Location: Vienna / Gasometer / Austria
Date: Sunday, 23 Oct. 2022
The Gasometer concert hall in Vienna was bursting at the seams on the second-to-last Sunday in October, packed with fans of the iconic English progressive rock band Porcupine Tree. The reigning kings of modern progressive rock hadn’t played Vienna in twelve years — ever since they seemingly called it quits and their multi-talented frontman Steven Wilson, best known to most as the founding vocalist and guitarist, devoted himself to a long stretch of solo work. After more than a decade away, they came back this year with the new album »Closure/Continuation« (RockLine review), which was rightly given a warm reception by most fans, and announced a new concert tour.
Given that this could very well be a farewell tour, interest in their Vienna show was extraordinary — enough to draw more than a few Slovenian fans of experimental, often intellectually-charged and atmospherically deep, if frequently intensely melancholic and dark music all the way to Austria. Even though Steven hates comparisons with other bands and until recently rejected the ‘progressive rock’ label for Porcupine Tree’s music, many fans love drawing parallels with the legendary Pink Floyd — and it’s easy to see why, given the atmospheric depth, the emphasis on dark melancholy and romanticism.
Steven and company split their three-hour show into two parts with a twenty-minute break in between — the band, with all three original members now well past their fortieth birthday, is no longer among the youngest practitioners of its craft and needs a short breather midway through. Joining Steven on stage were the other two long-standing members: the seasoned keyboardist Richard Barbieri (ex-Japan) and drumming virtuoso Gavin Harrison, who also earns his keep in King Crimson, while many in the crowd were meeting the two American touring musicians for the first time.
Guitarist and backing vocalist Randy McStine (known for collaborations with the likes of Nick D’Virgilio, Marco Minnemann, Ryo Okumoto, Adam Holzman, Dave Kerzner, Doug Pinnick, Vinnie Moore, and Charlie Benante) and bassist Nate Navarro are both excellent musicians, as they proved more than once over the course of the evening, though their long-term future with Porcupine Tree remains unclear. Odds are they’ll remain touring hired guns, much like Randy’s predecessor John Wesley. That said, Randy’s superb additional guitar work and vocal harmonies were a genuine asset to Steven, and he deserves a special mention for it.
Porcupine Tree opened the show with the prog-metal-leaning In Absentia (2002) staple »Blackest Eyes«, one of their most iconic tracks. True to his long-standing habit, Steven performed barefoot, constantly pacing the stretch of stage between Barbieri and Harrison. At times he came across as a touch grumpy this evening, and not everyone was laughing at his jokes — though his sense of humor is still sharp, and he did poke fun at himself on more than one occasion. He even remarked at one point that his jokes apparently weren’t funny anymore — at the previous show they’d at least drawn some muffled chuckling, which was more than he got from the solemn Vienna crowd.
He also thanked the crowd for not going to The Cure show, which was happening the same night, and took a dig at the two American newcomers at the expense of the widespread unpopularity of the US and American politics among most Europeans. There was also a hint of (playful?) jealousy directed at Gavin, who — as a member of both Porcupine Tree and King Crimson and one of the most acclaimed rock drummers of our era — commands enormous adoration. Some in the crowd were holding up signs not just for Steven, but for Gavin too.
The clearest proof that the leading patron of modern progressive rock is socially and emotionally evolving into an eccentric prima donna is his attitude toward photography. Accredited photographers were strictly limited to the first two songs only, and from designated positions at that, while any photography or recording by the audience was absolutely forbidden. It increasingly feels like Steven is getting more and more like Robert Fripp — one of his musical idols — every year when it comes to this sort of petty pedantry and rigidity.
Long-time staples were mixed in with tracks from the current studio album, which was played in its entirety — something Steven specifically pointed out, taking a jab at every band that plays only a handful of new songs when touring a new record. As has long been the band’s tradition, most songs were accompanied by striking and unsettling visual projections. The standouts were the ones for »Fear of a Blank Planet«, featuring psychosocially broken children, and for the new track »Herd Culling«, with its terrifying wolves or werewolves.
Fans of more obscure Porcupine Tree material were delighted by a performance of »Buying New Soul«, which came out on a fairly rare single in 2008 and is only known to the most devoted followers. Being a Porcupine Tree devotee with deep knowledge of their rarest material is no easy feat — the competition includes all manner of music PhDs and keyboard nerds, as a quick scan of the audience confirmed. As is typical at both Porcupine Tree and Steven’s solo shows, women were again thin on the ground this evening, though the situation is slowly improving.
