Saw them Friday night in our nation's capitol.....I'll probably not park in the lot or at least not pay in advance. I could have found a lot of spaces.
Anyway, LOTS of youngsters. That was at first unnerving, but it's cool that they have that following. Bodes well for the future. My sister got tickets for 4 boys in her 10th grade class. They went to the front. I briefly considerd the upstairs railing, but I saw a few old friends and we stayed on the floor. Had to stay in the center, it was quite loud, especially the bass drum.
There was a very large man behind me, and he was whistling after each tune. I have never used earplugs, but whistling irritates me and hurts my ears. Steven Wilson says "how's everybody..." and I yelled "OK except for the whistling". Given the size of the man I do not know why I did such a foolish thing. Turns out my luck was good, he leans over and said "sorry, I just get a bit excited". Whew......
My timing was excellent all that night. Maybe this Friday the 13th stuff was garbage. Then I remembered Chippenham
There was no opener, just a video of the band over their career. It repeated about 20 times (at least). They played about 2 hours, maybe a bit less. For 15 dollars (+ svc chgs!) it was a steal.
OK, the show. Steven looks younger every day. It must be the hair. When I saw them at Nearfest 2001, I wasn't a fan, and I was drinking a bit and still reeling from Deus Ex Machina, so I concentrated little. I liked it OK, but forgot the set over time. If I would have paid more attention and also saw them in Baltimore in 1996, I may have been into them earlier.
Turns out I've been missing something. They're just great. Colin Edwin on bass is rock solid. I think that smile is permanently affixed to his face. On the next to last tune he had some technical issues but they were minor.
The drummer was just incredible. He was so good, hit the drums so hard, and always there, never showy. The keyboardist wasn't asked to do much, and I would have wanted to see more. But he did solo a bit.
The second guitarist was John Wesley. Besides the name John Wesley Harding, something was bothering me about the name. I knew I'd seen him. After the show I realized he opened up for Dream Theater at the same venue about 4 years ago. He's not a progger, but Steven let him contribute a lot. He filled in the vocal and guitar parts needed from the studio versions. Wilson handled almost all of the solos, and I was impressed with him. He's got a great feel for the song, and when to go off and when to lay off.
Opener was Deadwing, so crunchy. The played the first six tunes from Deadwing (not consecutively). Arriving Somewhere (But Not Here) is a great tune. Especially the Metallica part in the middle! Mellotron Scratch was excellent, and on Halo, Wilson really got into the vocal. Powerful stuff.
The encores were Shesmovedon and Trains, which was great. There were about 3-4 tunes I didn't recognize (wish I knew them more). They did do Blackest Eyes and Even Less (nice solo on that tune). My favorite of the non-Deadwing songs was Hate Song. The whole band was kicking, and the drummer in particular was stellar.
Steve had this interesting affectation. He would point, using his whole hand with his thumb up and four fingers extended. Sometimes he'd point at his head, sometimes down (like when he'd sing "Not Here") and mostly forward. I know it's a weird thing to say, but when he does it 5-6 times a song, it's very noticeable. Maybe it's PT-speak for, "this is a great fucking show".
Great show. Now Sunday I get to see Phil Keaggy. There's a contrast!