|
Porcupine Tree w/ProjeKct Six October 8th, 2006 The State Theatre Falls Church, Virginia I was a relative late comer into the Porcupine Tree fan club, having not been properly introduced to the band until their 2002 breakthrough album In Absentia first invaded my stereo. That was the first album in a long while to really blow me away. Three years later Deadwing elevated the band to a new level of heaviness with such intense offerings as "Shallow", "Halo", and the title track, which left some fans of the band's lighter, Pink Floyd-inspired albums of the 90's a bit perplexed. The album grew on me more and more over time, revealing new wonders with each listen, and after seeing most of it performed live on last year's tour, the genius of the album was eventually fully revealed. Over the course of the last few years, Steve Wilson has been remastering most of Porcupine Tree's back catalog with stunning success. 1997's Signify was brilliantly remastered and re-released with a second disk full of demo tracks. 1999's Stupid Dream was recently re-released in a two-disk package that includes some powerful and pristine DTS 5.1 surround and high resolution, 24-bit stereo mixes. Even the regular stereo remix is one of the best sounding CDs I have ever heard. Now where the hell is Lightbulb Sun! During last year's show at the 9:30 club in Washington, D.C., Wilson announced that a couple of the follow on gigs were going to be taped for a live DVD. The Arriving Somewhere.... DVD was officially released on October 10th, and if it comes close to capturing the show that I attended, it should be a mindblower. When it comes to performing live, some bands are better left in the studio, others are good, and a handful are amazing. Porcupine Tree easily fall into the latter category - able to expertly reproduce their dense song arrangements, which can move fluidly between gentle, hypnotic soundscapes, and progressive metal assaults, without ever loosing any of the subtle nuances that make them so amazing. Porcupine Tree are currently in the middle of a short world tour that has already taken them through much of Europe, currently has them in the United States, and will eventually take them to Japan next month. The band is primarily out promoting the new DVD, but are also using this as an opportunity to showcase some brand new, still unrecorded songs, which are expected to make up most of their new album. And what a new album it is going to be my friends! This was my first visit to the State Theatre in Falls Church, and I am now cursing myself for taking so long to do so. This historic movie theater was completely renovated in 1990, and has been transformed into one of the premier live music venues in the Washington, D.C. area. The main floor is uniquely configured in a half seated, half-standing arrangement, with elevated table seating that surrounds a large open standing area directly in front of the stage. The upstairs balcony holds 200 original theater style seats, which provide an amazing view of the stage, and is where I chose to sit. For their six U.S. tour stops, Porcupine Tree invited Robert Fripp's King Crimson side project, called ProjeKct Six, to open for them. Last year it was a solo Fripp performing his synth-dominated Soundscapes material, which I just couldn't get into at all. It was kind of like listening to a sci-fi or horror film soundtrack for 40 minutes straight. ProjeKct Six features Fripp on guitar along with fellow Crimson-mate Adrian Belew on drums, and although I enjoyed this stuff a little bit more, it still sounded like one long unstructured jam with nothing particularly memorable to absorb. They did have their share of fans there this night, and received enthusiastic applause after each song, and especially at the end of their 45-minute set. At about 9:15 pm, Porcupine Tree took the stage and dived straight into the first of their new offerings - a very dark and heavy number that was propelled by a monstrous bass groove. Steve Wilson graciously thanked the crowd for indulging them in the opportunity to try out these new songs. The pleasure was ours Steve. The second song was a gorgeous ballad that featured Wilson on keyboards and had an almost "In The Light" (Led Zeppelin) feel at first, before the vocal harmonies and acoustic guitar took over to give it a distinct Blackfield-like sound. They performed a total of seven new songs, according to my count, alternating between ballads and very heavy rock tunes for the most part. The set was centered around a 17-minute epic, which Wilson jokingly referred to as "the long one". The song starts off slowly and continues to build into an explosive heavy metal assault, before eventually alternating between light and heavy passages for the remainder of the performance. I'm generally not the biggest fan of the 20-minute epics - it seems like Dream Theater needs to put one on every album now - but this stunner held my attention throughout. I can't wait to hear the finished product on the new album. None of the new songs were introduced or referred to by name, except for "the long one", so who knows what the new album will bring. Based on what I heard performed this night, the new album should continue in the heavier direction of Deadwing, but with an even darker and more industrial sound. Wilson said they would be back next spring, and I will be first in line to see these finished products performed live. The first set lasted for almost an hour and then Wilson announced that they would be taking a five-minute break. The second set was made up of songs that all appear on the new Arriving Somewhere.... DVD, with the exception of ".3". These songs were taken entirely from the Deadwing and In Absentia albums, except for the Lightbulb Sun b-side "Buying New Soul". This was a slight disappointment for me, especially since I have been jamming non-stop to that incredible new Stupid Dream remaster for the last two weeks. Couldn't Steve have thrown us an "Even Less" bone? Well, at least it is on the DVD. The sound mix at the State Theater was not nearly as impressive as the phenomenal mix I heard last year at the 9:30 Club, where every instrument shined through with the utmost clarity. The first couple of songs sounded especially muddy, but things improved somewhat throughout the course of the show. The mix also seemed remarkably loud for this type of venue, so maybe that played into the sound quality. Perhaps it was just the acoustics of this venue, or the fact that I was seated in the balcony, but since it was my first time there, I don't have anything to compare it to. The band kicked off the second set with "Open Car", which is how they opened last years concert. The heavy, chugging guitar chords that start the song make for a killer show opener before eventually falling into the gorgeous acoustic chorus led by Wilson and John Wesley's chill inducing vocal harmonies. Speaking of gorgeous acoustic guitar and stunning vocal harmonies, the next song, "The Sound Of Muzak" is the epitome of that description. What an amazing start. Halfway into the set it was time for Porcupine Tree's latest magnum opus, "Arriving Somewhere But Not Here" the 13-minute Deadwing masterpiece, which just like last year, was the absolute highlight of the show. This song has quickly become Porcupine Tree's very own "Comfortably Numb", "Yours Is No Disgrace", and "Silent Lucidity" all wrapped into one. After performing for over 90-minutes already, they closed out the second set with a somewhat hurried sounding version of "Trains", although the performance still captured all of the songs magnificence. The packed theater erupted in wild applause at the end of the set, and we all showed our appreciation with a standing ovation, which continued to build in intensity until the band came out for their encore about five minutes later. Another Deadwing standout track, "Halo", kicked off the encore and at this point the band really ramped up their video presentation. It had been rather subdued up until this point, when compared to last year's more visually stunning show. Porcupine Tree closed this killer show with their melodic-metal anthem "Blackest Eyes", the intense riff fueled number that kicks off the In Absentia album. It is an ideal choice to either open or close a Porcupine Tree show, and it was the perfect choice this night. After nearly two hours on stage, splitting the difference between some new, and really, really new stuff, it was made clear that the best is yet to come from Porcupine Tree. Thank god for the new DVD to hold me over until next spring. In the words of Steve Wilson just before leaving the stage that night, "see you again next year". Setlist |