Porcupine Tree

Has anyone on the board ever seen this band live?

I have an opportunity to do so, in November, but will have to act on this chance promptly.

They never come to Austin, alas. I love this band dearly and am dying to see them play.

I've watched the Arriving Somewhere concert DVD many, many times and dig it even if it's art-directed within an inch of its life.

I say go. I'm jealous.

Okay, one favorable recommendation, from a trusted source. Good.

Next question: what would be a good "gateway" album? Thanks.

I'd say In Absentia. I've given that album hundreds of listens and always found new things in it. It's melodic, noisy, heavily textured and pretty much everything good about the band rolled up into one neat little package.

Others will likely argue for Fear of a Blank Planet, which is a concept album and their bestselling release. Personally, it took me a while to wrap my head around it - I'd say start with In Absentia, see what you think.

I'll be seeing them at The Warfield in S.F. on 9/18.

Rub it in, why dontcha!

Nah, it's my fault for living in a midlevel market in a state not considered important except for heavy metal bands - and even then it's mainly San Antonio.

Michael Toland wrote:

> Rub it in, why dontcha!
>
> Nah, it's my fault for living in a midlevel market in a state
> not considered important except for heavy metal bands - and
> even then it's mainly San Antonio.

Do note that the concert in San Francisco is 500 miles away from me here in San Diego. Unfortunately, San Diego doesn't host much top flight talent or cutting edge music. For that one needs to visit Los Angeles or San Francisco.

It's little things like this that make me miss my home in the Oakland hills. *sigh*

I love music that defies classification...Porcupine Tree's output fits the bill.

They're not swinging through Atlanta, either.

Thought I break in here. I was lucky to see Porcupine Tree Live twice last week. Wednesday at the Roseland in Portland and Friday at the Warfield in San Francisco. The Roseland was intimate. I was 15 feet from the stage on the balcony edge. The Warfield is bigger but with better sound. The majority of the setlist was mainly from their just released CD “The Incident”. PT is a world class live act and the title 55 minute song from the CD comes off well live.

I found PT through Rush. Rush has been promoting the band and as you know Alex Lifeson played on “Anesthetize”. Neil Peart is good friends with John Wesley, PT’s touring guitarist. Neil goes motorcycle riding with John and his wife (story on Neil’s website).

The recently signed with a new label so hopefully the management starts getting them more gigs in the states. They still play to 1500+ ventues so see them now.

Last comment; the age range of the fans at the shows was dynamic. Old progs (male and female) with kids in tow and school kids who got into “Fear of a Blank Planet”.

John Foxx did the artwork for at least one of their album covers, so that's cool, too.

I think the best albums to start with are Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun. They started moving in a heavier direction with In Absentia and subsequent albums. I still like these more recent albums, but not as much as the ones mentioned above.

I think In Absentia is, on a pure songwriting level, the best collection of songs they've put out. Yeah, they started incorporating metal influences, but not any more prominently than the psychedelia, prog, pop, folk, etc. Though you're right about the subsequent releases - the metal has become more upfront as they draw more and more of an audience from that world. Though to call them a progressive metal band, as some critics have started doing, is to deny their many quieter moments and their overt melodicism.

Why yes, I have been contemplating doing a PT entry for TP. Contemplaing, mind you - not committing. I'm pretty obsessive, but even I can't keep up with all of Steven Wilson's damned side projects.

> I'm pretty obsessive, but even I can't keep up with all of Steven Wilson's damned side
> projects.

Don't let that slow you down, Michael. Write comprehensively about what you can, and if there are albums you can't get to, just provide as many facts as you can about them.

When I wrote my Caesars review, I included a section on the side project Teddybears. But I sure wasn't about to shell out import prices to get all the Teddybears' CDs. So I just provided reviewed the most recent album (which collected tracks from the preceding two, anyway) and provided the facts that I had gleaned about the others.

It doesn't help that I have no interest in ambient music, so his Bass Communion project is simply out of my area.

If I do it (and I have a couple of other entries I need to do first), I'll follow your lead and just cover the main act's albums, the more notable side projects (Blackfield, his solo album) and just list the rest.

Where does this leave No-Man? I assume they would require a separate entry, especially since PT was originally a side project for them. I don't have that many of their albums in any case.

