At The Showbox, Seattle, Washington: I had no idea I was going to be out this late.
The ticket stub said 7 p.m. When I got to the venue, they said that was when the doors were opening. After standing in the line outside, we finally entered the building around 7:30 and change.
Cool enough, I thought. Ample time to grab a pre-show beverage, collect my photo pass, secure the details, and settle in for a nice evening of music from the great Steven Wilson. I figured I’d be home by about 10 p.m. Time enough to write my review, quaff a frosty beverage, and call it a night.
As it turns out, I was dead wrong.
Before I go any further, let’s get one thing straight. I love me some Steven Wilson.
[SOMETHING ELSE! INTERVIEW: Steven Wilson dropped by to talk about classic 1970s sounds, prog’s rebirth and his amazing album ‘The Raven.’]
Ever since discovering him about three years ago as something of a late bloomer, I have thoroughly immersed myself in the extremely prolific Mr. Wilson’s various musical projects, including Blackfield, No-Man, Bass Communion — even the super obscure shit like Incredible Expanding Mindfuck — and of course, Wilson’s most commercially viable project, the great prog-metal band Porcupine Tree.
To say Steven Wilson is the hardest working man in show business, left carrying the torch for the rapidly dying art-form of prog-rock, would be an understatement and then some. In between juggling his numerous bands, Wilson also occasionally slums as a producer on projects ranging from death-metal acts like Opeth, to remixing classics from his rock idols like King Crimson, Jethro Tull, and Rush.
In short, the guy is a musical genius.
That said, based upon his show at Seattle’s Showbox on Wednesday night, I also think he may be overestimating his reach as a solo artist — at least for the time being — performing for audiences in North America. Of the three times I have seen Wilson perform in concert (once with Porcupine Tree, once with Blackfield, and this week as a solo artist) this was by far the best.
It was also the most challenging.
[SOMETHING ELSE! REWIND: Porcupine Tree’s ‘Fear of a Blank Planet’ was an intense song-cycle of despair, with some the heaviest, fastest – and prettiest – playing the band had ever done.]
Remember that 7 p.m. start time I mentioned on the ticket? Well, once we got into the building, the house lights finally went down at about 8, and were followed by a series of photographs projected on a curtain, accompanied by ambient music that I assume came courtesy of Wilson’s Bass Communion project.
In the interest of art, this would have been cool for about fifteen or twenty minutes — but it went on for about an hour of what would have been otherwise valuable drinking time.
So here’s the thing: I understand the value of art, and I especially understand it when we are talking about someone as gifted as Steven Wilson. But what I have little patience for is artistic self-indulgence. Once Steven and his great band finally took the stage, they continued to play from behind the curtain for several songs.
The music was amazing, of course — even if not particularly well paced from a strictly performance standpoint — and the images projected on the curtain were visually interesting, as expected. But let’s face it. It’s one thing to see the members of Pink Floyd standing around onstage in a huge arena, while pigs fly by, and jet planes crash onstage during a performance of, say, Dark Side Of The Moon or Animals.
It’s quite another to not be able to see the members of Steven Wilson’s band performing in a small club at all.
By about the sixth song, the curtain was lifted, and Steven Wilson and his band of amazing musicians performed an awesome two-hour set of songs drawn from his solo albums Insurgentes and Grace For Drowning. The band was incredible, and Wilson delivered a modern day prog-rock clinic, complete with all the mellotrons and bizarre time signatures any self respecting prog-rock nerd could ever ask for.
But for all his musical chops, Steven Wilson still needs to learn a thing or two about stagecraft.
All I’m sayin’…
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Setlist, April 4, 2012 at Seattle, Washington:
No Twilight
Index
Deform To Form A Star
Sectarian
Postcard
Remainder The Black Dog
Harmony Komine
Abandoner
Like Dust
Luminal
Venemo
No Part Of Me
Raider II
Encore:
Get All You Deserve
- Pink Floyd – The Story Of 'Wish You Were Here' (2012) - June 29, 2012
- 'Neil Young FAQ' Diaries: On the Beach, Now and Then and the Kershaw Connection - June 15, 2012
- The Rockologist: The Raconteurs – Live At Montreux (2012) - June 8, 2012
