Steven Wilson & Band, Paradiso, Amsterdam 25/10 and De Boerderij, Zoetermeer 30/10, NL -
Well, where's to begin. This is my first attempt to ever combine two concerts in one review. At least both of them by the same artist, heh.
Both shows being magnificent, but somehow, a mite different in the 'afterthoughts'-factor. So here we go - bear with me!
Steven Wilson, aka Mr. SW.
What more can be said about the guy that I've been following around for over more than a decade now, whose 'rise-and-shine' I've seen coming, been following him right from playing in little obscure holes-in-nowhere (Utrecht, Tivoli, back in 1995 or so, comes to sweet remembrance) to selling out even Amsterdam's Heineken Music Hall with his heralded Porcupine tree the past couple of times?
Even as much as I personally very much appreciated his latest releases with PT - Fear of A Blank Planet and The Incident, and you are welcome to check out my reviews on those albums at ProgAchives.com if you like - I well took notice of a certain level of 'grumbling' starting to appear among his fans (and of course, his 'haters' even more - do remember that whenever one has 'haters', you sure are doing something right! ;-)), even some folks claiming that 'Mr. S.W. was starting to lose it, he might well be in decline by now...', and somehow even as much as I happen to disagree on that... I just couldn't ignore those signs.
As for what was 'wrong' about those two PT-albums, rather hard to put a finger (or rather, an ear) on it, but if I may try to do so, some slight attempts of trying to convey the 'negative' emotions - on FOAB, perhaps too much hamming it up with industrial metal, and re: The Incident: it might well have been a bit too 'fragmentary' to really be able to appreciate it as the concept album that it was intended to be - quite a few gorgeous segments, the lovely 'I Drive The Hearse', 'The Séance', and most of all, 'Remember Me Lover' coming to mind specifically, but also, unfortunately - plenty of very promising attempts ending up being killed off prematuraly, if only to get on to the next idea just a mite too fast - ultimately bogging down the quality of the entire attempt.
Pretty hard to find the correct dose of genious, if so many fantastic ideas cross your mind, which was obviously the case with Mr. SW on these attempts - and not only these...
"I'm finding it hard, to hang from a Star"...
In my personal opinion, his "first" (I always have to laugh at this claim as any a genuine PT-fan knows all too well that his first PT-albums were entirely played, composed, and made up by the guy all alone all the same) solo-album Insurgentes suffered the same fate - a lot of great ideas, but somehow being stirred down a blind alley prematurely in a lot of cases.
And then, just a couple of weeks ago, there appeared Grace For Drowning, Mr. SW's so-called "second" solo attempt.
The official vid from "Track One" from Grace For Drowning
Of course, I immediately ordered it from the fantastic KScope Music label, only to find out that my dratted DVD player just refuses to play it!!!
(no idea as to what's wrong with that bloody thing but I guess it's high time to open up my computer and replace that DED DVD-player, meh).
As such I went to Mr. SW's concerts without having heard the entirity of his new album, just having checked out all of what's available on the net - which isn't too much as Mr. SW really actively hunts down any illegal uploading of his work, and you just cannot blame the guy for that. At least I think so. And here's another slight remark for that matter:
Should a musician request that you NOT take pictures/record his gig, why is it so bloody difficult to just *RESPECT* that request???
This aimed at all those so-called 'fans' who I still caught flashing their poxy camera's, IPhones and/or whatever multmedia garbage at him during his concerts. Shame on YOU!
So - here we go!
As usually, the ProgDork Squad - this time consisting of DeHuiz, Emilio and me - made sure we'd be around on time to catch our beloved spots up there on the first balcony of the venue, as close to the stage as is possible. And yep, once again, we succeeded pretty well at that. We. Are. EXPERIENCED!
