Porcupine Tree in NJ, 5-14-05

The only 2 from the band who showed up here were Steven Wilson and John Wesley. Now John Wesley just recently joined Porcupine Tree. Last time I saw him, he was the roadie for Marillion and performed as their warmup on their tours. I got to spend some time with both John and Steven after the signing, while Steven bought some cds from some obscure metal bands.. and John and I realized we had a friend in common.. so he called him we left a nice weird message together on his answering machine...

The show was actually great, even tho the club itself is somewhat small, the place was packed. They had 2 bands and a solo guy warming up for them, which none of us, including the band knew until we got there and when Steve Wilson found out he wasn't going on till 11pm, he said, we'll I guess I have time for a nap.

Unfortunately I had to stand thru all 3 warmups... but the second warmup band was pretty cool to watch on stage. They are called "Tunnel" and they are an instrumental band with the great Percy Jones, bassist from Brand X, who has played with everyone from Steve Hackett, Roy Harper and Brian Eno to David Sylvan and Suzanne Vega. Its a trio with bass, drums, and some Dutch guy on minivibes.. which was pretty interesting to watch. Not unlike a bit of King Crimson's stranger work... this was great to watch live, but doubt I could listen thru an entire cd.

When PT finally came out, they started with "The Sound of Muzak" from In Absentia. Since that is my favorite PT album... I was estatic. They ended up doing most all of Deadwing, Blackest Eyes from In Absentia, which is my favorite.. and She Moves On and Trains was the encore. Some of the other bands had horrible sound, but PT sounded really good, which couldn't be easy in the way the room is setup.

Steve plays on stage barefoot, he says he can get a better feel from his pedals.. and I gather he's in his 30s, but he's another guitarist who looks about 18 on stage. The drummer was excellent, had his drums miked very well, so that I could feel every bass drum beat in my chest. I've always like that. John Wesley did a great job on guitar and backing vocals. I think he makes a wonderful addition to the band. Steve has some really beautiful guitars.. I can't wait to get a picture of his acoustic.

Overall it was one of the best shows I've seen in a long while. If anyone can see them at Irving Plaza, or Philly next weekend, I recommend it. And they will be in Montreal tomorrow (Monday) night at La Tulipe.

Some pics from the signing:

Steve Wilson in the sunglasses, John Wesley with curls..
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140085.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140076.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140079.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140089.jpg

my favorite shot of Steven
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140064.jpg

me taking a picture of him, while he's taking a picture of me...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140087.jpg

Hey, look he's got the same camera I had stolen in England....hmmmm

Me trying to find out where he got that camera...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140091.jpg

Later at the Stone Pony, the keyboardist, Richard Barbieri.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v20/Pebble/Misc/Porcupine% 20Tree/P5140096.jpg

And for those of you who have always said that Steve Wilson is sort of dorky looking... actually he's quite adorable...

No actually the opening band for PT at Irving Plaza will be Jordan Rudess with the Rudess Morgenstein Project. 

Percy Jones was incredible Saturday night.  Some of the guys who run the NJ Proghouse were there and I said they should really look into booking those guys, they were awesome.

ooo Rudess and Morgenstein sounds good too, that Dixie Dregs show at BBKing's was quality to say the least.  It IS that Morgenstein right?  And wait, are Tunnel the same band who were at Nearfest about two-three years ago?  If it's the same band I had no idea Jones was in it...interesting. 

threefates nice review can't wait for friday night.

About how long did PT play for?

Hey, it's taylor(the 16 year old from the pt show last night) just though i would say great pictures once more, and thanks for being so nice last night! it was a great show, see you around.

threefates wrote: Unfortunately I had to stand thru all 3 warmups... but the second warmup band was pretty cool to watch on stage. They are called "Tunnel" and they are an instrumental band with the great Percy Jones, bassist from Brand X, who has played with everyone  Its a trio with bass, drums, and some Dutch guy on minivibes.. which was pretty interesting to watch. Not unlike a bit of King Crimson's stranger work... this was great to watch live, but doubt I could listen thru an entire cd.

Tunnels. Surprised they were playing second fiddle to PT, IMHO a much superior set of musicians. Personally I do not have a problem listening to whole Tunnels' album, Live: Art Of Living Dangerously is one for true jazz rock fans and a mite challenging, while the latest studio album Progressivity was one of the best in the genre the year of its release, and certainly more accessible. Marc Wagnon on midivibes, I think is the name you might have been the name you were searching for .

http://www.buckyballmusic.com/

for info and the source of some live Brand X recordings

Hey there. I saw Porcupine Tree the day before threefates saw them. Myself and three friends saw them at the 9:30 club in D.C. It was just PT playing, there was no warm up band because 9:30 is pretty small. They opend up with DEADWING and they were great. Steve Wilson did say that they were a little jetlagged so they were kinda tired but that did not stop them from having a great show. I was so excited, the crowd was cool as well and had a lot of energy.  Towards the end of the show I think they were playing BLACKEST EYES and Colin Edwin's bass strap did break so his bass started to slide down and did land on the floor.  One of the rodies came out to fix the strap, and while he was doing that Colin just kept on playing while his bass was on the floor. The show was good and the video images on the screen behind them game out smooth and clear.  My friends and I had a great time and that show I will remember always  

threefates wrote: When PT finally came out, they started with "The Sound of Muzak" from In Absentia. Since that is my favorite PT album... I was estatic. They ended up doing most all of Deadwing, Blackest Eyes from In Absentia, which is my favorite.. and She Moves On and Trains was the encore. Some of the other bands had horrible sound, but PT sounded really good, which couldn't be easy in the way the room is setup. Steve plays on stage barefoot, he says he can get a better feel from his pedals.. and I gather he's in his 30s, but he's another guitarist who looks about 18 on stage. The drummer was excellent, had his drums miked very well, so that I could feel every bass drum beat in my chest. I've always like that. John Wesley did a great job on guitar and backing vocals. I think he makes a wonderful addition to the band. Steve has some really beautiful guitars.. I can't wait to get a picture of his acoustic. Overall it was one of the best shows I've seen in a long while. If anyone can see them at Irving Plaza, or Philly next weekend, I recommend it. And they will be in Montreal tomorrow (Monday) night at La Tulipe.

I saw the show yesterday at Québec City (I missed the one at Montréal, for 18+ only...) and it really was like all you said! I agree on everything. Funny, they also made Shemovedon and Train as an 'encore'... It was also pretty fun to see Wilson trying to speak french a couple of time between two song.

On the pics, there's 'Je ne sais pas pourquoi' writen on his T-shirt... Heh.