Let me begin with the rant…

I like shows where I can sit down. I like having a reserved seat, especially if I can get a good reserved seat…like I had last night. I like showing up for an 8:00 show at 7:55 and know that I can sit in my reserved seat. I don’t have the time, or the inclination, to start lining up for an 8:00 show at 4:00 so that I can rush the stage and get close. I don’t really care if Steve Wilson doesn’t like to play to sit-down crowds. I don’t need to listen to his derogatory remarks about being in a sit-down theatre. I pay him to entertain me, not the other way around. So get off your high horse Mr. Wilson and just appreciate the fact that I’m there at all and stop being such a pretentious jackass.

There. I feel better now.

Now, onto the review…

PT put on a great show last night…as I expected them to. They started off by playing Fear of a Blank Planet from start to finish. The visuals that they had on the screen added a new depth to the songs. And, no, Alex Lifeson didn’t show up for his solo . For their second set they went into a bunch of songs from their back catalogue, including several cuts from Deadwing and In Absentia.

One of the things that I noticed was that Steve Wilson seemed to leave more of the singing to the guitar player than he has in the past. I don’t know if that’s a new trend or if his voice is just tired this late into the tour.

I’ve seen PT three times now, and each time they’ve put on a great show. The first time I saw them, I paid $10 and there were about 200 people in attendance. Last night’s show was $35 and sold out (about 1150 peeps). I suspect that this might be the last really small venue, reasonably priced tour that they do. It looks like more sit-down shows in their future as they move to bigger venues. Steve Wilson better get used to it.