We witnessed the stage being 'hidden' by some semi-see through curtain, on which Lasse Hoile's rather dark, bizarre, even 'disturbing', gothic-but-beautiful imagery was projected. Quite some way to enhance the expectations... it was obvious that we were about to witness a multimedia-concept in perfect surround sound that was, rather than just watching some bloke playing some solo songs, and the curtain, which was dropped after some four songs, truly added up to the already eerie atmosphere.
Coming in time has one rather nasty disadvantage too though.
In any of Mr. SW's concerts, you will find yourself having to endure some hours of listening to his Bass Communion, drones-drones-drones-'soundscapes', and however you might enjoy those yourself, our ProgDork Squad only found ourselves getting slightly annoyed after some time. Nice stuff, if you happen to suffer from insomnia, and are in desperate search of seeking a therapy for that, but sorry if I say so, that just wasn't our reason for coming, and yes I admit getting a mite annoyed at a certain point - I think it's fair to say that I wasn't the only one feeling like that, judging on the yellings of SPELEN!!! (translation: PLAY!!!) all around us.
Finally, far beyond the announced time of 8:30 PM... - 9:08, to be exact - the band entered the stage.
And what an entry it indeed was.
A soft, gentle start by drummer Marco Minnemann - who'd show himself being a fantastic, subtle very syncopathic drummer all along the show (I wasn't the only one to find some resemblances to the likes of Mrs. Gavin Harrison and Neil Peart, just to name a few top-notch drummers - followed by the entrance of bassist Nick Beggs, fluitist/saxophonist and occasional keyboard player Theo Travis, guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, keyboard player Adam Holzman, and of course, the Master Mr. SW himself.
And I will admit it - I was blown away, right from the beginning!
This was kind of ridiculous, really. A close to PERFECT band, performing all of the material in a truly immaculate manner.... the ProgDork Squad found themselves reaching for their *jaws* not merely dropping on the floor of the balcony, but even down there below, at plenty of times.
Truly, genuine, classic PROGROCK, right there before your very eyes and ears.
I swear - there were plenty of times where I'd just imagined closing my eyes, and hear Nick Beggs playing on his Rickenbacker 4001, dreaming that it indeed were Mr. Chris Squire (the ultimate "KING of the Rick"!), or whenever he played the Chapman Stick, thinking it was Mr. Tony Levin, right there on stage.
Aziz Ibrahim on guitar sounded like a crossover between Joe Satriani and Alan Holsworth - just google if you don't know these names - which would be a shame, btw, LOL!
Theo Travis on flute and saxophone truly revived that classic jazzy King Crimson/Van Der Graaf Generator-spirit all along the way.
Like I said - genuine, classic PROGROCK, like it ever was intended to be!
Not bad for that gentleman who once said that he didn't wanted to get connected with the ProgRock society, but who embraced him as such ever since about 1995 or such. Nice to know you've finally succumbed to our love, Mr. SW - and in such a glorious way!
Somewhere halfway the concert, the 'curtain' finally drops, and we get full sight of these fantastic musicians indeed playing their hearts out. The highlights keep on coming - my personal one being that lovely song "Deform To Form A Star", with more than just a slight classic King Crimson-semblance. Shivers-down-my-spine, not in the least because of Mr. SW's meek-but-fantastic vocals. GORGEOUS!
Fortunately Mr. SW doesn't forget his "first solo-attempt" either during this concert, so we are treated on great renditions of the lovely "Harmony Korine" as well as "Abandoner" just the same.
Mr. SW? As always, bare-footed, switching between his guitar and a very obscure keyboard which I suspect was something like a... harmonium. Awesome!
Well... what's more to say. This was just immaculate, even watching Steven appear wearing a gas mask at the encore didn't hurt. His mindset will never be 'carnavale', it's always bloody serious - well, until I went to his next concert in Zoetermeer that is, where he showed a lot more of his joyous side. Which was pretty good to see!
Not wanting to repeat myself all too much, so not going into the details of this particular showing again.
