It was the best one I have seen from him. This lineup has really gelled. Glad I went. Don't really want to listen to the albums, but there's no better live prog show out there at the moment.
It was the best one I have seen from him. This lineup has really gelled. Glad I went. Don't really want to listen to the albums, but there's no better live prog show out there at the moment.
I saw this tour in three different venues and wanted to give me prospective on my experience. During all three shows the band and audio were phenomenal! Loud and crystal clear with some of the best sound your ever going to hear at a show. The biggest difference in each show was the visual portion and ticket prices. In April I attend two consecutive shows at the best buy theater in NYC. Sat in the 3rd row center both nights for about $75 a ticket face value. Those shows mirrored the latest blu ray release (minus Ninet) we got the full production with stunning visuals gigantic holograms and extra screen in front of the band amazing stuff in a fantastic venue! Last week on this final leg of the tour I went to the Long island show at the paramount in Huntington another fantastic venue and one of the few with reserved seating on the floor on this leg of the tour. Sat in 8th row center $104 a seat face value but no screen and holograms in front of the band the holograms were incorporated and projected on a high quality video screen behind the band. Still an amazing show despite the small down grade in production. I took three of my sons all in the their late 20's early 30's and they loved it and had no idea about the visual difference. On Friday night I went to the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale a standing room only bar type venue. I spend a lot of time in Florida in the winter and figured why not for $40 a ticket. I stood almost at the back wall dead center if it had seats I would have been in the about 10th or 11th row a very small venue. This show featured John Wesley as the warm up act and he performed about a half dozen songs solo. During Wilson performance the visuals were basically a non factor as they used the house video screens which were small, outdated and very low quality. Thankful it wasn't sold out so standing for a 60 yr old wasn't as bad as I thought it would be we weren't pinned against each other and everyone had a bit of their own space. I took a friend of mine who never heard of Wilson and he was amazed by it. As much as I enjoyed all three shows the one's with the superior production by far had the biggest impact. It made me wonder about what determined how much effort was made in the presentation of the show. Was this leg just scaled down, ticket prices or even location. Clearly the NYC show was top of line production. I also wondered if fans had a choice would they pay more to see the premium show which in my case I would. Even Wilsons top of the line prices are pretty reasonable. It would be interesting to know what type of visual production was done in other venues on this tour.
We saw four shows in four venues. First, L'Olympia in Montreal in April...full projection screen and visuals on back screen, great sound, sat in back to avoid GA floor. Enjoyed the quad sound from our rear seats. Fun show. Next, Berklee in Boston. SW complains the small stage can't accomodate the large back screen so a smaller scale show but we had great seats and sound was stellar. Then the beautiful Place Des Arts in Montreal...one of our fave venues, and our fave show of the four. Great seats, great acoustics, and Montreal loves SW. Then the low point HOB show in Boston. Crappy venue, had reserved seats in back to avoid GA floor but still had to stand in a long line to get in. Sound was good tho. This second leg of the tour didn't have the front projection screen so the show seemed to have a smaller scale in general.
Saw SW's show last night in Dallas at HOB. Had dinner in the restaurant, so we were able to skip the line & score some decent 4th row balcony seats. No front projection screen between audience & performers, but there was a decent sized video screen behind them. To my practiced eye (video producer), the video screen looked a bit worse for wear than the one seen in the BluRay. Maybe it was a cheap rental version, but it did bug me to see dark lines and spots that should not have been visible during the videos. The setlist and song order was very close to the BluRay, except for a surprise: Sign o' the Times by Prince came between Even Less and The Sound of Muzak. Wilson complained of having a cold, but it did not effect his performance. He was very talkative, spending at least 10 minutes of his 160 minute show speaking to us in a good natured way. The band was on fire and did not miss a beat all night long. My friends and I had a excellent time witnessing an impressive performance. As Sean said earlier, this is probably the best evening of live prog music out there. Go see it, if you have the chance.
I don't think I've seen one comment on the super-exclusive-deluxe-bonus-special-VIP only-I'm only going to sell it at a few select shows and FU to all my other fans live concert cd....
Anyone got it?
^ I've got it. It's called "To The Boner," and is a numbered, limited edition of 6.
I was at at the Dallas show as well. First time to see SW. Performance and playing was impressive all around. He was quite talkative as you said although I'm not sure I'd describe it as good natured. It was probably the only thing that put a damper on my enthusiasm. He seems quite a negative person, the stories he told involved how in Tokyo the fans couldn't clap in time, how a fan in Turkey turned his back on him during "Permanating", how he never reads reviews but just happened to read one about the Vancouver show that had something in it that angered him. On and on it went focusing on different things he doesn't like. The floor was standing only so we didn't get scolded for sitting but there were comments about phones. I'm sure he gets plenty of good feedback from fans about how much his songs mean to them but none of that was shared nor were any stories about the songs themselves. Maybe it is just his sense of humor or the perfectionist in him but he just didn't seem to be a very pleasant personality.
But putting that aside I am glad I went and the band is impressive. Seeing Nick Beggs was a treat. Setlist was a good mix of solo and PT. Hearing The Raven live and Heart attack in a Layby were great moments.
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
SRS: I have to say that having attended some previous SW shows & PTree as well, I witnessed some really negative "rants" about the state of the music business and other things, so by comparison, his talks the other night came off, to me, as "good natured". Regardless, it was still a great night of music.
In a recent interview, Wilson stated that the reason for the VPI was management told him he had to stop losing money while touring. He never lost $$$$ with PT.[emoji848][emoji848][emoji848][emoji848][emoji848]
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SW does not move me at all these days.
OK, I'll bite.
It's called Weekender from a 2013 show. Wilson/Beggs/Holzman/Wackerman/Travis/Govan.
1. Luminol
2. Postcard
3. The Holy Drinker
4. Drive Home
5. The Watchmaker
6. Radioactive Toy
Have only listened to it once since we saw him twice in three days. SQ is OK. Performance is OK. For me the highlight is #4 as I don't believe it's on any of the live stuff he's released (and I prefer live renditions). Not worth getting upset about.
Saw both the Dallas and San Antonio shows. He had pretty much lost his voice by San Antonio. Several songs he was unable to finish and no Ninet to bail him out (yes we were in NYC for that Beacon show). Starting to think it's us, lol.
Following on to this old thread... for those (like me) who were bummed about being unable to purchase the "Weekender" live set CD which was available only to VIP pass holders at select Wilson concert venues, it's now for sale on his website (stevenwilsonhq.com) in the "SW Rare Store". The price is high (GBP25+10 shipping to US), but you do get a personal dedication from the man. Like a fool, I pre-ordered it!
^^^ Thanks for the info
Getting closer to having a whole Raven show released. A DVD is too much to ask at this late date I suppose.
I received my copy of "Weekender 221113" today. Yes, it's one large track containing the 6 songs noted in the 12/26 post from jberq. This is an impressive performance from the Raven tour. It's unfortunate that it's not a full show since it was from a festival performance. Nonetheless, I'm impressed, particularly with Guthrie Govan. Regrettably, I never saw him play live with Wilson.
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