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Live Reviews : Steven Wilson @ Billboard The Venue, 02/10/2013

By on October 5, 2013

Porcupine Tree’s 2010 tour was an unexpected surprise. Despite going into it being very disappointed with The Incident as an album, the whole thing live was an enthralling experience. With that in mind, Steven Wilson’s The Raven That Refused to Sing tour was an exciting announcement, regardless of the album he was touring on.

Without any opening bands the night began with some projected artwork and backing music for the first half an hour or so, preparing listeners for what was to be quite a moody show. “Luminol”, the twelve minute opener from Wilson’s solo piece, began the night. It was the perfect choice to show off the talents of the all-star touring lineup; Nick Beggs on bass guitar, Adam Holzman on keyboards & piano, Chad Wackerman on drums, Theo Travis on saxophone and flute, and the brilliant Guthrie Govan on guitar who was astonishing to watch throughout the entire set. Not only for his performance, but some of his guitar-solo faces.

Continuing with the new material Steven Wilson & band moved into “Drive Home” and “The Pin Drop”. Forgetting some lyrics on the former, Steven showed that he was indeed human, but the kind of class musician that can pull it off without tarring the show whatsoever. “Postcard” and “Deform to Form a Star” provided some stunning emotional moments to break up the prog-focused newer songs, with “Insurgentes” later appearance proving to be even more beautiful in the live arena than on record. And it’s exactly that that made the whole show work so well; the balance between musically impressive and the simplistic, emotive side of things was spot-on. But then again, that should come as no surprise, looking at his back catalogue.

When it all came down to the encore, there was no doubt a hope throughout the crowd that some Porcupine Tree would appear, and thankfully it did in the form of “Radioactive Toy”, leading into Storm Corrosion’s (his recent project with Mikael Åkerfeldt) “Ljudet Innan”.

When you combine world class musicians with a writer that is often brushed with the ‘genius’ tag, excellent sound, and some suitably epic lights, it’s hard to go wrong. Yet this still exceeded expectations by a long shot. Feel free to return any time, under any name, with any selection of music, Mr Wilson.

Set list:
Luminol
Drive Home
The Pin Drop
Postcard
The Holy Drinker
Deform to Form a Star
The Watchmaker
Index
Insurgentes
Harmony Korine
No Part of Me
Raider II
The Raven That Refused to Sing
—-
Radioactive Toy
Ljudet Innan

About

Mitch Booth is the owner, designer and grand overlord of Metal Obsession. In the few seconds of spare time he has outside of this site, he also hosts a metal radio show over on PBS 106.7fm in Melbourne (Australia) and organises shows under the name Untitled Touring. You should follow him on Twitter.