just what i wanted for christmas: porcupine tree playing two gigs in finland - thank you santa (=ME; as i had to pay for my ticket myself… i must have been a naughty kid this year then. whatever!). :P
…oh yes, that means i got to hear gavin harrison play two nights in a row - oh, it’s even better than that: i got to hear gavin harrison play ‘hatesong’ two nights in a row = :) :) :)
hidria spacefolk opened - psychedelic/progressive instrumental rock.
you can check them out here, lots of tracks to stream for free:
http://www.hidriaspacefolk.st
but oh boy, what a spot to open for anyone… if the guys weren’t thrilled to pieces they’d have to be stupid hehe.
a five-song set, about 45 minutes:
symetria
radien
pajas
322
sine
pretty good stuff. i didn’t really know then before this, only by name. will surely go check them out again now, if i get a chance.
(a random note: i don’t remember it ever being that COLD in the ice hall before. not sure if by some weird chance i simply happened to be standing in the coldest spot in the hall or what, but i remember i was absolutely freezing between the sets. and i was not even wearing a t-shirt only or something so that was not it. anyway. it kept me awake during the sets - i always tend to have a tendency to get really sleepy before the main act, it happens in every concert i go to. so at least i didn’t have that “problem” now. :P)
i was right in the middle of the crowd, maybe two thirds from the stage between the stage and the mixing desk. very nice spot, very good view - yet some really babbly/drunk people decided to settle right next to me just minutes before the gig started… i hate babblers… so i decided to move a bit back and left as i saw some open space there. this turned out to be a good move since i didn’t have much people pushing right next to me there during the whole show. actually, some dancing guys kept the space open around me hahaha - thanks to them, whoever they were.
then, the intro tape starts…. and we’re in FOABP: “sunlight coming throught the haze…”
i really love this opening moment when you go to see a special kind of band for the very first time: the very few minutes in the start of the show when you’re slightly confused about everything and just going like “aaaa….. this is ittttttttt……whoooaaaa?”. well, i don’t know how to explain it, really. maybe i sound just plain namibian, for even trying to.
anyway.
john wesley’s set list - thanks to unclezoso for posing with his hands and letting me take a pic from the list he was lucky enough to grab! :D
during ‘what happens now?’ (i think):
too hard to pick ordinary kind of highlights from this concert as this was a very tight show throughout!
‘anesthetize’ - well, this one was to be well expected of course and i had high hopes to hear this live. full 17+ minutes… freaking marvellous. i think it was even better in tampere the next day (the smaller venue made it a bit more claustrophobic somehow, i think).
richard barbieri & steven wilson during ‘open car’:
‘open car’ - just a special song for me as this is the very first PT track i ever heard (the live version from köln in 2005 in particular) - and i’ll forever “blame” steve for that! ;)
‘hatesong’ - :) one of my favorite live PT tracks. now, i was secretly hoping to hear this but i never thought i’d be so lucky in reality as they haven’t played it much lately. so i thought it’s not a likely candidate out here either.
but blisss…… i could just listen to the rhythm section alone for hours! :D
’sleep together’ - i have to confess that i never got into the album version THAT much, but the live version was really mind blowing. this song was really towering over you, and the band on stage seemed almost threatening, in a strange kind of way.
+a weird experience of time passing: i very clearly remember thinking “wow, that was probably a good idea, that they shortened it a bit and cut of some of those extended instrumental parts that can be heard at the end of the album version” - but i was so surprised when i later realized that there really hadn’t been any such a difference but that live version was around 7:20 which is pretty much exactly the same as the album version (7:28).
this one surely files up under the special concert experiences.