I went all *alone*, over tere, but as I knew from my earlier appearences alone at a progrock concert, there are always folks around just like you, not wanting to miss out on the occasion, and who make very pleasant company indeed. For this matter I ended up right in front on the balcony of De Boerderij (after having had quite some problems with Dutch railways to Zoetermeer, so I was 'late', but no probs apparently), talking to a younger adaptee who had only recently discovered Mr. SW, but who swore that he'd "never ever miss any of his concerts again!" - well that was pleasant, eh. Nice to meet you, Remco. :-)
The main difference between this concert and the afore described was... Mr. SW appearing as cheerful and joyous as I've never seen him before - I witnessed the guy actually dancing and jumping around, directing his band while doing so, obviously in awe of those truly fantastic musicians backing him up, and he actually acknowledged that in wordings to the crowd - quite remarkable for the ultimate shy nerd that he (still) is.
He expressed his joy about playing in this venue - which is rather small and intimate , even compared to Amsterdam's Paradiso - and I heard from the fellow fans around me that after Mr. SW heard that his Paradiso concert in fact *sold out* in less than two days, he felt that he was obliged to add another just one - and chose for the lovely venue that De Boerderij in fact IS. Good, GOOD choice, Mr. SW, do know that you've made many new fans this very evening.
The best quote of his... he said that he'd be playing London 'tomorrow', and after that, play the USA (*BE THERE OR BE SQUARE*, should you get the chance, my dear US readers), and philosophized for a moment on 'coming back over here' ... "if I manage to get this band together again, as they are so awesome, but very busy people...!"
So there's for this distant, dorky, aloof Mr. SW - in fact a rather shy, hugely talented, admirable guy. To really *know* him is to love him, folks.
Sorry for 'fangirling' for a bit, hahah
The setlist, as far as I can remember:
1.No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun
2.Index
3.Deform to Form a Star
4.Sectarian
5.Postcard
6.Remainder the Black Dog
7.Harmony Korine
8.Abandoner
9.Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye
10.No Part of Me
11.Veneno Para Las Hadas
12.Raider II
Encore:
13.Get All You Deserve (at Paradiso, Amsterdam, no encore in Zoetermeer, as far as I remember...)
Both shows being magnificent, but somehow, a mite different in the 'afterthoughts'-factor. So here we go - bear with me!
Steven Wilson, aka Mr. SW.
What more can be said about the guy that I've been following around for over more than a decade now, whose 'rise-and-shine' I've seen coming, been following him right from playing in little obscure holes-in-nowhere (Utrecht, Tivoli, back in 1995 or so, comes to sweet remembrance) to selling out even Amsterdam's Heineken Music Hall with his heralded Porcupine tree the past couple of times?
Even as much as I personally very much appreciated his latest releases with PT - Fear of A Blank Planet and The Incident, and you are welcome to check out my reviews on those albums at ProgAchives.com if you like - I well took notice of a certain level of 'grumbling' starting to appear among his fans (and of course, his 'haters' even more - do remember that whenever one has 'haters', you sure are doing something right! ;-)), even some folks claiming that 'Mr. S.W. was starting to lose it, he might well be in decline by now...', and somehow even as much as I happen to disagree on that... I just couldn't ignore those signs.
As for what was 'wrong' about those two PT-albums, rather hard to put a finger (or rather, an ear) on it, but if I may try to do so, some slight attempts of trying to convey the 'negative' emotions - on FOAB, perhaps too much hamming it up with industrial metal, and re: The Incident: it might well have been a bit too 'fragmentary' to really be able to appreciate it as the concept album that it was intended to be - quite a few gorgeous segments, the lovely 'I Drive The Hearse', 'The Séance', and most of all, 'Remember Me Lover' coming to mind specifically, but also, unfortunately - plenty of very promising attempts ending up being killed off prematuraly, if only to get on to the next idea just a mite too fast - ultimately bogging down the quality of the entire attempt.
Pretty hard to find the correct dose of genious, if so many fantastic ideas cross your mind, which was obviously the case with Mr. SW on these attempts - and not only these...
