Return of The Tree

As weekends go, this past one was pretty mellow overall but fun. I got some nice pictures taken of the garden-in-progress, spent some time with The Dulcinea, and I got to see Porcupine Tree!

I did some cleaning and errand running Saturday morning and hit the road for Milwaukee in the afternoon. I left a bit early as work is being doneon the Marquette interchange and wasn't sure if I'd have to take an alternate route or not. Traffic from the Brewer game was minimal and the interchange proved to be no obstacle at all. After parking near Shank Hall, I wandered over to The Nomad where I was to meetup with some folks from the PT Forum. Walking past Shank, a middle-aged gentleman wearing a Nearfest t-shirt approached me and asked if I had any spare tickets. I didn't but told him that I was going to meet up at a tavern and that I'd ask around there. I got to The Nomad a bit earlier than our scheduled meeting time so I settled in with a Sprecher Amber as I put my geekiness on full display with my PT shirt that I picked up the last time the band were there, in 2002. A guy in his mid-20s approached me a short while later. He too was here for the show and had driven up from Schaumburg, Illinois. We chatted a while before he returned to his compatriots who were seated at a table behind me. A few minutes later, a beautiful blonde tapped me on the shoulder and asked, "Excuse me, but what is Porcupine Tree? There are a bunch of people outside with their shirts on." I explained to her that they were a band and that they'd be playing at Shank that night. She kind of gave me this glazed-over look as if she were expecting me to say more. She thanked me and went to her seat and I headed outside to find my fellow fans.

I was hoping to meet Victor, another fan from Madison (by way of England), as we'd traded a few emails and I had a copy of the Dream Theater show from Madison last fall for him. Unfortunately, he wasn't around. Instead there were several other fans seated outside. I met Leo, who had driven up from Dallas. Steve and another guy whose name I forget, who drove up from Kankakee, IL. Plus the guy in the Nearfest shirt was there as well. He, his son, and a friend came down from Minneapolis for the show. However, none of them had tickets, the show was sold out, and it seemed like there were no spares available. After a while, another guy from the forum appeared wearing his King Crimson t-shirt. He had 2 tickets available as the couple that he and his girlfriend were to go with had to bail. This left 1 ticket to be found. We sat around and chatted over beers. These guys were all in their 50s, excepting the one guy's son, so I heard tales of concerts past. The guy from Minneapolis recalled seeing Jethro Tull perform A Passion Play here in Madison back in 1973. (That would be 3 September.) Everyone left before 6:30 to get a place in line and to look for another ticket. I followed them a short time later as I had to finish my beer.

I ended up in line in front of two guys in their early 20s who had come down from Stevens Point. We chatted about The Tree and prog in general as well as Revenge of the Sith. Go figure.

The doors opened at 7 and I made my way over to the table towards the the front of stage right where Leo and the gang were seated. Much to my dismay, it was a no smoking show. But I survived anyway. We BSd for a while and I purchased a t-shirt. (So if you see a guy with a black short-sleeved Porcupine Tree shirt, it's probably me.) We shot the shit and Leo & I had our last smoke before local boys, Kopecky, warmed us up.

I'd read about Kopecky in a prog magazine but had never heard their music so it was a treat to be able to see them live. The band is comprised of 3 brothers who play drums, guitar, and bass/keys. While there are many musicians (and fans alike) that take progressive rock too seriously, the boys in Kopecky were not among them. While their music is not simple pop/dance kinda stuff, they were smiling and having a good time on stage. The guitarist had a vague Jack Black thing going on. A little histrionics and a lot of smiling. He'd wail on his tremelo and then look over at the bassist with a big grin plastered on his mug. Then he'd go into a run of arpeggios with these great orgasm looks on his face. Like David Gilmour but better. As for their music, it was all instrumental and the closest reference I can think of is "YYZ" by Rush but a bit heavier. The bass player did a bit of Les Claypool slapping as well so there were Primus-esque moments too. In the middle of one song, they came to a complete stop and a guy near me yelled something out. The guitarist looked at him and they played the last few bars again before looking at the guy - who didn't yell a second time. Everyone laughed and they continued. There was one song that had thing weird drum line to it - kinda reminded me of "A Saucerful of Secrets" by Pink Floyd - which was really good. Overall, I really enjoyed their short set. Too many young progsters who open for bigger bands are too serious. "I'm now going to perform a 20-minute instrumental on my Chapman stick about chapter 4 of The Silmarillion." But Kopecky just seemed to be having a great time. Maybe it's because they're laid-back Midwesterners, I dunno, but you could tell they were just thrilled to be onstage. After their set, I got another drink and headed outside for a square. I met Kopecky's bass player and shook his hand saying that it was a great set. John Wesley walked by us from the tour bus and we all bid him a good evening. (He plays second guitar for The Tree live.) Finally, showtime neared.