steven wilson explaining something to us (or himself) during ’sleep together’: ”right index finger, left index finger, right…” ok, i think we get it! :P
(considering the time of year here, it reminds me of this finnish christmas carol: so tip tap everyone - and oh, let’s burn our prada traineeeeeerrrrrrs!! :-P)
‘waiting‘ - another nice surprise, as i thought they might not play older tracks here but might count on more recent stuff only (since that’s what has made them popular around here). anyway, this was sweet. :D
‘trains’ - ok i know people who’ve seen the band many times tend to complain about them still keep on playing ‘trains’. anyway, for us first-timers, it was a beautiful moment to have in this show. as melancholically uplifting as anything ever could be.
i suppose gavin had some problems with his drum set falling apart a bit during the show. ;) well, not exactly but at some point i remember i saw a drum tech climbing up on his set and fixing something for him. and some other point he broke one cymbal (well i don’t mean he split the cymbal itself or something (;P) but i think it somehow fell off and at some point he was standing behind his set with the cymbal placed on his head and taking bows to the audience. too bad i was too slow to take a pic of this, i didn’t have my camera ready.
what i really like about this band: the tightness of everything is almost alarming, the quality of playing, the sound. no fuss on stage, no unnecessary posing or faked concentration over the instruments either. and considering the stuff they pull on stage, one might be all willing and prepared to forgive them various little screw-ups and stuff like that, but in the end one doesn’t even have to because they practically give you no reason at all - everything just flows… all you have to do is to receive and enjoy.
as a musician/a former performing artist myself, i was extremely thrilled to watch/listen these guys live. because sometimes, even with excellent musicians sometimes you just know you couldn’t connect with this or that person - then with some other person everything just clicks immediately. it’s the same when you play with someone yourself and when you listen to someone playing - to put it in a slightly clumsy way, with some people it can be as effortless as breathing and with some other people (even when they were very talented ones!) like fighting against drowning.
i guess all i’m saying is that i very instantly, easily and strongly connect to the mindset of making music that i hear and perceive being in process there with PT. so it’s like being in a luxury ride where you can absolutely 110% trust your driver, with no need to hold your breath for any possible bumps in the road ahead.
SW: “first ever porcupine tree show in helsinki, how about that?
…took us fifteen year to get here… and i’m afraid as a consequence of this absence from finland, my finnish extends to one word - which you’ve already heard, so…
everyone here speaks english ok? i thought so - you’re so educated here…
so, obviously we have a lot of music which we’ve recorded over the last fifteen years and, so i apologize in advance if we do not play your favorite song tonight, we’ve only got two hours to play - but hey, we’ll be back.” ;)
hey no need to apologize - you played ‘hatesong’ for me. :) although well, i would have liked to hear ‘arriving somewhere’, ’sky moves sideways’ and ’slave called shiver’ but i think i can forgive you that…
but you can bet we’ll surely keep that last comment in mind here…! ;)
so many hands:
thank you guys! and please visit us soon again!
steven wilson and colin edwin:
more pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/slowdrowned/PorcupineTree20071215HelsinkiIceHall
this concert was moved due to extraordinary demand for tickets.
the original venue was supposed to be a lot smaller Kulttuuritalo. the original venue is still stated in my ticket but was already corrected in the promo posters (see below):
poster:
Hey, you grabbed a playlist. From the mixing desk? That’s where I’ve had the most success obtaining them.
no i didn’t grab it for myself. some guy did and i just asked if i can take a photo - that’s actually my common method: after the gig go towards the front and keep an eye on who gets a list from the roudies, then go and ask if you can take a photo. i’ve used this method for ages as pics are enought for me and i’ve no energy to fight over the originals with other fans - after all, they are just pieces of paper. :P
thanks for visiting the blog brian.
“the very few minutes in the start of the show when you’re slightly confused about everything and just going like “aaaa….. this is ittttttttt……whoooaaaa?â€Â. well, i don’t know how to explain it, really. maybe i sound just plain namibian, for even trying to.”
I know exactly what you mean there, I was going through the same thing! This was my first PT gig too. It was nice to read this, brings back a lot of memories that I’ve already forgotten :D