"I'm finding it hard, to hang from a Star"...
In my personal opinion, his "first" (I always have to laugh at this claim as any a genuine PT-fan knows all too well that his first PT-albums were entirely played, composed, and made up by the guy all alone all the same) solo-album Insurgentes suffered the same fate - a lot of great ideas, but somehow being stirred down a blind alley prematurely in a lot of cases.
And then, just a couple of weeks ago, there appeared Grace For Drowning, Mr. SW's so-called "second" solo attempt.
Click to viewThe official vid from "Track One" from Grace For Drowning
Of course, I immediately ordered it from the fantastic KScope Music label, only to find out that my dratted DVD player just refuses to play it!!!
(no idea as to what's wrong with that bloody thing but I guess it's high time to open up my computer and replace that DED DVD-player, meh).
As such I went to Mr. SW's concerts without having heard the entirity of his new album, just having checked out all of what's available on the net - which isn't too much as Mr. SW really actively hunts down any illegal uploading of his work, and you just cannot blame the guy for that. At least I think so. And here's another slight remark for that matter:
Should a musician request that you NOT take pictures/record his gig, why is it so bloody difficult to just *RESPECT* that request???
This aimed at all those so-called 'fans' who I still caught flashing their poxy camera's, IPhones and/or whatever multmedia garbage at him during his concerts. Shame on YOU!
So - here we go!
As usually, the ProgDork Squad - this time consisting of DeHuiz, Emilio and me - made sure we'd be around on time to catch our beloved spots up there on the first balcony of the venue, as close to the stage as is possible. And yep, once again, we succeeded pretty well at that. We. Are. EXPERIENCED!
We witnessed the stage being 'hidden' by some semi-see through curtain, on which Lasse Hoile's rather dark, bizarre, even 'disturbing', gothic-but-beautiful imagery was projected. Quite some way to enhance the expectations... it was obvious that we were about to witness a multimedia-concept in perfect surround sound that was, rather than just watching some bloke playing some solo songs, and the curtain, which was dropped after some four songs, truly added up to the already eerie atmosphere.
Coming in time has one rather nasty disadvantage too though.
In any of Mr. SW's concerts, you will find yourself having to endure some hours of listening to his Bass Communion, drones-drones-drones-'soundscapes', and however you might enjoy those yourself, our ProgDork Squad only found ourselves getting slightly annoyed after some time. Nice stuff, if you happen to suffer from insomnia, and are in desperate search of seeking a therapy for that, but sorry if I say so, that just wasn't our reason for coming, and yes I admit getting a mite annoyed at a certain point - I think it's fair to say that I wasn't the only one feeling like that, judging on the yellings of SPELEN!!! (translation: PLAY!!!) all around us.
Finally, far beyond the announced time of 8:30 PM... - 9:08, to be exact - the band entered the stage.
And what an entry it indeed was.
A soft, gentle start by drummer Marco Minnemann - who'd show himself being a fantastic, subtle very syncopathic drummer all along the show (I wasn't the only one to find some resemblances to the likes of Mrs. Gavin Harrison and Neil Peart, just to name a few top-notch drummers - followed by the entrance of bassist Nick Beggs, fluitist/saxophonist and occasional keyboard player Theo Travis, guitarist Aziz Ibrahim, keyboard player Adam Holzman, and of course, the Master Mr. SW himself.
And I will admit it - I was blown away, right from the beginning!
This was kind of ridiculous, really. A close to PERFECT band, performing all of the material in a truly immaculate manner.... the ProgDork Squad found themselves reaching for their *jaws* not merely dropping on the floor of the balcony, but even down there below, at plenty of times.
Truly, genuine, classic PROGROCK, right there before your very eyes and ears.
I swear - there were plenty of times where I'd just imagined closing my eyes, and hear Nick Beggs playing on his Rickenbacker 4001, dreaming that it indeed were Mr. Chris Squire (the ultimate "KING of the Rick"!), or whenever he played the Chapman Stick, thinking it was Mr. Tony Levin, right there on stage.
