Porcupine Tree @ The Meridian, Houston (10.27.2007)

Porcupine Tree made a rare stop in Texas this past Saturday, so the wife and I packed up and headed over to Houston to catch them while we could. I had never seen them before, so I didn't know exactly what to expect. Based on their live DVD, I was expecting a pretty good mix of old and new, heavy and trippy. What I wasn't expecting (although maybe I should have) was so many damn sweaters. It was like everyone there had just walked out of some lame-ass poetry reading or something. Hehehe.

Opening band came on about 9pm, and it was a band called 3, which I had never heard of. I didn't think much of them one way or another at first, but the more I heard, the more I liked. They were definitely a bit progressive, the songs would have a fairly accessible core, but then delve into heavier or more sprawling parts. I might look into them a bit more.

Anyway, Porcupine Tree came on at about 10:30pm, and after a quick polite "hello" from Steven Wilson, they launched into their set. Here is the setlist:

01. Fear Of A Blank Planet
02. What Happens Now?
03. The Sound Of Muzak
04. Sentimental
05. Cheating The Polygraph
06. Anesthetize
07. Open Car
08. Dark Matter
09. Drown With Me
10. A Smart Kid
11. Way Out Of Here
12. Sleep Together
(Break)
13. Waiting
14. Blackest Eyes
15. Halo

The first thing that comes to mind when I see that setlist is What??!! No "Trains"??!! Are you kidding me??!! The second thing that occurs to me, however, is that the setlist is actually pretty good. All told, they played for just a tad under 2 hours. I would have probably swapped out a couple of the songs for a couple more from Deadwing, but no big complaints. The new material from Fear Of A Blank Planet and Nil Recurring sounded great. "Anesthetize", as expected, was absolutely PHENOMENAL, in just about every way that a song can be. "Open Car", "Halo", and "Blackest Eyes" were other good rockers. On the other end of the spectrum, the sprawling spacy groove of "Dark Matter" and "Waiting", and the mellow sadness of "A Smart Kid" and "Sentimental" evened out the pace of the show very nicely. The sound was absolutely spectacular. I had never been to this venue before (the Meridian), so I wasn't sure what to expect. But I could barely find a single flaw, from the vocals to the guitars to the thunderous drums. Maybe Wilson's mic and guitar could have been a tad higher, but I'm reaching even on that one.

Visually, there was not a whole lot going on, except for the projector they had aimed at a screen at the back of the stage. Each FOABP song was accompanied by a creepy video, usually depicting some pill-popping teens trudging through their depressing daily grind with blank expressions. The videos were fairly well done, though, particularly the video for "Way Out Of Here", which culminated in a disturbing scene of a chick walking blankly along some tracks as a train bores down on her. The scene reaches its peak just as the song hits its climax, it was all perfectly timed, and pretty damn intense. Definitely the most powerful moment of the show. I'm surprised they went ahead and followed it up with "Sleep Together", because quite frankly I think that song completely blows. It wasn't so bad live, though, and the video for it was actually pretty cool, featuring a little stop-motion animation character very reminiscent of something Adam Jones would have created.

As for the performance of the band, the best word I can think of to describe Porcupine Tree is "professional." These guys are pro's, every note was perfect, and they didn't miss a beat. They tore through their set with almost robotic focus and efficiency. Yet, every song was played with the utmost humanity. The upbeat rockin' songs had everyone smiling and shouting along, even holding their beers in the air at times. The slower depressing songs (in particular the new material) were melancholy and oppressive, you FELT it. At the end of the night, though, the band all seemed to be really enjoying themselves. The crowd was frenetic all night, and it seemed the band really fed off of that energy. Wilson spoke the the crowd several times, to either introduce a song or to comment on a song just played. He definitely had that polite British manner that made him seem like he was probably friendlier and more intelligent than just about anyone else in the room, hehehe. I don't know whether that's true or not, but the guy can sure write some songs.

If you like these guys, definitely catch them live if you get the chance. You won't be disappointed!