The Steven Wilson Thread

[stoopid]

His tour farewell note today (on FB), he says he's going back to write his next solo disc.

 

I saw this, and thought "As much as it saddens me that PT is on official hiatus indefinitely, I really can't complain about where SW has trended with his solo career." And with that, I can live with no PT. Maybe they'll do a reunion tour when their bank accounts get low in a few years.

[Todem]

Whew - the shows were awesome (I did Orlando and St. Pete "Tampa" shows) - although I am still nearly crippled today due to having to stand for more than 5 hours each night... (one hour in line to get in, another 45 minutes with John Wesley, and then Steven's band played for more than 3 hours.... both shows ended well after 1 am and having been on my feet since 7 or so, I was not alone in being physically toast!) John Wesley was great - although solo (it was not economical for him to hire and support a full band for this mini tour!) He played mostly from his new album - including backing tracks from some of the songs. He also did a couple older songs. IMO, he sounded great - playing and singing. SW's show was absolute perfection. The band was incredibly tight, yet having fun and clowning around (which led to a few errors, but all in good energy). I was quite pleased with Craig Blundell's progression with the band (I had seen him last year on the tour and felt he was still pretty tight and green with the band; now, he is owning it!) In St. Pete, SW made fun of the Orlando crowd several times (calling us lame, shit crowd "we could hear our footsteps coming on for the encore" and "applause didn't outlast the last guitar note...") and I can understand his impression - although people were cheering and having fun, the sound just did not carry in the venue. However, Orlando had MUCH better lighting than St. Pete (the old State Theater has shitty 70's era cans with nothing else mounted above) - which IMO greatly enhanced the show in Orlando. The St Pete venue also did not allow them to use the front-of-stage curtain on which they projected various video during "Sleep Together",etc. This was a very cool effect (had seen on previous tours) but could not be used in St. Pete. The sound was also better in Orlando - just a wider frequency range and punchier drums in Otown (all seemed muted in St. Pete). Steven was very talkative at both shows - offering his take on why modern music is sucking so bad (too much time between albums, nobody wants to take risks and try many different angles) paying homage to Prince (his idol) and Bowie (whom he called the two greatest artists of the 80's and 70's respectively). Musically, he did change the setlist up between shows, and I have to say, I preferred Orlando (Orlando got Dark Matter, Lazarus, and Raven that Refused to Sing; St Pete got No Twilight, Insurgentes, and Space Oddity. cool for different sets, but I missed the two PT songs and Raven, which SW introduced as his favorite song he's written.) St Pete crowd did have more enthusiasm, and the sound carried more in that shitty old venue, BUT this came at the price of a few too many obnoxious people - talking through quiet parts, lot less courteous, pushing, wedging in front of your view, etc.) With the lights, setlist, sound, and mellower crowd, I preferred Orlando. I could have met SW again this time around (he did in-store signing in Orlando, and was at the Dali Museum before St. Pete), but I just had too much going on personally to get there (had met him a couple times prior too). I did see Adam Holtzman finishing up dinner at a Greek restaurant before the St. Pete show (said hello). I was maybe a bit surprised that Steven didn't have Wes out to play Lazarus with them, or something, but it's clear that he wants to put distance between his solo career and any inkling of a PT reunion. At one point in St Pete he said something about Insurgentes (his first solo work) came out at the same time as "the last PT album" - that could be taken differently, but the way he emphasized "the last" was telling. His tour farewell note today (on FB), he says he's going back to write his next solo disc.

 

 

I wish you could have came down for the Fort Lauderdale show. Not only were they spot on incredible, but our crowd was amazing. We sang with them, were silent during appropriate moments during songs, it was just a magical night. My wife and I made it through the 5 hours standing (omg we were hurting so bad yesterday LOL). We were dead center basically an arm length away from Steven. It was such an intimate setting. We got Orlando's set list except they played Insurgentes instead of Lazuras (which I would have rather heard).