The lights went down around 9:15 and a song left off of Deadwing, "Revanant", started. I really hope they release it as it sounded awesome. After a couple minutes, the band took the stage and the keyboard intro to "Deadwing" began. After a several bars of it, the band kicked in. And it was loud. Very fucking loud. I was a few feet from stage right in front of the PA. When Gavin Harrison kicked his bass drum, my clothes fluttered. The surreal images were flashed on the screen at the back of the stage and everyone freaked out. The crowd was packed in tight up front but I managed to shake my booty. The dual Wilson-Wesley guitar attack was awesome! There's a part in the middle with the keyboard loop that opens the song, which is like the keyboard part in "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who, in the fore. Some moody guitar effects and then some thundering drums. It is here that we get a super-disjointed guitar solo. It was done on the album by Adrian Belew so you know it's not your garden variety solo. Then the main riff is recapitulated with a Mellotron string sound in the background - this part of the song just sounds forboding. Like something evil is descending upon you. It was loud and it was intense and it sent shivers up and down my spine. I could feel my scalp tingling. That's rock'n'roll!

They followed with "Sound of Muzak" which sounded great and I sang along the whole time. "Arrving Somewhere But Not Here" will be a PT classic in time. It's epic in that it's 12 minutes long. The first half builds up this tension which is finally released with this just pounding section. Harrison beat the living shit out of his drums while Wesley and Wilson played as fast and as loudly as they could. Almost twice as fast as the album version. Plus Richard Barbieri threw in some great organ. There were a couple surprises for us too. Instead of "A Smart Kid", we got "Stop Swimming" and instead of "Shallow", the track their label gave to radio, they played "Strip the Soul", which was killer. Another highlight was "Hatesong". Just as Wilson was about to tear into the solo, he broke a string. Once he got a new guitar, he went crazy apeshit bonkers! I mean, he let it rip.

Here's the setlist:

Deadwing
Sound of Muzak
Lazarus
Halo
Stop Swimming
Hatesong
Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
Fadeaway
Strip the Soul
Mellotron Scratch
Blackest Eyes
Even Less

E:
Shesmovedon
Trains

After one song, someone yelled out, "Nice one!" Steve Wilson asked, "Who said 'Nice one'? That what English people say. You Americas are supposed to say 'Awesome, dude!'" Turns out it was Victor. Wilson also mentioned that they would be returning to the States in October so we all have something to look forward to come autumn. Leaving the hall, my ears were ringing loudly. I noticed that when I spoke, my voice sounded like Donald Duck to me, which made me chuckle.

I love Shank Hall. With a capacity of about 300, it's nice and intimate. The sound guy did a great job as all the instruments were clear and up in the mix. Aside from the new songs, I got to hear 5 songs that they didn't play their last time in town, in 2002. Plus the crowd was different. Sure, there were a lot of middle aged guys who have been listening to progressive rock since 1970, but there were many more younger folk, including several womyn. It seems like the band have been making headway with the kids. If they get even more popular, I hope that they'll still be able to play smaller venues as I'd hate to have to see them at some huge football stadium where I'd be stuck with a nosebleed seat. Maybe they can at least get popular enough that they'd be able to make a stop here in Madtown. For the moment, though, I'm just looking forward to their return in October.