I left work early on Thursday and scrambled to clean out my car in preparation for a trip to Chicago's Park West to see Porcupine Tree. Any hopes of arriving earlyish and either catching up with fellow fans at a nearby restaurant or finding a spot close to the stage were dashed by traffic. It was stop-and-go from Des Plaines to about Lawrence Avenue on the Kennedy. But we eventually arrived and were $20 poorer after finding parking nearby.
We ambled into the Park West and found the merchandise stand to be mobbed. Making our way into the theatre, we stood by the mixing desk to survey the territory in search of a seat. This was rather difficult as the opening band, Three, was in the middle of their set. An usher noticed Mel's cane and immediately leapt into action. A few minutes later we were shown our way to a table and almost immediately approached by a server. Our late arrival meant that I'd not be able to find my customary spot standing a short distance from Steve Wilson and Colin Edwin but I had more company. Besides, there really isn't anywhere in the Park West that could be considered to have a bad view of the stage. The show was a sell-out and, since first seeing them in 2002, the audience had gotten a bit younger and there were many more women in attendance this time around. And not just girlfriends or wives who were being dragged along by a significant other in appeasement. The band's latest album, Fear of a Blank Planet, debuted at #59 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart and the tour has been selling out. The Tree are no longer strictly the province of dorky older white men who can tell tales of seeing King Crimson back when Jamie Muir manically roamed the stage clad in furs.
The Park West has some of the best sound of any venue you care to name. Every instrument was clear and discernible as were the vocals. Plus the bass made our seats rumble. The Tree played the new album in its entirety and are one of the few bands to included more than one, much less any, non-LP songs into their set. That a b-side was an encore was even more extraordinary. Here's the setlist:
Fear of a Blank Planet
Lightbulb Sun
My Ashes
Anesthetize
Open Car
Gravity Eyelids
Drown with Me
Sentimental
Blackest Eyes
Half Light
Sever
Way Out of Here
Sleep Together
Encore:
Even Less
Mother and Child Divided
Halo
There were many highlights that night. The new album translated to the live scenario well. Very well indeed. The title track had the advantage of opening the show but it's a great song with a propulsive beat. I'm beginning to like "My Ashes" more and more with each listen. Although a slower song, the chorus is catchy and guest guitarist/singer John Wesley's vocals were strong. Being 17+ minutes long, "Anesthetize" obviously appeals to the prog head in me but it was a PT classic even last fall when it was previewed on a short tour. The way the drama builds throughout the first several minutes of the song is amazing. First there's the drum-heavy opening and after a few minutes, the drum pattern starts along with that sharp, chugging guitar riff. At this point Wilson joined Richard Barbieri on keys and the tension just builds and builds. Then the heavy guitars jump in and the next section starts. It didn't take long to see that Wilson was really fired up as he moved around the stage and banged his head. The tension continued to build and I knew it was coming. I felt all giddy inside awaiting the super-fast death metal bit. The hair on my neck stood up as all the instruments went silent and then all hell broke loose. Fucking classic! When the song wound down and the quiet reprieve began, the crowd let out a huge cheer. Aside from his good looks which have enchanted Mel, Gavin Harrison's drumming here was fantastic and deserves special mention. There's nary a snare drum for the first three minutes so he was up there pounding away on the toms. Fans tend to think of him as having given more oomph to the band's sound but here he really proves his mettle with a more melodic style in addition to his heavy work on the bass drum.
Also from the new album, "Sleep Together" was tremendous live. It is a bit odd to hear the vitriol that Wilson puts into his singing. Even on In Absentia with its loose theme of looking into the minds of killers, he never sang with such force. But when he sang "Let's sleep together right now", he put a lot of emphasis on the last two words. And the song isn't nearly as fast as others in the set yet he almost seemed to thrash about most intensely on this song.
Some older material that hadn't seen the light of day in a while was also played. "Lightbulb Sun" was a nice treat as I've heard precious few songs from that album live. It sat well next to "My Ashes" for a relatively quiet interlude between "Fear of a Blank Planet" and "Anesthetize". "Gravity Eyelids", on of my faves from In Absentia returned as well. A natural fit for the set with its heavy riffing in the latter half of the song, I must admit that I love the opening with its waves of that Mellotron chorus sound that just descend upon and engulf you. "Drown With Me" is a leftover from In Absentia and has found new life by being added to the setlist for the first time. Wilson remarked that it was a song that they couldn't keep in the closet any longer. I'm not sure who keeps clamoring for it, but its breezy chorus made for a nice interlude between heavier songs. The Dulcinea got all fired up for "Blackest Eyes" as she always does. Seeing her getting into a groove, I felt a sense of pride for having molded a sweet, innocent thing like her into something that resembles a prog dork. The transformation is not yet complete because I'm not quite sure how to slip the likes of Magma and Henry Cow into her musical diet without adversely affecting our relationship but I'm working on it.
The Deadwing leftover "Half Light" made an appearance. It's a slow, more psychedelic piece that resembles the band's very early work and it vied for the closing spot on Deadwing with "Glass Arm Shattering" which won out. That it contrasts with all the heavy guitars of most of the rest of the set proved to be to its advantage. While some folks no doubt went to the bathroom at this point, I gave it my full attention and it's a much better song than I remembered. It also served as a nice, mellow prelude to "Sever" which I was absolutely thrilled to hear. The song is from Signify, ostensibly the group's last "psychedelic" album and the one that got me into the band back in 1997. The guitars roared instead of buzzed as they did back in the day and Harrison's extra muscle gave the song a little extra tweaking so that it didn't seem the least bit out of place alongside the newer material with its barrage of power chords. Instead of just marching along slowly, it stomped across everything in its path. Though I have to admit that I missed the spoken word samples that litter the studio version.
With the new album being played in its entirety and some older songs being given new life, I must say that I was greatly impressed with the setlist. And it was nice that the epics from Deadwing were given a rest. Many thanks to the usher who accommodated us with a table. He recognized me on the way out and I thanked him profusely. Only another two weeks until seeing them again next month in Milwaukee.
Oh! Before I forget, I must gleefully report that Dogger bought a t-shirt for Regan, his daughter who is 3. She is being molded into a prog lover at the earliest of ages. Apparently the first song she ever danced to was "Sever"...
One intrepid fan managed to grab some video at the concert and has posted a couple clips at YouTube.
"Drown With Me"
"Sentimental"
No comments:
Post a Comment