As I mentioned last week, Omaha bought us tickets to Porcupine Tree at the Showbox last night.
Now, I've never been in the Showbox. I had no idea what to expect from the facility, nor did I have a real clue what to expect from the fans of Porcupine Tree. As it turned out, the audience was a complete mix, with kids as young as fourteen and fifteen all the way up to serious geezers whose first concerts involved Yes and Peter Gabriel's Genesis. There was even a rumor that Alan White of Yes was in the audience although I didn't see him.
Omaha and I took refuge in the bar-- it was less crowded than the center stage. I won't discuss the opening act here, but not for lack of desire. See the next post.
The Showbox speaker system is huge. Depending upon the frequency hit I felt more than heard some of the baselines all up an down my innards. By the end of the concert my hearing was seriously dulled (and today still feels a little weird although it's mostly recovered) and I felt like I'd been standing behind a 747 for three solid hours.
Porcupine Tree is a much harder band than it used to be. They were once a high-end psych-prog rock band, doing all kinds of nifty things and playing musically solid and lyrically intellectual songs in the vein of Pink Floyd and Yes. Last night they rocked like they wanted to be a heavy metal band, or maybe the last great grunge band. Steve Wilson was amazing naturally but so was his back-up guitarist, who isn't identified on the website dammit.
They had one technical glitch when the video player went out, so they played an instrumental piece that then dove into hard rock and loud metal grunge. They did that a lot: playing pieces like "Light Bulb Sun" and "Sever", pieces you don't think of as heavy, with so much volume, power and energy that it left my head spinning.
Omaha's only problem is that when the band went really loud they also broke out the fucking and she has to be aware of that because they might trigger an epileptic seziure. But she was good about keeping her hands over her eyes and the band gave cues.
The audience was fabu. Some kids tried to start a mosh pit but it fizzled, and one of the kids who was in the mosh pit lit up a spliff I could smell from fifteen feet away, but other than that it was a good time.
If I had one disappointment, it was that they didn't play any really old stuff: No "A Slave Called Shiver," or "Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled," or "Voyage 34: Phase I". A different crowd, maybe, would have found those pleasing. They're among my favorites. But I had a wonderful time rocking out to one of my favorite bands, and I think I might have a new love, too. More on that later.
Now, I've never been in the Showbox. I had no idea what to expect from the facility, nor did I have a real clue what to expect from the fans of Porcupine Tree. As it turned out, the audience was a complete mix, with kids as young as fourteen and fifteen all the way up to serious geezers whose first concerts involved Yes and Peter Gabriel's Genesis. There was even a rumor that Alan White of Yes was in the audience although I didn't see him.
Omaha and I took refuge in the bar-- it was less crowded than the center stage. I won't discuss the opening act here, but not for lack of desire. See the next post.
The Showbox speaker system is huge. Depending upon the frequency hit I felt more than heard some of the baselines all up an down my innards. By the end of the concert my hearing was seriously dulled (and today still feels a little weird although it's mostly recovered) and I felt like I'd been standing behind a 747 for three solid hours.
Porcupine Tree is a much harder band than it used to be. They were once a high-end psych-prog rock band, doing all kinds of nifty things and playing musically solid and lyrically intellectual songs in the vein of Pink Floyd and Yes. Last night they rocked like they wanted to be a heavy metal band, or maybe the last great grunge band. Steve Wilson was amazing naturally but so was his back-up guitarist, who isn't identified on the website dammit.
They had one technical glitch when the video player went out, so they played an instrumental piece that then dove into hard rock and loud metal grunge. They did that a lot: playing pieces like "Light Bulb Sun" and "Sever", pieces you don't think of as heavy, with so much volume, power and energy that it left my head spinning.
Omaha's only problem is that when the band went really loud they also broke out the fucking and she has to be aware of that because they might trigger an epileptic seziure. But she was good about keeping her hands over her eyes and the band gave cues.
The audience was fabu. Some kids tried to start a mosh pit but it fizzled, and one of the kids who was in the mosh pit lit up a spliff I could smell from fifteen feet away, but other than that it was a good time.
If I had one disappointment, it was that they didn't play any really old stuff: No "A Slave Called Shiver," or "Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled," or "Voyage 34: Phase I". A different crowd, maybe, would have found those pleasing. They're among my favorites. But I had a wonderful time rocking out to one of my favorite bands, and I think I might have a new love, too. More on that later.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}