porcupine tree - royal albert hall, 14 october 2010

Another one from the I wrote this years ago and did nothing with it pile...

 

Porcupine Tree at the Royal Albert Hall, 14 October 2010.

 

It was a bit of a rush to get to the Royal Albert Hall - what was up with the tubes last night?? Everywhere I went there were announcements like “The Central Line, the Bakerloo Line, the Piccadilly Line etc etc are suffering from signal problems and are experiencing long delays - Sorry for any inconvenience.” There was absolutely no trace of “sorry” in the tone, which just sounded like “tough luck folks”. London Transport!

 

Anyway, I got to Knightsbridge tube at 7.20, with the show scheduled to start at 7.30 and I’d forgotten quite what a trek it is from the station… A good ten minutes brisk walking, but I got in to the RAH and found my seat straight away. Good view, just slightly raised up. Interesting crowd – loads of Europeans. I was next to some Dutch teenagers – they knew every word of every song and cheered till they were hoarse. It was so great to see such enthusiasm. Behind me were a group of Italians. No idea if they’d come specially for this show, but I wouldn’t have been surprised. The show turned out to be basically the same as the celebration gig in New York a couple of weeks ago, but no complaints from me as it had a spectacular set list. *

 

At 7.40 the band strolled on stage and they were their own support act, playing a sort of acoustic set. Richard Barbieri had a small keyboard and a Mac set up, Gavin Harrison played a little drum kit, Colin Edwin had a stand up double bass, Steven Wilson mainly sat on a stool with an acoustic guitar leaving any electric solos in this part of the show to second guitarist John Wesley.

 

They opened with the quite Pink Floyd-y “Stranger By The Minute” – nice harmonies in this one, followed by early rarity “Small Fish” (which, apart from the New York show a couple of weeks ago, had never been played live before). Popular choice “Pure Narcotic” was followed by The Incident’s “Black Dahlia” and then the surprise choice of “Futile” – surprising as it’s one of PT’s heaviest ever songs and so, as SW laughed, the obvious candidate for a semi acoustic arrangement in the august classical setting of the Royal Albert Hall. 

 

There was a short break while the equipment was re-arranged and then the opening notes of “Even Less” began to ring out. For about 5 minutes that string intro was looped until the lights went down and Wilson hit the guitar. The place went nuts! Everyone on the floor stood up, but being slightly raised up I didn’t have to and was able to enjoy the show from the comfort of my seat (how very rock ‘n’ roll huh?). “Even Less” turned out to be the full 15 minute epic version, which was a phenomenal opener. The sound in the RAH was excellent, loud (very loud at times) but not painful and no ringing in my ears after. Strange really as some of the songs were really pounding but I didn’t hear that ‘humming of 1,000 fridges’ afterwards. Well done the guys on the soundboard (which was just in front of me and looked horrendously complicated!). Two Deadwing songs followed with the beautiful “Lazarus” being one of my highlights. We all sang along.

 

Then we dropped back to 1995 with two from The Sky Moves Sideways. “Dislocated Day” was superb, but it was the title track that totally blew me away. Just amazing. Nearly 20 minutes long but I could have listened all night. Really good lighting too. A couple of screens were utilised on the newer songs with some rather spooky films, but mainly it was just spotlights twirling all over the place and frequently playing over the audience. Judging from the reaction “TSMS” was many people’s favourite too. The applause at the end was just enormous. The very severe looking man the other side of me (not the side with the Dutch kids) turned to me at this point and said in a very Germanic accent “Zat was my favourite song. It wass very fine.” I enthusiastically agreed with him but he didn’t say another word the rest of the night – though he did do lots of head nodding and occasional air drumming.

 

The band calmed things down afterwards with the final track from The Incident and ended the first set with the deeply odd “Bonnie The Cat” with it’s equally strange video flashing above the stage. 

 

There was a ten minute break which really was just ten minutes – a countdown clock counted down (well it would, obviously) on the screens and much fun was to be had cheering each passing minute, and of course we all joined in with the final ten seconds. 

