Porcupine Tree With Big Elf

Porcupine Tree With Big Elf
Date: 09/19/09
Place: Club Nokia, Los Angeles CA
Review By ~Aniruddh (Andrew) Bansal

The show started at 8 o clock with Big Elf. I had seen them open for Dream Theater recently and I liked their show that time. They didn't disappoint this time either, putting on a really good show and warming up the audience for the Porcupine Tree set. This band fits the bill very well with the big names in progressive rock. The vocalist/keyboard player Damon Fox was his usual self. He was introducing subtle humor in between songs too. Stuff like 'this is the 10th anniversary of my 30th birthday'. They closed their set at 8.45. Performance wise the band does well and have good stage presence for a prog rock band. Sometimes bands of this genre are too passive on stage and fail to capture the crowd's undivided attention. Big Elf have got a pretty good thing going. I would love to see them headline a show sometime with other younger prog rock acts. Damon also mentioned that they will be leaving for the Progressive Nation Europe tour with Opeth and Dream Theater. Talk about an unbeatable line-up! I wish them all the best in their endeavors.

Porcupine Tree hit the stage among loud cheers at 9.25. Steven Wilson announced that they are going to play the show in two parts, first one being the entire first disc of the new album The Incident and the second part with the older stuff. Part 1 kicked off with Occam's Razor followed by the dark and silent The Blind House. Then came the beautifully composed Great Expectations. Steven Wilson displayed his abilities on the acoustic guitar as well as the piano on the next song Kneel and Disconnect.

Drawing The Line was played next. When I was writing the album review a couple of days back, I didn't think too highly of this song. But after having heard and seen it live, I've definitely changed my opinion! The song brought energy to the stage and to the audience, and the easy lyrics made it a good sing along even for those who didn't know the words. A good live song! The title song The Incident was accompanied by some interesting images on the giant screen. The music in the studio version is mostly synthesized but the band was able to recreate the exact same song on stage too. Your Unpleasant Family and one of the instrumentals Yellow Windows of The Evening Train were played to some more thought provoking visuals.

The best song of part 1 Time Flies was played next. Steven was great on the acoustic and the vocals. I had imagined this song to be a great live song when I heard it first, and it was even better than what I thought it would be! Eleven and a half minutes of pure genius. The remaining songs on the album were played in order too. I enjoyed Circle Of Manias a lot. There was a funny moment just before Steven started singing the last song I Drive The Hearse, when his guitar wasn't even plugged in. He stopped singing and said 'hey this is not working!' After that was fixed, they played the song and it ended part 1 of the show.

Part 2 started after a 10 minute break with Start of Something Beautiful followed by a song off the In Absentia album called The Sound Of Muzak. The crowd seemed delighted to hear some of the older stuff being played. I loved those two songs, as well as the next one Strip The Soul. It led into the next song .3. It was nice to see so much In Absentia stuff being played as its definitely one of their best albums! The middle part of one of the most amazing Porcupine Tree songs Anesthetize came next. It was time for some awesome head banging fun! Then Steven thanked the crowd once again for coming out and making the show a sell-out. Then he announced the name of the next song, Lazarus from the Deadwing album. They ended the main set with Bonnie the Cat.

They came back out for the encore and played two really great songs Way Out of Here and Trains. The band put on a really good show. The visuals on the screen were fitting to the music at all times. The lights also went well with the theme of their songs. I didn't really like the crowd though. I saw some people leave during the piano solos and the slow progressive parts to get beer etc. That clearly meant that they weren't really into the music that much. This does happen more at prog rock shows though. Thanks to part 2 of the show, I could hear a few shouts! I'm sure the crowd will get more into their shows as time goes by and the new album becomes more familiar among the people.

Steven Wilson and his band deserves credit for recreating the songs exactly like the studio versions in a flawlessly solid performance. The acoustic guitar portions were very delightful and its something that I don't really get to see by too many other rock/metal bands. The electric guitar and piano performances were good too. Every member of the band did their part. Porcupine Tree take a bow!

Here's the full setlist in order:

1. Occam's Razor
2. The Blind House
3. Great Expectations
4. Kneel and Disconnect
5. Drawing the Line
6. The Incident
7. Your Unpleasant Family
8. The Yellow Windows of the Evening Train
9. Time Flies
10. Degree of Zero Liberty
11. Octane Twisted
12. The Seance
13. Circle of Manias
14. I Drive the Hearse
15. The Start of Something Beautiful
16. The Sound of Muzak
17. Strip the Soul / .3
18. Anesthetize (middle section only)
19. Lazarus
20. Bonnie the Cat
21. Way out of Here
22. Trains