Aziz Ibrahim on guitar sounded like a crossover between Joe Satriani and Alan Holsworth - just google if you don't know these names - which would be a shame, btw, LOL!
Theo Travis on flute and saxophone truly revived that classic jazzy King Crimson/Van Der Graaf Generator-spirit all along the way.
Like I said - genuine, classic PROGROCK, like it ever was intended to be!
Not bad for that gentleman who once said that he didn't wanted to get connected with the ProgRock society, but who embraced him as such ever since about 1995 or such. Nice to know you've finally succumbed to our love, Mr. SW - and in such a glorious way!
Somewhere halfway the concert, the 'curtain' finally drops, and we get full sight of these fantastic musicians indeed playing their hearts out. The highlights keep on coming - my personal one being that lovely song "Deform To Form A Star", with more than just a slight classic King Crimson-semblance. Shivers-down-my-spine, not in the least because of Mr. SW's meek-but-fantastic vocals. GORGEOUS!
Fortunately Mr. SW doesn't forget his "first solo-attempt" either during this concert, so we are treated on great renditions of the lovely "Harmony Korine" as well as "Abandoner" just the same.
Mr. SW? As always, bare-footed, switching between his guitar and a very obscure keyboard which I suspect was something like a... harmonium. Awesome!
Well... what's more to say. This was just immaculate, even watching Steven appear wearing a gas mask at the encore didn't hurt. His mindset will never be 'carnavale', it's always bloody serious - well, until I went to his next concert in Zoetermeer that is, where he showed a lot more of his joyous side. Which was pretty good to see!
Not wanting to repeat myself all too much, so not going into the details of this particular showing again.
I went all *alone*, over tere, but as I knew from my earlier appearences alone at a progrock concert, there are always folks around just like you, not wanting to miss out on the occasion, and who make very pleasant company indeed. For this matter I ended up right in front on the balcony of De Boerderij (after having had quite some problems with Dutch railways to Zoetermeer, so I was 'late', but no probs apparently), talking to a younger adaptee who had only recently discovered Mr. SW, but who swore that he'd "never ever miss any of his concerts again!" - well that was pleasant, eh. Nice to meet you, Remco. :-)
The main difference between this concert and the afore described was... Mr. SW appearing as cheerful and joyous as I've never seen him before - I witnessed the guy actually dancing and jumping around, directing his band while doing so, obviously in awe of those truly fantastic musicians backing him up, and he actually acknowledged that in wordings to the crowd - quite remarkable for the ultimate shy nerd that he (still) is.
He expressed his joy about playing in this venue - which is rather small and intimate , even compared to Amsterdam's Paradiso - and I heard from the fellow fans around me that after Mr. SW heard that his Paradiso concert in fact *sold out* in less than two days, he felt that he was obliged to add another just one - and chose for the lovely venue that De Boerderij in fact IS. Good, GOOD choice, Mr. SW, do know that you've made many new fans this very evening.
The best quote of his... he said that he'd be playing London 'tomorrow', and after that, play the USA (*BE THERE OR BE SQUARE*, should you get the chance, my dear US readers), and philosophized for a moment on 'coming back over here' ... "if I manage to get this band together again, as they are so awesome, but very busy people...!"
So there's for this distant, dorky, aloof Mr. SW - in fact a rather shy, hugely talented, admirable guy. To really *know* him is to love him, folks.
Sorry for 'fangirling' for a bit, hahah
The setlist, as far as I can remember:
1.No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun
2.Index
3.Deform to Form a Star
4.Sectarian
5.Postcard
6.Remainder the Black Dog
7.Harmony Korine
8.Abandoner
9.Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye
10.No Part of Me
11.Veneno Para Las Hadas
12.Raider II
Encore:
13.Get All You Deserve (at Paradiso, Amsterdam, no encore in Zoetermeer, as far as I remember...)