Nokia Theater, NYC

October 6, 2006

 

A truly bizarre show.  Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew opened the show with something called ProjecKt Six, with Fripp on his ever-present Les Paul in front of a bank of electronics, and Belew on...electronic drum kit!  Although Fripp was his usual brilliant self (occasionally hitting upon some truly masterful guitar work), Belew was - there is no other way to say this - horrible.  He is barely even adequate on drums, and even less so on electronic drums.  I am not stretching at all to say that if all Fripp wanted was some relatively interesting beats to play to, I (and probably other drummers in the audience) could have done far better than Belew - not even knowing how the drums were set!  Belew only had two beats; one slowish, the other sort of Mastellato-like (and, boy, would the set have benefitted from Mastellato's presence!).  The effect of the set was as if Belew was simply "getting his rocks off" on the drums, while Fripp "tolerated" him and played along.  To say that the overall effect was embarrassing is being kind.  And apparently much of the audience felt the same way, as many, many people were talking about it in words that make mine look like a rave.  I cannot imagine what was on Fripp's mind when he agreed to this; he opened solo for PT last year, and he was superb.  He should have done the same, or done some double guitar work with Belew.  What a let-down!!

 

However, PT more than made up for it.  Not only did they go on early (!), they were truly at their best.  As others have noted in their reviews, that first set consisted entirely of songs that will be on the next PT album, due out in Spring 2007.  And based on what they played, the album is going to be a monster!  At least as good as, if not better than, Deadwing.  There is one extended piece (another reviewer says "20 minutes," but I clocked it at 14) which is absolutely amazing.  Wilson made a droll comment before starting: "This song is really hard for us to play.  (Pause).  A walk in the park for Dream Theater, but difficult for us."  It was a nice touch.  And the composition does have at least two sections that one could imagine in a DT piece, complete with odd and shifting time signatures, and super-heavy bass, drums and guitar.  Another piece (as another reviewer remarked) opened like Zep's "No Quarter," but then went into a very Beatle-esque chord progression and arrangement, reminiscent of the stuff on Magical Mystery Tour.  Yet another composition had a seriously Zep-ish guitar riff with Bonham-esque drumming.  All but one of the songs were as good as anything I have heard by the band.  It really increased my anticipation for the next album.

 

The second set consisted of stuff from Deadwing (including Open Car, and the always amazing Arriving Somewhere But Not Here), In Absentia and Signify.  It was largely the same set they played last year at Town Hall in NYC, but the sound at Nokia is far better, so the set came across even better than it did before.  They closed with an encore of Trains, Blackest Eyes and Lazarus.

 

As noted, the Nokia Theater has excellent sound, and the light show was tasteful and appropriate.  The only downer is that the front and middle sections have no seats, so unless you want to sit pretty far back, you have to stand through the whole show.  Somehow, it's harder to do that the more people there are (Nokia holds about 2,200).  I was lucky and snagged the end of a railing on which I was able to perch for periods of time; otherwise, I think I might not have enjoyed the show as much.

 

PT continues to write and play some of the best prog and quasi-prog out there.  And although one can hear their various influences - a wide array that includes Pink Floyd, Zep, Crimson, DT, Beatles et al - they are able to channel those influences into something interesting, enjoyable, and often even compelling.  They continue to amaze, and I continue to be a fan.

 

Peace.

I agree about Belew's drumming what was he thinking? Fripp's guitar sounds made up for it.

I really enjoyed the new material and thought it forced Porcupine Tree to show a mellower side to their live show.

 

Few shots before they took my batteries which were dead anyway

 

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^^ Great pictures.^^

 

I thought it was a exellent gig too. Tracks 2, 3, and 4 were my favorites, 'the beast' had to be my favorite though. I loved the intro to it just had this epic foreshadowing quality too it, and the super heavey middle instrumental peice, then mellow ending w/ the vocal hamonies to pull it all together - After It I was just in awe. Tracks 1, 5, 6 I couldn't really get into, although I'm not really good w/ new material so I have no right to complain.

 

Second set was excellent too the highlights for me were: Buying New Soul, Halo, TSOSB, 3. I thought ASBNH was slightly off, but still great. And what happened to Trains, did Steve break a sting or something.

 

I also bought a SD shirt priced ridiculously high at 35$(!!! ), and a size to big too. For some reason they only make larges. Nice shirt though a couple times through the wash and it will all be worth it.

They closed with an encore of Trains, Blackest Eyes and Lazarus.

I do believe you may be mistaken Maani,I dont remember them playing Lazarus...






admin edit...poster is being unecessarily obtuse,so I have amended post to show him how it can be done courteously.

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Nice Review, that line was long right. One gripe though.

 

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"Clearly, PT is becoming heavier and poppy, which is a big disappointment. Even at concerts, they don't like to play their old "psychodelic" songs such as those from the wonderful "Up The Downstair", "The Sky Moves Sideways" or "Signify" albums. I don't think the "prog" community is going to appreciate this new direction, aimed, I fear, at conquering the American mass culture market. Or maybe Steve is just fed up with all the comparisons to PINK FLOYD and he decided to stray from PF sound radically? Let's hope his excellent songwriting skills and musicanship will let him move on to yet another phase in PT development after he is sated with his successfull foray into the American market."

 

In my opinion the new stuff wasn't that poppy (Heavy though, probably on the same level as DW). I had to dig pretty deep to find a hook. And the reason I think they don't play stuff from there earlier years is because, they want to give the show a certain feel, and not a greatest hits set. And the show was to promote the new CD and the DVD so thats what they played.  Maybe when they're old and not pumping out CD's like they are now they'll play some of the older stuff.

 

 

 

Hey FC I could have swore I saw you. You were wearing a black DSOTM, 1973 tour hooded sweat shirt, and were up in the seated area right. I was gonna say hello, but I didn't want to make a fool of myself...

 

 

 

Nah that wasn't me haha! I was wearing an tye dye Animals Pink Floyd t-shirt and was standing about 6-10 feet from the stage in the middle. I was also the one screaming Radioactive Toy at the top of my lungs towards the end of the show

 

The encore was "Blackest Eye" followed by "Halo"

 

Yeah I thought the lighting was incredibly impressive for a small venue.

 

Anyway PT were great... and I got quite a few good shots even tho the security guard stood in front of me and right in front of Steve Wilson all night. I took photos between my fingers, under my arms... atleast my camera requires no flash, but I had to crop lots of dregs (from that security guard) out of my pictures...

 

The light show was only included in Boston and NYC.  They couldn't afford to keep it, so the Philly show wasn't as entertaining visually... but the sound was so much better, it didn't really matter. Even Fripp and Belew sounded better.. and Fripp actually smiled most of his time on stage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, I did forget to mention the wonderful lighting; as someone said, "especially for a small venue."  I also forgot to mention (as someone else did) the line outside - which was the most annoying part of the evening (though Belew's lousy electronic drumming came a very close second...LOL).

 

Sorry I don't know any of you (except threefates - hi there!) well enough to have recognized you.  And threefates: sorry I didn't see you either.  I was sitting on the railing of the staircase just to the right of the bassist.  Stayed there for most of the night.

 

Peace.

 

Being completely objective, I'd have to say that the new material was quite a bit more entertaining than the older material.  That said, the bass work on the new material was little more than a drop-dead bore.  The bassist's work on the older material was far better.

 

Crazy light show, tight crunchy odd time sigs.  Not too bad.  I'll probably pick up their forthcoming album.