Six years. That is the number Steve Rothery has put on Marillion's remaining working life, and it is the kind of honest, unvarnished admission you almost never hear from a band still actively touring and recording. No dramatic farewell. No milking it. Just a guitarist doing the maths on his own career and saying it plainly.

"At our ages, I don't see us working beyond maybe six more years," Rothery told Classic Rock. "But at the end of the day, what are we going to do? Retire and sit in our kitchens?"

Fair point, frankly. And given everything currently on Marillion's plate, retirement looks a long way off in practice.

Pompeii, New Music and a Frontman Who Fell Off a Stage

The band are mid-way through a European run that feeds directly into two shows at the legendary Pompeii amphitheatre, the same ancient venue Pink Floyd made iconic in the seventies. Rothery is excited and, by his own admission, a bit nervous. Specifically about the heat. Temperatures across the German leg have been sitting in the mid-thirties, and he is already worried about his valve-preamps giving out. "In Pompeii it could reach the forties," he said. "My valve-preamps have been crackered out." He visited the site as a tourist in the eighties. Playing there is something else entirely.

The shows are being filmed, the setlist is being tested night by night, and the band are road-testing new material as they go. A track called Rhythms And Lace, which Rothery describes as a slow-builder with a long guitar solo at the end, has been played every night on the German leg. A twenty-first studio album is expected, with a realistic release window of around May next year if mixing gets done in December. Not rushed. Done properly.

There was also the small matter of frontman Steve Hogarth falling off the stage in Frankfurt. Rothery's verdict on that was simple: he got off easily, finished the show singing from the photo pit, and used up one of his nine lives.

The Other Steve

Outside of Marillion, Rothery has finally landed a collaborative record with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. The Roaring Waves is a wordless, cinematic album with a nautical concept that came directly from Rothery's upbringing in Whitby. The first writing session between the two happened nine years ago. The bulk of it came together in a two-day jam at Marillion's Racket Club rehearsal space back in 2018. It has taken a while to reach the world.

For anyone who grew up on prog, the friendship between these two carries weight. Rothery showed Hackett around Whitby, the same town where a fifteen-year-old version of himself first heard Genesis Live and had his mind properly opened. [Steve Hackett's reach into the current prog scene goes wider than most people track](/uprise/music/steve-hackett-stars-in-brand-new-kompendium-video-for-lilly), and this record feels like a natural extension of that.

A second album between them is already being discussed. Rothery has ideas.

On Fish's retirement from touring in 2025, Rothery was measured and respectful: "It's a shame that the world lost such a remarkable poet and frontman." No score-settling. No drama.

Our Take

Six years or otherwise, Marillion are operating right now with more purpose than most bands half their age. A Pompeii filming, a new album incoming, a side project with genuine substance, and a frontman who falls off stages and keeps singing. We will take that over a farewell tour announcement any day. [The prog world is in a healthy place right now](/uprise/music/top-new-prog-from-lonely-robot-kompendium-giant-sky-and), and Marillion are still near the top of it.