Thanks to all who provided advice and counsel. It's on. Just got the tickets.

Please report back after you see 'em. I've seen the video and read reviews, but I want to hear someone's firsthand account so that I may live vicariously through you.

I picked up two of PT's discs yesterday: In Absentia (which was in the used bin for $6) and The Incident (which was on sale in the New Releases rack, for $10).

You're right, Michael, In Absentia is fantastic!

One of my main concert buddies has a few of their other albums, which I'll borrow this weekend.

I'm really stoked about this show. Nile, please report back from the Warfield gig!

Jesus, a 55 minute song ?! I never heard this band but this thread was piquing my interest until I read that. Even Beeth kept them shorter than that!

Delvin wrote:

> I'm really stoked about this show. Nile, please report back
> from the Warfield gig!

Sorry for the delay...my travel laptop has been troublesome and I've been staying up to 5 am most nights trying to cram too much in to my trip.

As Gattaca wrote the first half of the concert was the entire 55 minute first CD of their new “The Incident” release. The musicianship was good, but I'm not in love with this album and can't get very excited over the tunes. It wanted to tell me a story that didn't really seem that interesting to me, and the music wasn't blowing me away like the tunes on their earlier albums. Going into the intermission I was feeling underwhelmed and wanting something more engaging. The group took a break and said they'd be back in 10 minutes, during which a digital countdown timer accurate to a millisecond (!) was projected onto the screen, and sure enough, they were back in exactly 10 minutes. First time I'd ever seen that!

The second half of the concert consisted of a mix of songs off their earlier albums. I found them much more exciting...the crowd also seemed to react more to them then the earlier new material. There was a greater range of dynamics in the older material, more virtuosic musicianship, and it was just catchier. And drummer Gavin Harrison is frighteningly good, a wall of rhythmic impact as sharp and precise as the gears in a Swiss chronometer. Standing 15 feet from the stage it was one hell of a massage.



Post Edited (09-23-09 05:45)

That was SUPPOSED to be "Swiss Chronometer," not "switch cronometer"...that's what I get for writing after 3am.

FIXED.

i thought you meant "bitch barometer"

The concert last night was terrific. The band followed the same format that Nile described above: a set devoted to The Incident start to finish, and a set of songs from earlier albums (leaning most heavily on Fear of a Blank Planet), separated by a ten-minute intermission with a digital countdown on the screen. As the countdown reached the last ten seconds, the audience began counting down, just like it was New Year's Eve ... and right as it hit zero, the band was back. I guess if you're going to put a timer on yourself in front of a capacity crowd, you'd better be prepared to live up to it.

The visuals during the first set had a bleak, creepy quality, like shots from a really stylish horror movie without much of a plot (think Blair Witch Project). The second set's visuals reminded me a lot of Tool's early videos, like "Sober" and "Prison Sex," with the really creepy stop-motion animation.

The opening act was The Stickmen, a trio of Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto and Michael Bernier. Both Levin and Bernier played Chapman Sticks. The group played a pretty tight set, including two King Crimson songs and a rendition of Stravinsky's "Firebird." In addition to his drums, Mastelotto pulled a lot of "effects" out of his trick bag onstage — everything from tympani mallets, to running a violin bow along the cymbals, to sleigh bells, to duck calls and dog squeaky toys! These guys clearly don't take themselves too seriously. (No Status Quo cover, though; I guess that would've been too obvious.)

Glad it was good! Hope they come to Austin someday. I keep hoping they get booked at SXSW or the ACL Festival.

Mastelotto lives here in Austin. I saw him recently with a singer named Chrysta Bell. He didn't play all the stuff you mention (in fact, they had an extra percussionist who did all that), but he did have a laptop by his kit and was triggering samples and sequences while still playing the drums and leading the band. He's an amazing musician.

Actually, it's a 55-minute suite, consisting of 14 songs.

> i thought you meant "bitch barometer"

And lo, another band name is born.

Listened to the new PT today on LaLa. Pretty good, though their albums seem to be getting less and less diverse to my ears.

They do seem to have found a formula they want to stick to, doesn't it? I like the formula, but on this record I did start to wish they'd break out of the mold they seem to have created for themselves.