 

The second half of the show opened with the first few songs from The Incident. That Very Loud intro, was indeed Very Loud, but as I said before, not distorted, not muddy, but clear as a bell. Gavin Harrison’s drumming was astonishing, especially on these songs. How he can hit so many things, so precisely, so quickly is nothing short of miraculous.

 

The video screens showed all sorts of images during these tracks including some fantastic swirly tunnel effects during “Blind House” that would make a great Doctor Who title sequence!

 

It was sometime around now that Steven Wilson brought a photographer on stage and got us all to raise an open hand to recreate the cover of The Incident 3,000 times over. Photos were taken because the show was being recorded (yes!) ** and the images will be used when it’s released. The photos should have been taken by regular PT sleeve designer and video maker Lasse Hoile (who had come over from Denmark both to attend the show, and exhibit some of his work at a special exhibition elsewhere in the Albert Hall – arriving so close to show time meant I missed that). But no-one could find Lasse when they wanted to take the photos. Whilst a substitute photographer did the honours someone told SW that Lasse was actually in the loo which SW, laughing, relayed to us all!

 

1999’s “Tinto Brass” followed which was great fun, full of bouncy energy, then a lovely “Time Flies” which was again accompanied by its video.

 

Then probably my personal favourite of the night – the middle section of “Anesthetize” which PT have been playing as a song in its own right, now dubbed “The Pills I’m Taking”. Another amazing reaction to this one from the crowd, so I’m not alone in favouring it. Brilliantly performed, really pounding at times, but still clear as a bell.

 

The main set ended with oldie “Up The Downstair” which got some of the oldies in the audience bopping to it’s trancey vibe and then “Sleep Together” from Fear Of A Blank Planet. Not one of my favourites, but it was much better in person than on record and works very well as set closer. 

 

Another short break and they were back for an epic encore of “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here” which was another of my favourites and a song (along with “Lazarus”) that really got me into PT when I first heard it, so it was wonderful to see / hear it live.

 

Lots of thanks, to all the crew, managers, lighting people etc etc, and Gavin Harrison stood up and performed a little magic trick (pushing a handkerchief into his clenched fist, opening his fist and hey presto it was gone!). Quite why he did this I have no idea but it was a funny moment. And finally into “Trains”, a favourite gig closer of PT. Another pause during the song as SW thanked the band and various roadies stuck their heads up and waved (Harrison’s drum tech waved the little yellow hanky that Gavin had made ‘vanish’, which got a laugh) and with one final triumphant chorus of “Trains” that was it. Thunderous applause as the band took their bows, with the shy Barbieri getting massive cheers as he tentatively waved to us all. It was 11pm, with just a couple of short breaks that made 3 hours of music! Fantastic value for money! 

 

The band are fascinating to watch – Colin Edwin looks like he’s in his own world, quietly smiling to himself whilst playing some superb bass. Barbieri has a faint mad professor air about him, hovering over various keyboards and computers. Harrison plays amazing drums quite effortlessly and John Wesley, whilst not an ‘official’ member of the band has now been a vital part of the live line-up since 2002 and SW simply couldn’t manage without Wes’s superb harmonies and surprising amount of electric guitar – lots of stuff that I’d have thought Wilson would play was taken by Wes. Steven Wilson, with his glasses and floppy hair looks remarkably like comedian Ed Byrne, and wanders all the stage in his bare feet whilst playing great guitar and smiling at everyone when his face can be seen under his hair. He was clearly in awe of the RAH mentioning a couple of times that the band first played “The Sky Moves Sideways” in clubs to audiences of no more than a couple of hundred. And now look!!! 3,000 people!!! The Royal Albert Hall!!! He actually seemed quite choked up. And he waved to his Mum. What an all round nice bloke. (And he got her a set list from Cliff Richard’s concert the day before – she’s a big Cliff fan apparently – and yes, in answer to the question we weren’t all thinking, Cliff had played “Devil Woman”. Good job SW told us that…) 

 

