Troy
08-12-2010, 01:28 PM
This is like my 7th or 8th time seeing them since 2002, yet it was a show of "mosts" for me.
This was the sloppiest performance I've ever seen by them. Steven Wilson had to restart songs several times and mumbled or La La'd his way thru forgotten lyrics. Barbieri looked like he was asleep and phoning it in. Harrison was the biggest disappointment. He's always been the kinda player that's always flirting with disaster, right on the edge of being completely off, only to gather it back up again at the end of the bar. This time? Disaster won. The middle section of Time Flies was a real mess, like he was playing a different song. Overall, his play was less inspired than usual, but really, the whole band, usually super-tight, was pretty ragged.
It was the worst sound I've ever heard them have. I've seen lots of complaints about PT show sound mixes on message boards in the past, but have always been lucky to see the really clean sounding gigs. Not this time. WAY muddy. Too much bottom end, and the keys were way too up front. And that, coupled with Barbieri's less than stellar keyboarding made for too many sour moments.
All that said, this was also the most intimate PT show I've ever seen, even though I've seen them in much smaller venues. The band was as aware of, and surprised by, the technical and performance problems, as I was. SW was very apologetic and self-deprecating, saying how the band had just flown into SF and they were all very jet-lagged. They really did look like they had just rolled out of bed. I also noticed in looking online that they have been off the road for about 3 weeks. The band really struggled all night, but they did it gamely and the overwhelmingly positive audience response to everything they played helped the band to relax by the later parts of the show. That give and take really made SW seem more human and he connected with the audience; much more than he normally does. I really liked that aspect of this concert.
And also playing into that strange intimacy, the setlist for this rare, 2-hour "evening-with" show (the rest of this tour is to be spent opening for Coheed and Cambria) was most interesting. Packed with extended and full length versions and arely-played tracks, the show was clearly geared towards the die-hards in the audience. Russia On Ice, Open Car and Sleep Together were the highlights for me.
Originally billed as an "evening-with" show, the quirky nerd-metal Australian band, Karnivool was a last second opening act addition (luckily tho, PT didn't shorten their set). I liked 'em, but they need more modulation in their sound, which was either dense or really dense. Great energy and probably the best opener I've ever seen with PT.
2 other random observations:
1. SW is getting a pot belly. Funny.
2. I have to use the word "Zombies" in a song. When they played "Anesthetize" and the line "We're lost in the mall shuffling through the stores like zombies." I could see virtually every single person in the theater sing out "ZOM-BIES!" even if they didn't sing another word the rest of the night. Cracked me up.
This was the sloppiest performance I've ever seen by them. Steven Wilson had to restart songs several times and mumbled or La La'd his way thru forgotten lyrics. Barbieri looked like he was asleep and phoning it in. Harrison was the biggest disappointment. He's always been the kinda player that's always flirting with disaster, right on the edge of being completely off, only to gather it back up again at the end of the bar. This time? Disaster won. The middle section of Time Flies was a real mess, like he was playing a different song. Overall, his play was less inspired than usual, but really, the whole band, usually super-tight, was pretty ragged.
It was the worst sound I've ever heard them have. I've seen lots of complaints about PT show sound mixes on message boards in the past, but have always been lucky to see the really clean sounding gigs. Not this time. WAY muddy. Too much bottom end, and the keys were way too up front. And that, coupled with Barbieri's less than stellar keyboarding made for too many sour moments.
All that said, this was also the most intimate PT show I've ever seen, even though I've seen them in much smaller venues. The band was as aware of, and surprised by, the technical and performance problems, as I was. SW was very apologetic and self-deprecating, saying how the band had just flown into SF and they were all very jet-lagged. They really did look like they had just rolled out of bed. I also noticed in looking online that they have been off the road for about 3 weeks. The band really struggled all night, but they did it gamely and the overwhelmingly positive audience response to everything they played helped the band to relax by the later parts of the show. That give and take really made SW seem more human and he connected with the audience; much more than he normally does. I really liked that aspect of this concert.
And also playing into that strange intimacy, the setlist for this rare, 2-hour "evening-with" show (the rest of this tour is to be spent opening for Coheed and Cambria) was most interesting. Packed with extended and full length versions and arely-played tracks, the show was clearly geared towards the die-hards in the audience. Russia On Ice, Open Car and Sleep Together were the highlights for me.
Originally billed as an "evening-with" show, the quirky nerd-metal Australian band, Karnivool was a last second opening act addition (luckily tho, PT didn't shorten their set). I liked 'em, but they need more modulation in their sound, which was either dense or really dense. Great energy and probably the best opener I've ever seen with PT.
2 other random observations:
1. SW is getting a pot belly. Funny.
2. I have to use the word "Zombies" in a song. When they played "Anesthetize" and the line "We're lost in the mall shuffling through the stores like zombies." I could see virtually every single person in the theater sing out "ZOM-BIES!" even if they didn't sing another word the rest of the night. Cracked me up.