The Fripp Tree

[mossy]

We saw Porcupine Tree last night at the House of Blues in Las Vegas. Jim's review was helpful as I knew we could look forward to some of the old songs. We stood behind the soundboard the whole time, so got an excellent view as it's a fairly small venue. Only about 300 in the crowd, same as for the Musical Box but a much younger crowd. Whilst I love the small numbers, it makes me wonder if they'll ever come back, so a double edge thingy going on. First off, I haven't heard Deadwing yet. It was clear that a lot of the crowd were there for that (S. Wilson saying "we've actually been around for 12 years") but there was a small group of attendees who knew and appreciated the older tunes. About half to two thirds of the way into the concert, Steven said "Sorry we're not playing enough of the old songs. The purpose of this tour is really to promote Deadwing, but we've done enough of that now and can play the older stuff". Lovely! So, we got songs off Signify, Lightbulb Sun (my fave), In Absentia, and a very old song off one of the archaic albums which I didn't know, beautifully sung by John Wesley. Agree with Jim, he was excellent. Great presence and added so much in vox and guitar. I believe they have two nights to go on this tour, but they say they will be back in the States in October, so will look forward to seeing where they end up playing. Oh, and Rick...my fave song of the night was the Hate Song as well, which surprised me as it's not my fave on the album. It was just very well put together and bloomed with the addition of J. Wesley. They played for more than two hours without a break, and did Trains off In Absentia as an encore. An excellent concert, and will look forward to October.