I had an absolutely aweful week...
Up until last night. Wow. Now, I have seen a lot of concerts in my day, and Porcupine Tree was second only to The Mars Volta, and it's very close at that. And that really is saying something. I have never seen anyone shred so hard, but do it so casually. They're absolutely nuts. My only complaint is that Gavin Harrison's snare drum wasn't loud enough. But his toms were, and he did the most flabbergasting fills on them. I just can't say enough about this band. They played for us a song they wrote for the new CD, but they "don't believe in creating CDs longer than 60 minutes", so it didn't make it onto the CD, and it was the best song they played. And they only played two of the six songs I wanted to hear, but the other stuff was so good that it didn't matter.
The opening act was Robert Fripp. Yes, I know, it sounds awesome. "The guitarist from King Crimson? How could you go wrong?" Oh, you can go wrong. After he played we heard people behind us talking about him:
Guy #1: "Well, at least he was better than the last time I saw him. Last time he didn't have the slide show playing behind him."
Guy #3: "So he was just up there touching things?"
And that pretty much sums it up. He had this wierd box-like electronic thing (I'm sure it was a sampler or mixer or something) that he kept adjusting and a guitar. It was 45 minutes of crescendos done by synthesizers, violins, cellos (all from the electronic thing), and guitar. Ocassionally they would alternate between one of three different notes or add different instruments. The most interesting part was when he randomly stopped all the noises from the box and played crescendos on his guitar using a human choir as the voice. And all the while he played a slide show in the background of random pictures from throughout his life. Some pictures looked like he just edited himself in because he was wearing the same thing and didn't fit the mood. And some parts were really creepy because the music was wierd and there would be pictures of things like him sitting in and all white room that looked like a tank (of water... but without the water). I've seen really bad opening acts before, and this wasn't as BAD as Mission to Burma, but it was way more boring.
But Porcupine Tree was so fucking awesome it didn't matter.
But I guess the week wasn't all bad. I mean, there was hanging out with Vanessa, winning a drumset (although the guy might be screwing us), and having a fun Hebrew High class (I'm actually looking foward to the next one with Ave). But for the most part, it was painful.
The opening act was Robert Fripp. Yes, I know, it sounds awesome. "The guitarist from King Crimson? How could you go wrong?" Oh, you can go wrong. After he played we heard people behind us talking about him:
Guy #1: "Well, at least he was better than the last time I saw him. Last time he didn't have the slide show playing behind him."
Guy #3: "So he was just up there touching things?"
And that pretty much sums it up. He had this wierd box-like electronic thing (I'm sure it was a sampler or mixer or something) that he kept adjusting and a guitar. It was 45 minutes of crescendos done by synthesizers, violins, cellos (all from the electronic thing), and guitar. Ocassionally they would alternate between one of three different notes or add different instruments. The most interesting part was when he randomly stopped all the noises from the box and played crescendos on his guitar using a human choir as the voice. And all the while he played a slide show in the background of random pictures from throughout his life. Some pictures looked like he just edited himself in because he was wearing the same thing and didn't fit the mood. And some parts were really creepy because the music was wierd and there would be pictures of things like him sitting in and all white room that looked like a tank (of water... but without the water). I've seen really bad opening acts before, and this wasn't as BAD as Mission to Burma, but it was way more boring.
But Porcupine Tree was so fucking awesome it didn't matter.
But I guess the week wasn't all bad. I mean, there was hanging out with Vanessa, winning a drumset (although the guy might be screwing us), and having a fun Hebrew High class (I'm actually looking foward to the next one with Ave). But for the most part, it was painful.