 

The band was incredible and the sound was really tight. They did make a nice adjustment on the drums for the second set. In set one the toms were far too bombastic with reverb and indistinguishable. In set two they were popping and sounded great. Steven was quite talkative as well on the same subjects.

 

If I had one minor complaint.....I can always do without cover songs, and while I understand Prince was so important to him, Sign of the Times is meh for me. I would have rather heard any PT song over that.

 

I am really excited for his continued output as a solo artist. Every album has gotten better and better and Hand Cannot Erase will be hard to top. But that is the beauty of what Steven does. He is the true definition of what Progressive rock and pop is supposed to be.

 

There are no other bands (save for Muse) who even come close to his musical prowess. He is simply incredible. From the moment I heard Fear of a Blank Planet back in 2007 (and then discovered the entire back catalog) saw PT in 2007 and then again in 2010 (for The Incident Tour), I have been a monster fan. Easily my second favorite artist ever after Rush.

 

He did talk about making The Incident and then Insurgentes in the same year and then saying which do you think I liked better? So he clearly is telling us Porcupine Tree is pretty much over.

 

The only hope is reunion tour in the future and my hope about that is we get a monster evening with performance (3 hour plus show). I will travel wherever I have to go to see that multiple times.

 

And the next time Steven tours for his solo work, I will do my best to see multiple dates in Florida if he does that again. This year was not going to work but next time it should.

 

Oh and seeing the entire new album performed front to back was just amazing. Simply one of the best shows I have ever seen (top 5) and I have seen well over 300 plus live concerts in my life now (yes I have permanent hearing loss by now lol).

Edited November 22, 2016 by Todem

[stoopid]

If I had one minor complaint.....I can always do without cover songs, and while I understand Prince was so important to him, Sign of the Times is meh for me. I would have rather heard any PT song over that.

 

Wait, you just said you can do without cover songs... ?

 

[Todem]

If I had one minor complaint.....I can always do without cover songs, and while I understand Prince was so important to him, Sign of the Times is meh for me. I would have rather heard any PT song over that.

 

Wait, you just said you can do without cover songs... ?

 

 

Well.....he is the songwriter of the PT stuff bro LOL. But I get it LOL.

[catherine]

Whew - the shows were awesome (I did Orlando and St. Pete "Tampa" shows) - although I am still nearly crippled today due to having to stand for more than 5 hours each night... (one hour in line to get in, another 45 minutes with John Wesley, and then Steven's band played for more than 3 hours.... both shows ended well after 1 am and having been on my feet since 7 or so, I was not alone in being physically toast!) John Wesley was great - although solo (it was not economical for him to hire and support a full band for this mini tour!) He played mostly from his new album - including backing tracks from some of the songs. He also did a couple older songs. IMO, he sounded great - playing and singing. SW's show was absolute perfection. The band was incredibly tight, yet having fun and clowning around (which led to a few errors, but all in good energy). I was quite pleased with Craig Blundell's progression with the band (I had seen him last year on the tour and felt he was still pretty tight and green with the band; now, he is owning it!) In St. Pete, SW made fun of the Orlando crowd several times (calling us lame, shit crowd "we could hear our footsteps coming on for the encore" and "applause didn't outlast the last guitar note...") and I can understand his impression - although people were cheering and having fun, the sound just did not carry in the venue. However, Orlando had MUCH better lighting than St. Pete (the old State Theater has shitty 70's era cans with nothing else mounted above) - which IMO greatly enhanced the show in Orlando. The St Pete venue also did not allow them to use the front-of-stage curtain on which they projected various video during "Sleep Together",etc. This was a very cool effect (had seen on previous tours) but could not be used in St. Pete. The sound was also better in Orlando - just a wider frequency range and punchier drums in Otown (all seemed muted in St. Pete). Steven was very talkative at both shows - offering his take on why modern music is sucking so bad (too much time between albums, nobody wants to take risks and try many different angles) paying homage to Prince (his idol) and Bowie (whom he called the two greatest artists of the 80's and 70's respectively). Musically, he did change the setlist up between shows, and I have to say, I preferred Orlando (Orlando got Dark Matter, Lazarus, and Raven that Refused to Sing; St Pete got No Twilight, Insurgentes, and Space Oddity. cool for different sets, but I missed the two PT songs and Raven, which SW introduced as his favorite song he's written.) St Pete crowd did have more enthusiasm, and the sound carried more in that shitty old venue, BUT this came at the price of a few too many obnoxious people - talking through quiet parts, lot less courteous, pushing, wedging in front of your view, etc.) With the lights, setlist, sound, and mellower crowd, I preferred Orlando. I could have met SW again this time around (he did in-store signing in Orlando, and was at the Dali Museum before St. Pete), but I just had too much going on personally to get there (had met him a couple times prior too). I did see Adam Holtzman finishing up dinner at a Greek restaurant before the St. Pete show (said hello). I was maybe a bit surprised that Steven didn't have Wes out to play Lazarus with them, or something, but it's clear that he wants to put distance between his solo career and any inkling of a PT reunion. At one point in St Pete he said something about Insurgentes (his first solo work) came out at the same time as "the last PT album" - that could be taken differently, but the way he emphasized "the last" was telling. His tour farewell note today (on FB), he says he's going back to write his next solo disc.

