Wrong. The band said goodbye to aquatically-monikered singer Derek Dick when Mrs Thatcher was PM - and with him the cheesy pomp of songs like Kayleigh and Lavender.

These days Marillion are a much more enticing prospect, boasting the raw showmanship and big voice of "new" vocalist Steve Hogarth (he joined in the late eighties) and a sound akin to Radiohead jamming show tunes with Pink Floyd.

So when Hogarth and co, including South Yorkshire-born-Whitby-raised guitarist Steve Rothery, take the Leeds Met stage it's to project a thrillingly expansive sound, underpinned by the deep and surprisingly funky bass of Pete Trewavas.

The sound is enormous – the welcome from the Marillion faithful even bigger.

Hogarth starts the gig wearing a white and gold, elaborately embroidered ankle-length coat.

"Someone said it looks like a carpet," he says.

It's actually more like some fancy curtains, but he does make an effort. What follows is a thrilling ride across the Marillion back catalogue, moving through the dreamy vocals and lazy, chorused guitar lines of This Train Is My Life; Essence with its ethereal keyboard and a melody cascading ever upwards and Neverland, offering plaintive piano and a soaring Hogarth.

The crowd laps it up and the band notice.

Around the end of the gig and new album track Happiness is the Road, Hogarth says they've been the best audience of the tour.

"We don't get out much," comes back a shout, meeting laughter from both on and off stage.

It's actually a touching moment and testament to an affectionate bond between fans and a band that reinvented itself and came back stronger.

Leeds Metropolitan University