There was a definite impression that this was a celebration of all things PT and also something of an end of an era. SW said quite a few times that they’d been on the road for nearly 13 months and were looking forward to time off. It’s clear that there will be no PT record next year. But they’ll be back. ***

Opening set –

Stranger By The Minute
Small Fish

Pure Narcotic
Black Dahlia
Futile

Set 1 - 

Even Less
Open Car
Lazarus
Dislocated Day
The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase I)
I Drive the Hearse
Bonnie The Cat

Set 2 - 
The Incident –

  Occam's Razor
  The Blind House
  Great Expectations
  Kneel And Disconnect
  Drawing The Line
Tinto Brass
Time Flies
Anesthetize Part II (The Pills I'm Taking)
Up The Downstair
Sleep Together

 

Encore –

Arriving Somewhere But Not Here

Trains

 

 

 

* Radio City Music Hall, 24 September 2010.

** three tracks were used on the live album Octane Twisted, but sadly the whole RAH show has never been issued.

*** sadly, six years on, this gig remains, to date, the last Porcupine Tree show.

king crimson - hackney empire 08 september 2015

King Crimson has been around, in some form or another, on and off, since 1969.

But never quite like this.

The new, seven man, line-up of Crimson is fronted by three drummers. And I mean fronted. Right across the stage, with the remaining four musicians ranged across a riser behind the formidable percussion sets. Robert Fripp, the guitarist who claims not to be the leader of King Crimson (the band is still, it seems, merely 'a way of doing things') is nonetheless the only musician to have been a member of every Crim formation.

The rest of the current band is:

Mel Collins on saxophones and flutes (previously a member of King Crimson between 1970 and 1972).

Tony Levin on basses, stick and vocals (previously a member of King Crimson at various times since 1981).

Jakko Jakszyk on guitar and vocals (and occasional flute). Never been in Crimson before but has worked extensively with Robert Fripp and fronted the 21st Century Schizoid Band which was made up of King Crimson alumni (including Mel Collins) and which played much of the KC 1969-74 repertoire when the actual Crimson was not doing so.

Pat Mastelotto, Bill Rieflin and Gavin Harrison on drums and percussion. Pat has been a member of KC since 1994, Gavin since 2008 and Bill (who also plays digital mellotron) has worked extensively with Fripp for many years.

Introductions out of the way. What about the performance?

In a word - magnificent.

But I can't just leave it at that. I just can't. 

The show began, promptly, just after 7.30. Lights down, the various Crims took to the stage after an amusing 'please don't take photos' announcement, and the lengthy percussion intro to "Lark's Tongues In Aspic (part one)" started, almost imperceptibly. Gradually the tinkling noises got louder, the insistent rhythm of the piece more urgent, and the whole thing got louder. Much louder. In the ornate and historic Hackney Empire King Crimson seemed determined to shake the foundations loose. But although the gig was loud, the sound was brilliantly mixed. You'd think that the frontline of drums would utterly overpower the rest of the music. I can't speak for the front row of the stalls, but up on the front row of the balcony the sound was superb and somehow the drums were, impressively, an integral but not dominant part of the mix.

The songs simply flew by. Mixing relatively recent Crimson pieces like "The ConstruKction Of Light" (a complex guitar duet over baffling rhythms) with tracks like "Epitaph" (absolutely spellbindingly beautiful, drenched in mellotron strings, a soaring vocal from Jakko, and not performed live since 1969) this truly was a career spanning set. Virtually all previous Crimson line-ups have all but ignored preceding incarnations - not any more. The Adrian Belew era songs seem to have been dropped (Fripp has indicated that he's more than happy for Belew to carry on performing these with his Power Trio or with the Crimson ProjeKct, a sort of modern Crim offshoot / tribute band with Belew, Levin, Mastelotto and Markus Reuter), but instrumentals from that period remain, and Mel Collins plays saxophone where Belew's vocal lines would have been on "The ConstruKction Of Light".

