine. Check it out!:

I took a total of 5 images within 6 seconds, but these two are my favorite. I’m so glad I still have them and, more importantly, that they released the audio from this show for download on their Racket Records website, so I can go back and relive that special night whenever I want. Nearly 9 years on, I have yet to make it to a Marillion Weekend, but I have a total of 6 Marillion shows under my belt, 4 of which were on Cruise to the Edge. The band announced on their Facebook page earlier today that they were holding a 24-hour sale on Marillion DVDs, but I didn’t see that post until about an hour ago. It gave me plenty of time to jump onto the Racket site and see what they had available. I came out with a few picks:

The DVDs I picked out were originally issued to members of their The Web fan club, of which I was briefly a member a number of years ago. Ice Cream Genius I somehow never got around to getting, and Marbles and Marillion.com were albums that I could have sworn I already owned, but was shocked to find them missing from my Music library on my laptop. That problem has now been fixed!