 

 

I wish you could have came down for the Fort Lauderdale show. Not only were they spot on incredible, but our crowd was amazing. We sang with them, were silent during appropriate moments during songs, it was just a magical night. My wife and I made it through the 5 hours standing (omg we were hurting so bad yesterday LOL). We were dead center basically an arm length away from Steven. It was such an intimate setting. We got Orlando's set list except they played Insurgentes instead of Lazuras (which I would have rather heard).

 

The band was incredible and the sound was really tight. They did make a nice adjustment on the drums for the second set. In set one the toms were far too bombastic with reverb and indistinguishable. In set two they were popping and sounded great. Steven was quite talkative as well on the same subjects.

 

If I had one minor complaint.....I can always do without cover songs, and while I understand Prince was so important to him, Sign of the Times is meh for me. I would have rather heard any PT song over that.

 

I am really excited for his continued output as a solo artist. Every album has gotten better and better and Hand Cannot Erase will be hard to top. But that is the beauty of what Steven does. He is the true definition of what Progressive rock and pop is supposed to be.

 

There are no other bands (save for Muse) who even come close to his musical prowess. He is simply incredible. From the moment I heard Fear of a Blank Planet back in 2007 (and then discovered the entire back catalog) saw PT in 2007 and then again in 2010 (for The Incident Tour), I have been a monster fan. Easily my second favorite artist ever after Rush.

 

He did talk about making The Incident and then Insurgentes in the same year and then saying which do you think I liked better? So he clearly is telling us Porcupine Tree is pretty much over.

 

The only hope is reunion tour in the future and my hope about that is we get a monster evening with performance (3 hour plus show). I will travel wherever I have to go to see that multiple times.

 

And the next time Steven tours for his solo work, I will do my best to see multiple dates in Florida if he does that again. This year was not going to work but next time it should.

 

Oh and seeing the entire new album performed front to back was just amazing. Simply one of the best shows I have ever seen (top 5) and I have seen well over 300 plus live concerts in my life now (yes I have permanent hearing loss by now lol).

 

Same here. I would have loved to go to at least one more show after Atlanta but oh well.

 

As much as I love PT, I am perfectly satisfied with his solo work as a substitute. Especially now with Rush being retired SW and Opeth are the bands I am most obsessed with.

