Porcupine Tree are back, announcing a tour and a new album. When that news hit us over a year ago I was excited. After all Porcupine Tree was always a guarantee for class and in the end I did not see them playing live that often. To set the ballpark here's my history with the band. I heard of them very early and even tipped friends to not miss them at Vlietpop 1994, when I was at Roskilde. The first album I bought was either Coma Divine or the Sky Moves Sideways. Then my personal best phase of their career started with Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun and In Absentia. Hereafter they turned slowly a bit heavier but I had other bands to cover that corner. Even so, all albums remained very good. By this time the band also got more popular and their shows would sell out. Now I was travelling unpredictably for work those days, which made me stop buying tickets way in advance. Result I missed out on their later tours. Maybe their last show I attended was the Ligtbulb Sun tour at Bospop 2001. So yes I wanted to see Porcupine Tree live on stage once more. As a final reference I did a ranking on Porcupine Tree as well last year (the only rankings that do matter and help you to be properly introduced to a band) My top three was at the time 1. Stupid Dream 2. The Sky Moves Sideways 3. In Absentia
So when 7 November came I was pleased to go to Amsterdam's Ziggo Dome for the very first time. After all which bands that I love can fill a hall this size? Porcupine Tree can and in a way that is weird. They could not so before they went on hiatus. Steven Wilson mentioned this fact and I guess he counts his blessings that the band got cult and grew bigger in absentia. Already at entering the Ziggo Dome I bumped into the first ProgPower regulars, who turned out to be in by large numbers this evening. So my smalltalks before the show and at the break were covered. Now while waiting the Ziggo Dome slowly got busier and I found in the end it all being a bit too much. Not that with my height I have sight issues of the stage, but walking around freely was impossible and during both sets I saw a fainted person being dragged out. I realized again why I like small venues so much better.
In the end I was here for the music, so what about that? Starting with a positive the band had asked to not film or photograph anything during the show. Being the law abiding citizen myself the picture above shows what I shot. Interested in pictures? go buy yourself the DVD that was shot this evening. I noticed it was a relief to see a band opening a set, without the annoying lights of hundreds of telephones filming. Pity I did not take lots of pictures as the stage and movies were astonishing throughout. The band itself was in topform as well. I forgot the names of the new band members, but they did a fine job and the old trio were as if they never stopped playing together. So yes I do understand the general comments on how awesome this show was throughout the tour and Porcupine Tree are defintely back at their peak.
But I can't stop here as I am from The Hague the capitol of complaining. The setlist was (very) disappointing to me. I do understand that when you play for 3 hours your latest album of 48 minutes will be fully included. Problem is that it holds some songs that are just not all that good. For me Harridan, Dignity and Herd Culling were valuable additions to the live set, with great movies to accompany them. The other four songs not so much and Walk the Plank on CD is bad, live it did not get much better with all the electronics. The only thing to do during that song really was watching and listening to Gavin Harrison on drums, a joy in itself as what a beast/machine he is. The remainder of the set was basically build around In Absentia and Fear of a Blank Planet. my number 3 and 4 of the already mentioned ranking, but there is more to the band than those two albums. When Steven Wilson at a certain moment said that they would play a really old song as they came for years to Holland I was hoping for a Dislocated Day or Radioactive Toy for instance. They played Last chance from Lightbulb Sun. On a discography of now 11 albums, your sixth album is not very old Mr. Wilson. So the psychedelic years were fully snubbed and my beloved Stupid Dream only had Evenless played. Well at least that meant they played their best song ever. A further note was that when the mood went up by a heavier song a ballad like calm song would always follow. Best example hear was Fear of a Blank Planet, which was amazing. Why not make it a run of four upbeat songs in a row?
So maybe it seems I was disappointed in the evening, which I was not. Fact is that I would have loved it when Porcupine Tree would have done an Opeth, meaning playing at least one song of all your albums. Now being back after so many years they ignored a large chunk of their own discography which I love too. Well that is for next time and if in Ziggo Dome again I take a seat said the old man.
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