Stupid Dream (1999) was represented by just »Even Less«, while fans of the deeper cuts were treated to »Drown With Me«, which originally appeared only on the exclusive European version of In Absentia. Despite being the lesser-known track, the response was no less thunderous than for most of the other songs that evening. Pretty much everyone in the hall was thrilled to hear the In Absentia gem »The Sound of Muzak«. It was a visionary song when it came out — its warning about the coming arrival and triumph of music that would only be music in name has proved largely prophetic in the years since, if you take a look at the top of the modern charts. Though reality has turned out a little less bleak than the forecast of twenty years ago, as Steven himself acknowledged.
The flawless performance of the psychedelic tour de force »Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled« — the only Lightbulb Sun (2000) track of the evening — also ranked among the bigger surprises. The moment the crazed face of Marshall Applewhite — leader of the infamous Heaven’s Gate cult, who in 1997, at the passage of comet Hale-Bopp, led himself and his followers to their deaths on the premise that their souls would transfer to new bodies aboard an extraterrestrial spacecraft before our planet was recycled — appeared on the projection screen, the whole hall erupted.
The complex masterpiece »Anesthetize« also warranted a special introduction — before playing it, Steven (who occasionally stepped behind his beloved synthesizer) specifically highlighted its ferocious metal middle section. That section was born during a period when the Porcupine Tree frontman was deeply fascinated by the more extreme forms of progressive metal, and by extreme metal acts who had suddenly discovered the wonderful world of progressive rock. In a similar way, back in his younger years, Steven himself had stopped following the NWOBHM scene after discovering ’70s prog rock.
The Incident (2009), long considered the English prog legends’ final studio achievement, was represented by »I Drive the Hearse«, which in the original is the closing section of the 55-minute epic The Incident. Steven forgot some of the lyrics during »Sleep Together« — the song that closed the second set — which really shouldn’t happen to a musician of his caliber. Still, most fans quickly forgave him the slip, because in the encore he and his bandmates delivered three Porcupine Tree classics that sent shivers down pretty much everyone’s spine. The first encore was the nostalgic masterpiece »Collapse the Light into Earth«, which Steven sang with extraordinary passion while playing acoustic guitar, with only Barbieri on piano for company. The surprises weren’t over yet — next came the Deadwing (2005) classic »Halo«, which was, surprisingly, the only song from that fan-favorite album all evening.
Porcupine Tree closed the show with their most recognizable song — »Trains«. By Steven’s own admission, they still don’t really know why this Celtic-tinged staple became so beloved among fans. The hall exploded with excitement after Steven first teased the crowd with a fake announcement of a medley of rock classic covers — which he then described as one of the more dire concert habits of certain bands. Once he mentioned »Sweet Home Alabama« as a potential cover, it was immediately clear it was a bad joke. Unfortunately, the performance of »Trains« didn’t include the Celtic-tinged instrumental section — one of the rare forays into folk territory in Porcupine Tree history — but instead they broke briefly into silence before thundering through the central motif one final time to close the show.
The overall impression of Porcupine Tree’s Vienna concert could be summed up in a reworked version of the ancient Roman saying ‘came, saw, conquered’ — attributed not to Steven Wilson, but to a somewhat kindred authoritarian soul from antiquity: Julius Caesar. Everything was played and sung at an enviable level, so even Steven’s earlier lyrical stumble on »Sleep Together« did nothing to spoil a very strong final impression. The sound in the hall was also fantastic — Steven, a long-time sound engineer and producer, is a genuine perfectionist in that department. The setlist was pretty much a dream, though some of us were still missing a few more beloved Porcupine Tree staples — »Lazarus«, »Open Car«, »Shesmovedon«, »Way Out of Here«, »Four Chords That Made a Million«, »Mellotron Scratch«, »Stranger By the Minute«, and »Radioactive Toy«, to name just a few — though at that point you’d need to add at least another hour to the show.
Author: Peter “Dr. ProgRock” Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Setlist:
Set 1:
1. Blackest Eyes
2. Harridan
3. Of the New Day
4. Rats Return
5. Even Less
6. Drown With Me
7. Dignity
8. The Sound of Muzak
9. Last Chance to Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled
10. Chimera’s Wreck
Set 2:
11. Fear of a Blank Planet
12. Buying New Soul
13. Walk the Plank
14. Herd Culling
15. Anesthetize
16. I Drive the Hearse
17. Sleep Together
—encore—
18. Collapse the Light Into Earth
19. Halo
20. Trains