[cygnify]

Whew - the shows were awesome (I did Orlando and St. Pete "Tampa" shows) - although I am still nearly crippled today due to having to stand for more than 5 hours each night... (one hour in line to get in, another 45 minutes with John Wesley, and then Steven's band played for more than 3 hours.... both shows ended well after 1 am and having been on my feet since 7 or so, I was not alone in being physically toast!) John Wesley was great - although solo (it was not economical for him to hire and support a full band for this mini tour!) He played mostly from his new album - including backing tracks from some of the songs. He also did a couple older songs. IMO, he sounded great - playing and singing. SW's show was absolute perfection. The band was incredibly tight, yet having fun and clowning around (which led to a few errors, but all in good energy). I was quite pleased with Craig Blundell's progression with the band (I had seen him last year on the tour and felt he was still pretty tight and green with the band; now, he is owning it!) In St. Pete, SW made fun of the Orlando crowd several times (calling us lame, shit crowd "we could hear our footsteps coming on for the encore" and "applause didn't outlast the last guitar note...") and I can understand his impression - although people were cheering and having fun, the sound just did not carry in the venue. However, Orlando had MUCH better lighting than St. Pete (the old State Theater has shitty 70's era cans with nothing else mounted above) - which IMO greatly enhanced the show in Orlando. The St Pete venue also did not allow them to use the front-of-stage curtain on which they projected various video during "Sleep Together",etc. This was a very cool effect (had seen on previous tours) but could not be used in St. Pete. The sound was also better in Orlando - just a wider frequency range and punchier drums in Otown (all seemed muted in St. Pete). Steven was very talkative at both shows - offering his take on why modern music is sucking so bad (too much time between albums, nobody wants to take risks and try many different angles) paying homage to Prince (his idol) and Bowie (whom he called the two greatest artists of the 80's and 70's respectively). Musically, he did change the setlist up between shows, and I have to say, I preferred Orlando (Orlando got Dark Matter, Lazarus, and Raven that Refused to Sing; St Pete got No Twilight, Insurgentes, and Space Oddity. cool for different sets, but I missed the two PT songs and Raven, which SW introduced as his favorite song he's written.) St Pete crowd did have more enthusiasm, and the sound carried more in that shitty old venue, BUT this came at the price of a few too many obnoxious people - talking through quiet parts, lot less courteous, pushing, wedging in front of your view, etc.) With the lights, setlist, sound, and mellower crowd, I preferred Orlando. I could have met SW again this time around (he did in-store signing in Orlando, and was at the Dali Museum before St. Pete), but I just had too much going on personally to get there (had met him a couple times prior too). I did see Adam Holtzman finishing up dinner at a Greek restaurant before the St. Pete show (said hello). I was maybe a bit surprised that Steven didn't have Wes out to play Lazarus with them, or something, but it's clear that he wants to put distance between his solo career and any inkling of a PT reunion. At one point in St Pete he said something about Insurgentes (his first solo work) came out at the same time as "the last PT album" - that could be taken differently, but the way he emphasized "the last" was telling. His tour farewell note today (on FB), he says he's going back to write his next solo disc.

 

 

I wish you could have came down for the Fort Lauderdale show. Not only were they spot on incredible, but our crowd was amazing. We sang with them, were silent during appropriate moments during songs, it was just a magical night. My wife and I made it through the 5 hours standing (omg we were hurting so bad yesterday LOL). We were dead center basically an arm length away from Steven. It was such an intimate setting. We got Orlando's set list except they played Insurgentes instead of Lazuras (which I would have rather heard).

 

The band was incredible and the sound was really tight. They did make a nice adjustment on the drums for the second set. In set one the toms were far too bombastic with reverb and indistinguishable. In set two they were popping and sounded great. Steven was quite talkative as well on the same subjects.

 

If I had one minor complaint.....I can always do without cover songs, and while I understand Prince was so important to him, Sign of the Times is meh for me. I would have rather heard any PT song over that.

 

I am really excited for his continued output as a solo artist. Every album has gotten better and better and Hand Cannot Erase will be hard to top. But that is the beauty of what Steven does. He is the true definition of what Progressive rock and pop is supposed to be.

