Anyone who has a career that spans five decades at the top of their game deserves credit, but when this has included the excesses of a full on rock’n’roll lifestyle, it’s a credit indeed.
So it was Fish on Friday in the north east of Scotland. Not your reviewer’s dinner but the legendary rock star Fish performing in Aberdeen last week at the penultimate venue of his long career .
The superlatives are many – just look online – and the music beautifully crafted and performed by a group who have been together for many years, with Fish himself at the tender age of 66 still more than delivering in his self described role as a poet who sings. The visuals, lighting and presentation were a match as well, creating a special evening in the Aberdeen City Music Hall.
The set list was as you’d expect from a farewell tour – a revisiting of his greatest hits with some of Marillion’s in there too. Yes, Kayleigh made it on to the repertoire for the night, along with Just Good Friends, Family Business, Fugazi and his second encore, The Company. Two and half hours of the best of the man just known as Fish.
The real highlights, though, were the chats that Fish had with those who filled the Music Hall. These folk are his friends, not just people attending a concert. It’s not often I’ve seen an entire audience so completely in lock step with the performer. This interaction raised the entire evening to a higher level.
For many, his Fish on Friday live Facebook events, born out of lockdown and only finishing last month, came to life in Aberdeen. It was like being at a big family gathering where dad reminisced and sang the highlights of his career while in between, just chatting to his pals. The two and a half hours went past in a flash
Poignant reminiscing of his first ever performance of Family Business in Portree leaving an audience member in tears that night many years ago, through to giving the good people of the north east an insight into when Derek became Fish – it was in Fochabers of all places – were just part of the whole. A nod to his age – both knees replaced apparently – and a story about a bit of a mystery in the Fish household when an unexpected payment arrived in his bank account recently. It was his old age pension.
It’s a testament to the man that he hadn’t even realised he was a pensioner and while the sun many be setting on his rock career – as he told us, he only had three days left as Fish – he’s not putting on the slippers and heading to the golf course. Fish may be retiring but Derek is taking up a new career as a crofter in the Western Isles. We wish him well.
