PORCUPINE TREE
VENUE OVO ARENA, WEMBLEY
DATE 11/11/2022
At one point, towards the end of Porcupine Tree’s biggest-ever show in the UK, Steven Wilson takes time out to tell the audience that he used to get annoyed by the lack of commercial success garnered by the band, despite writing some incredibly catchy material. “Now I don’t care as it means we can play whatever we want,” he continues, and as if to emphasise his point, some of those tracks, such as Lazarus or Shallow, are ignored tonight in favour of deeper cuts such as Last Chance To Evacuate Planet Earth Before It Is Recycled and Collapse The Light Into The Earth in a set that bears very little resemblance to the last show the band performed in the UK, at London’s Royal Albert Hall, in October 2010.
Part of that, of course, is down to the fact that about a third of tonight’s three-hour show is dominated by their new/reunion album. Closure/Continuation is performed in its entirety, albeit not totally in running order. Interestingly, given Wilson’s comment about a lack of mainstream media attention, both Of The New Day, with its haunting refrain evoking memories of Wilson’s Raven…-era solo career, and the catchy guitar lick of the plaintive Dignity, suggest airplay would once have been forthcoming had these been released at a time when such things actually mattered. That said, Prog can’t see Wilson being quite so insouciant were he talking about his own solo material!
Of course, this is an era and audience where, perhaps more than ever, “What old stuff did they play?” is more likely to be heard than, “How did the new stuff sound?” But before we get to that, the current album sounded amazing. Playing to a crowd where it’s clear that at least a quarter of them were certainly never old enough to see the band first time around (there’s also an impressively high female quota), the likes of Herd Culling and Chimera’s Wreck bristle with a vibrant energy. They come across heavier than on record and are enhanced with crystal clear visuals on state-ofthe-art video screens.
If those younger audience members were here because of the new album, or the band’s
“NOT JUST A BRILLIANT LIVE BAND, BUT ONE STILL PUSHING THE ENVELOPE.”
reputation as standard-bearers for modern progressive rock, then the reaction to the older material nearly takes the roof off the venue. Not least the gargantuan Anesthetize, which is probably the high point of an evening packed with more peaks than troughs. With Gavin Harrison, who’s on majestic form tonight, propelling the rhythm; an energised Richard Barbieri adding vast swathes of colour to the overall sound; and ‘new boys’ Randy McStine and Nate Navarro adding intuitive backing, this is not a band going through the motions.
From the opening metallic blast of Blackest Eyes through to the euphoric, almost sing-along closer Trains this is Porcupine Tree as good, if not better, than this writer has ever seen them. And although none of the set precedes 1999’s
Stupid Dream album, there must be plenty of older fans here who thought they’d never hear the likes of Even Less, Drown With Me or Halo again, let alone a crushing version of Fear Of A Blank Planet or the surprise inclusion of
I Drive The Hearse. In avoiding some of their more obvious moments, Porcupine Tree cement their reputation as not just a brilliant live band, but one still pushing the envelope.
And what of Steven Wilson himself? What everyone wants to know is: how long will this reunion go? And will there be another album? Toying occasionally with such ideas onstage, he is, as one might expect, self-deprecatingly coy. At what point that spilled over into annoyance that he’d had to curtail his solo ventures, however temporarily, to indulge something he’d previously been on record saying wouldn’t happen, is difficult to gauge. But if your correspondent was a betting man, if you want to see the band again, make sure you grab a ticket for next year’s outdoor shows. After that? Well…
But don’t let that cloud what tonight is all about. Simply put, Porcupine Tree are absolutely sensational.