 

There are no other bands (save for Muse) who even come close to his musical prowess. He is simply incredible. From the moment I heard Fear of a Blank Planet back in 2007 (and then discovered the entire back catalog) saw PT in 2007 and then again in 2010 (for The Incident Tour), I have been a monster fan. Easily my second favorite artist ever after Rush.

 

He did talk about making The Incident and then Insurgentes in the same year and then saying which do you think I liked better? So he clearly is telling us Porcupine Tree is pretty much over.

 

The only hope is reunion tour in the future and my hope about that is we get a monster evening with performance (3 hour plus show). I will travel wherever I have to go to see that multiple times.

 

And the next time Steven tours for his solo work, I will do my best to see multiple dates in Florida if he does that again. This year was not going to work but next time it should.

 

Oh and seeing the entire new album performed front to back was just amazing. Simply one of the best shows I have ever seen (top 5) and I have seen well over 300 plus live concerts in my life now (yes I have permanent hearing loss by now lol).

 

I'm glad you had such a magic evening - I can't say we were that far off in Orlando either. St. Pete had some challenges, but still a fantastic concert, and I enjoyed it.

 

Totally agree with you on the Prince cover; Steven went on and on about his admiration of Prince, but his cover didn't really float my boat.

 

I'm curious what you thought of John Wesley's opening set? I think he did pretty well for just going at it solo. The drum & bass tracks may have been off-putting for some (though my guitarist friend said "See, we don't need a drummer") - it did give a little guitar karaoke feeling. Understanding his economic limitation for the tour, one could see it as good as he could do (though, I would have volunteered to play for free!! :D)

Edited November 23, 2016 by cygnify

[cygnify]

As much as I love PT, I am perfectly satisfied with his solo work as a substitute. Especially now with Rush being retired SW and Opeth are the bands I am most obsessed with.

 

Same here! :D (though I have been on a Riverside, King Crimson, and Anathema run most recently!)

[stoopid]

As much as I love PT, I am perfectly satisfied with his solo work as a substitute. Especially now with Rush being retired SW and Opeth are the bands I am most obsessed with.

 

Same here! :D (though I have been on a Riverside...and Anathema run most recently!)

 

Dittos all around.

[Permanent-Rush]

I just heard 2 of his songs to see what he sounded like, those songs are great!! I might listen to him more!! Edited November 27, 2016 by GotNeilPeart?

[Huge Ackman]

This is one of my favorite solo S.W. tracks. It was amazing live. A Toronto friend saw the S.W. show a couple of years ago and among the P.T. tunes he played was "Shallow"...my favorite from the Deadwing album, right up there among my faves from the band in total... I wish we'd been treated to that number in Madison. Our P.T. gems were Lazarus and Sleep Together. Anyway, "Harmony Korine" is a powerful and moving song that I can listen to over and over again...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BClzBQmZZBc

Edited November 28, 2016 by Huge Ackman

[Huge Ackman]

In 2010, I saw Porcupine Tree in San Francisco. I had bought my tickets from the fan-club pre-sale so was granted early entrance. My buddy and I had missed out on prime standing location during the last P.T. show we'd attended (The Incident tour) so we decided to head straight to the front and to forgo any drinking in favor of our front row position. So, we spent the night at Steven's bare feet and had a spectacular time! Before the show started, I made the mistake of taking a laminated page from one of the monitors, just to see what it was, I had NO intention of taking anything, I was just curious what this page was... well, the crew saw my move and I thought I'd gotten myself kicked out before the show even started. Luckily, I had put it back before anybody really had to say anything to me but I was given a pretty thorough stare-down by a number of the stage crew as they went about their show preparations... The page was the lyrics for "Stars Die"... I guess it had been so long since they'd performed that tune that Steven needed a cheat-sheet for the show...

 

As the show came to a close, I could not resist taking a quick couple of photos with my really crappy cell phone. They're not all that great but you get the idea of the vantage point I had all night... Did I mention that this was one of the great rock show experiences of my life? Well... it was! And it was part of a rather amazing week and a half of live music... Rush at The Shoreline Amphitheater 8-9-10, Porcupine Tree at The Warfield on 8-11-10 and then Rush at Red Rocks on 8-16 & 8-18, 2010... Good times... Rock ON!!!