But mainly it's the 1969 - 74 repertoire that has been re-invigorated by this new band. Songs like "Easy Money" and "The Letter" simultaneously remain scrupulously faithful to their 1970s studio versions, whilst also sounding totally fresh new and extremely modern. I'm not entirely sure how this is possible, but somehow that's what happens. Instrumentals such as "The Talking Drum" are frighteningly fearsome, the sheer power of the band pushing the intensity of the piece to new levels. "The Sailor's Tale" remains a live highpoint - just as it was in 1971/72 when it was last performed. The mix of threatening guitars and percussion giving way to Fripp's astonishing slashing solo before the 'tron fires up again for the home straight. It's a bit of a shame that an actual mellotron doesn't grace the stage, but I imagine that Rieflin's digital version is about a billion times more reliable than the notoriously temperamental real thing.

In amongst the oldies were a number of brand new pieces, the first new Crimson material in over a decade. And, gratifyingly, all these pieces held their own when slotted in next to a propulsive "VROOOM" or epic "Epitaph". Some of the new tracks were percussion workouts, but a couple had vocals - "Meltdown" and "Suitable Grounds For The Blues" - and were grinding, werning tracks, perfectly Crimson.  

For me though, the concert really blew the roof off towards the end. "21st Century Schizoid Man" was always going to be a monster, but this version was incendiary, complete with a frantic Gavin Harrison solo - how does he manage to hit so many things, so quickly and with such astonishing precision? It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, I was captivated by the maelstrom of music blasting from that stage. I genuinely thought that nothing could top this, but then King Crimson played "Starless".

"Starless" is an acknowledged classic, arguably the greatest song in the Crim repertoire, but until last week it had never ever been played live in the UK. Beginning gently, beautifully, with a lovely vocal over a calming mellotron / guitar duet, the song deceptively draws you in. Fripp's pure guitar tones are just magical. After the initial sung part the song dissolves into an complex guitar motif over Levin's superb bass - Jakko began this, before somehow Fripp took it over without anyone noticing... This part ratcheted up the tension to almost unbearable levels, before the band seemingly explodes all over the place, Mel's sax going nuts, Fripp, sitting calmly as ever, but playing some incredibly powerful slashing chords. The percussionists were again quite stunning. The initial melody eventually reasserts itself but this time full of such power and fury. It's an awesome track, and this was probably the best I've ever heard it (and I've heard, literally, dozens of versions of "Starless" thanks to Fripp's meticulous issuing of the Crimson archives). This was simply amazing. I've never experienced music quite like it.

After that the encores could only be a slight anti-climax - but only very slightly as the encore was the storming 1 2 of "The Talking Drum" into "Larks Tongues In Aspic (part two)" followed by a majestic "Court Of The Crimson King". This seemed like such a perfect song to end on that it's a surprise that tonight was the first time it actually closed the show.  

All in all, it was an 11/10 gig, surpassing my expectations by quite some margin. I'd read lots of good things about this new version of King Crimson, and I'd seen the set lists so far performed, but I still wasn't prepared for the sonic experience. There was no banter, no Hello London, not even a thank you, actually. The band simply let the music do the talking. The sound was superb, extremely clear, loud, powerful with loads of dynamics and space - this must have taken some doing considering the sheer amount of music that was actually being played. Just balancing the percussionists must have been a nightmare, but the sound was excellent. I especially liked the way the three drummers complemented each other - one would begin, another would continue and the third would complete the run, as if it was all one six handed drummer. The precision and attention to detail was amazing. The sheer amount of things they had to hit was mind boggling. 

From the balcony we had a wonderful view of everything that was happening on the stage. The lighting was simple, just clear white lights on the band for the whole gig, except for a moody deep red that descended over the musicians during "Starless". But we didn't need a lightshow, it would only have distracted from the skillful musicianship on show - there was so much of that to see anyway. 

Enough rambling. I hope that this isn't the last time I get to see the King, but I suspect it might be. Revisiting all periods of Crimson is so uncharacteristically crowd pleasing of the contrary old goat that is Robert Fripp that I can't help thinking it's perhaps the last hurrah for this band. If it is, what a way to bow out. If it isn't, and I really hope it isn't, then I'm definitely on for the next time!