The official Prog Archives Porcupine Tree Thread!

^Excellent Progkidjoel. I can imagine switching from piano to guitar is not an easy thing to do, both very different instruments. I started out learning the Bass, but without being in a band, it is almost impossible to keep an interest, you absolutley need someone playing along with you.

Regarding Steven's darker vocals on Sleep Together, Anesthetize etc on the new DVD... I'm pretty sure it's a microphone effect, could be wrong but that's what it sounds like to me.

Edited by Palliams - June 14 2010 at 06:45

I saw PT at the Download Festival here in the UK yesterday.

I'm really glad they played Stars Die when I saw them live a few months ago, still wish it was on the DVD though.

Kashmir75 wrote: It's official: this could very well be the best concert DVD (not to mention the greatest packaging and presentation) I have ever seen. The photo book is just lovely. Incredibly high quality snaps that are nearly as good (though not quite) as being there in the front row in person. Some of the pics seem to be from the Incident tour, rather than the Tour of a Blank Planet (i remember Steve wearing that t shirt with the screaming baby with 'LULU' written underneath, on their recent Aussie tour), but they're so lush, it really doesn't bother me. It almost makes up for me not being alive in the vinyl gatefold artwork days, having this extraordinarily well-thought-out packaging. PT give you the whole package. Not just the amazing music (that itself is worth the asking price alone), but the superlative visuals, and the stunning artwork, too. The concert itself is pretty much flawless. Exquisite performances of many of my favourite PT songs, including Dark Matter, Sever, .3, Normal, Drown With Me, the list goes on and on. The setlist was perfect (although there's so much fantastic material in their catalogue that they could have played just about anything from their discography and I'd be happy), with the only disappointment being the omission of Stars Die .  Even some songs which I didnt count as faves beforehand (Sleep Together, for one) sound so brilliant on this DVD. Wilson sings with a much more aggressive tone on this track than he does in the studio, and it really suits it. The harmonies between Wilson and Wesley are of course amazing. I loved John Wesley's version of the My Ashes chorus. Beautiful. I got goosebumps. And Half Light. Oh, Half Light. I had to hold back tears at that one.  Amazing DVD, and even better than Arriving Somewhere (itself a near flawless live DVD). Unfortunately, I have not watched the Bluray version yet (just the DVD on my laptop). I'll have to bung it into my PS3 and check that baby out. Superb.

the shirt actually says "LULL", it's a experimental/ambient project by original Napalm Death drummer Mick Harris.

i also agree about the concert, fantastic from the start to the end. fear of a  blank planet is very good live, and the older songs are perfect. the concert is great, but the real star for me here is lasse hoile. the photos in the book (that recently went for 300 euros on ebay) and the concert film are some of the best i've ever seen.

dark matter and sever are highlights for me, but sleep of no dreaming was a small dissapointment. it's not just as good as the coma divine version, good here too though. half-light sounds much more like a no-man song than a pt one to me but it's incredibly beautiful. strip the soul is energic and good but dot three isn't just as good as the studio version, even though it's good here too.

when i first heard that the film woud be filmed at 2 nights i though that there would be cuts and stuff between the songs, ruining the continuum, wich would not be something i'd excpect from steven wilson. however the film is edited so that it seems like single continous gig and that's a large plus.

some of the (imo) boring (only by porcupine tree standards that is) studio tracks actually turned out to be great live songs, eg halo and wedding nails.

songs performed but not included: blackest eyes, open car, stars die, trains. i can see why they didn't include these songs but i'd still love to see updated versions of them. well, you can't have everything.

5 stars from me though. at least 9/10.

Yeah, the Veneno Para Las Hadas one is pretty odd. Not sure if it was purposefully made to sound like TSMS, although both are great tracks.

Also, the lyrics from Wake As Gun I and Wake As Gun II later reappear as some of the lyrics for 'Pure Narcotic', although that one makes more sense as the Wake As Gun tracks are demos.

^Yes. Some others are the riff from Trains reappearing in Sentimental. And Venero Para Las Hadas (or however you spell it) from Insurgentes sounds a bit like The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1, er, part one (The Colour of Air)

I was just listening to the full version of Even Less on the PT website. It's so much better than the edited version that made it to Stupid Dream (as much as I adore that album). Now I have the Recordings version of Buying New Soul playing as I type this. I really can't wait to get the Recordings CD when it gets reissued this year. It's one of the few (legit) PT things I don't have. 

I'm a reasonably big fan of Porcupine Tree, been listening to them for a couple of years now. I have Fear Of A Blank Planet, Stupid Dream, the We Lost The Skyline live album and a digital version of Love, Death And Mussolini (Only 10 physical copies were made)

Of those, I like Stupid Dream the most and my 2 equally favourite songs from the band are Piano Lessons and Out.

My only letdowns in the entire set were minor issues. One of these being the 'outro' of Strip The Soul being lost. I love that ultra heavy part at the end. I love .3 as well, though, so can't complain too much. The other was the lack of Gavin's final drum fill at the end of Sleep Together. Other moments were so perfect, though. Dark Matter, what more can be said? That solo was otherworldly. And the way Half Light segued straight into Sever... amazing. Overall, a five star DVD.