 

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z33/bfwgjma/Porcupine%20Tree%208_11_2010%20The%20Warfield/StevenWilson2.jpg

 

Trains

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z33/bfwgjma/Porcupine%20Tree%208_11_2010%20The%20Warfield/StevenWilson1.jpg

 

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z33/bfwgjma/Porcupine%20Tree%208_11_2010%20The%20Warfield/PorcupineTreeWarfield.jpg

 

 

This was our set list that night... amazing stuff!

• Set 1:
  
• 
  Even Less
  (full version)
  
• 
  Great Expectations
   
  
• 
  Kneel and Disconnect
   
  
• 
  Drawing the Line
   
  
• 
  Open Car
  (with extra bridge)
  
• 
  Russia on Ice
  (first half only)
  
• 
  Anesthetize
  (part 2: 'The Pills I'm Taking')
  
• 
  Stars Die
   
  
• 
  Wedding Nails
  (tour debut)
  
• Set 2:
  
• 
  Time Flies
   
  
• 
  Degree Zero of Liberty
   
  
• 
  Octane Twisted
   
  
• 
  The Séance
   
  
• 
  Circle of Manias
   
  
• 
  I Drive the Hearse
   
  
• 
  Way Out of Here
   
  
• 
  Normal
   
  
• 
  Sleep Together
  (tour debut)
  
• Encore:
  
• 
  Pure Narcotic
   
  
• 
  Blackest Eyes
   
  

 

 

I WAS THERE

Edited November 27, 2016 by Huge Ackman

[KenJennings]

That's an amazing set. I would kill to see that show.

[shail]

Gave the new V blackfield album a few spins the past few days. It's ok. It's not on par with the first two. Not by a long shot. Most songs are like 3+ minutes. They are over before they even begin. Kinda boring tunes. Lots of slow tunes that don't develope. There are about 4 good tracks. A woman sings on a few tunes. Hopefully after a few more listens it might grow on my emotions. Family man and how was your ride are great tunes. Most others fall flat and I skip em, for now

[Gompers]

Hi peeps, what's a good Steven Wilson related album to start with if I am completely unfamiliar with any of his projects?

Depends on how accessible you like music. I have not been a huge fan of his solo stuff and listen to PT much more often. 4 1/2 is pretty good as is Hand. Cannot. Erase.

[PolarizeMe]

Hi peeps, what's a good Steven Wilson related album to start with if I am completely unfamiliar with any of his projects?

DoL, that answer depends on the preferences of who you ask (and whomever answers). With Porcupine Tree, I really like Fear Of A Blank Planet the most.

 

Solo-wise? Eh...again. It depends on who you ask and what they like the most. I really liked the first one Insurgentes and the last one Hand.Cannot.Erase. the most.

[Digital Dad]

Porcupine Tree In Absentia or Fear of A Blank Planet will do you just fine for a start.

[stoopid]

Um, that's a reply to a post from April. It was answered thoroughly in the first two pages.

[PolarizeMe]

Um, that's a reply to a post from April. It was answered thoroughly in the first two pages.

Yes, I realized that a bit too late. Yikes...how embaraassing on my part.

[Union 5-3992]

Ninet is back

[Union 5-3992]

[willowroolz]

God, that note Ninet hits at the end gives me goosebumps

[Presto-digitation]

Wilson previewed a new song (about a minute and a half) on his website/Facebook page. Sounds incredible to me.

[Presto-digitation]

Sorry...didn't see the link on the page prior.

[pip65]

God, that note Ninet hits at the end gives me goosebumps

She's certainly in fine voice.

[willowroolz]

God, that note Ninet hits at the end gives me goosebumps

She's certainly in fine voice.

 

She's got a new album out next month, too: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/ninetayeb