I hope there is a live Blu-ray from this tour
I hope there is a live Blu-ray from this tour
Before Covid, Randy McStine was going to be the touring guitarist for Big Big Train (replacing Dave Gregory). I want to live in a world that never was. (I have a "The Tour That Never Was" t-shirt from BBT's covid-cancelled North American Tour.)
"I have not yet begun to procrastinate."
The DC show was just what I needed, some mental floss.
The newer songs didn't have the same 'sing-a-long' qualities as some of the older ones, but it all worked for me.
Nice to meet Richard ( jefftiger ), made for an all around nice evening.
Except for the $45 parking, YeeOuch!
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
My wife and I were up in the upper tier. The bass (and GH's bass drum) were LOUD. Like, uncomfortably, bong-rattling loud. We were offered seats on the floor by an usher, but we liked the leg room up in the balcony. That was pre-show, pre-bass overload. Oh well. She wound up leaving at intermission. After that, I wandered the venue setting up shop in various standing room places. (This is actually my preferred way to see shows when I'm solo. You see a whole lot more when you're mobile.) The sound was much more comfortable on the lower levels.Originally Posted by markwoll
Overall, even given those bumps, the show was excellent, but I do wish the merch could've been better. I don't mind the high prices there, but the choice were uninspiring. I guess I inspired myself to get the orange tee because who the hell else has an orange concert tee?
Yeesh! We paid over that for the three Uber trips, and parking at the hotel was $50-something. DC ain't cheap!Except for the $45 parking, YeeOuch!
I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.
That Wharf area is there to strip as much cash off of you as possible.
Making it a situation where you are nervous about overstaying your parking, or 4 hours for 45 ( 3 hours for 35 as I was leaving, "dynamic pricing? ) does not make for a nice night out.
I'm not going to uber/cab to my house and Metro is pretty much out of the question at this time, unless you feel really lucky.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
Is this because of the lateness of the event?
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
The yellow line is down, it's buses all the way down out to VA. From the WMATA web site:
Also about the buses:Starting Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022, Metro's Major Blue Line and Yellow Line Construction will rehabilitate the Yellow Line tunnel and bridge between Pentagon and L'Enfant Plaza stations and connect the new Potomac Yard Station to the mainline rail system. During the Potomac Yard prep work, six stations south of Reagan National Airport on the Yellow and Blue lines will be closed from Sept. 10 - Oct. 22, 2022. The Yellow Line tunnel and bridge rehabilitation work will require the Yellow Line tunnel near L'Enfant Plaza Station and the bridge across the Potomac River to close for approximately eight months. The Yellow Line tunnel and bridge structures date back to Metro's original construction and are nearing the end of their useful life expectancy. This rehabilitation work is necessary to ensure that both structures continue to function safely for years to come.
What will be the hours of operation and frequencies for the free shuttle bus service?
Hours of Operation
Local shuttle bus service will operate during all hours the rail system is open, express shuttle bus service will be available from 4:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m., and limited shuttle bus service will be available during rush hours only (5 a.m. -9:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. -7 p.m.).
Frequencies
Local service operates every 15-20 minutes
Express service operates 10-15 minutes
Limited service operates 12-20 minutes
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
Thank you for the clear answer.
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
We drove from Baltimore to New Carrolton and got the blue line metro to DC. However, we had to leave at 10:30 to be able to catch the last metro back. We missed 3 songs but it saved the misery of driving in DC and paying for parking.
Great show. The Anthem is a really nice venue. From the balcony though, yeah, tremendous bass and extremely loud. Glad I had ear plugs. The wharf area is pretty cool. Not sure when they cleaned all that up.
...and I have an orange concert tee
JG
"MARKLAR!"
Decided to forgoe the $45 dollar t-shirt this time (have a ton from the early PT shows and Wilson's solo tours) because they just looked uninspired to me. The line was ridiculously long when we entered at 7PM but during the show there was hardly anybody there.
Got to say people stayed in their seats compared to other acts when the bathroom dance goes on all night.
Saw the Chicago show tonight and thought it was amazing.
Same here. Fantastic performance.
Yup, excellent show with a very good set list. Good balance of old and new. We were all the way upstairs in row J, which gave a nice downward view of the stage. The lighting looked great, but 2 things - I thought the band members could have been better lit, and there was one light that was just blinding everyone in our section at various points. I'm not a huge fan of "video content" at concerts, but his stuff was really good. (Having said that, I loved the videos for things like Raven and Routine on Wilson's solo tours). I'm so glad I went. I'd never seen them before. And I didn't have to wait 30 years like I did for UK.
And speaking of parking, I parked at the Hilton on Balbo for under $11!
We paid $16 at the Bell Centre in Montreal/Laval. That's cheap!!
And speaking of parking, I parked at the Hilton on Balbo for under $11!
What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)
$10 at some underground lot in downtown Toronto. Not bad at all!
Neil
A few additional observations about last night’s Chicago Porcupine Tree show. I will not mention any individual songs as I know some are trying to keep the set list a surprise.
Set List:
I thought it was a genuinely nice career overview including a lot of new music. Some of the songs from the new album came across even better live especially with the latest videos. Of course, there were older songs I would have like to have heard, that were left out, but with a catalogue like they have there is no way to hear everything you want.
Performance:
At the beginning of the show Wilson announced that there was an illness going through the band and that some of them were feeling under the weather. It was evident that Wilson’s voice was having issues, and by the end of the night the vocal issues were becoming more apparent. The band actually skipped one of the encore songs that they have been performing, but it was understandable under the circumstances. All that being said, he still sounded good for most of the show and having Randy McStine on stage to help in the vocal department really made a difference. The show itself was almost 3 hours, with an intermission. The lighting and production were all top notch. Porcupine Tree have always been great at using video / films in their shows and last night was no exception. Several old classic videos were brought back along with highly effective visuals for the newer material. The sound started out a little bit muddy at the beginning where we were sitting, but got cleared up fairly quickly. Everyone in the band was on point musically with the core trio of Wilson, Barbieri, and Harrison all given plenty of room to show off. McStine was also given several nice solos and provided lead vocals on occasion.
Theater:
I had never been to The Auditorium theater before, and I was extremely impressed. For a place that is over one hundred years old the venue is very well maintained. The sightlines were all good, and the sound was good. Considering how large the place is the bathroom and concession lines were not bad at all. The bathroom lines looked worse than they were and I could easily hit the bathroom, get a drink at intermission, and make it back to my seat in plenty of time for set two. Of course, drinks were ridiculously overpriced, but that is what you are going to get in downtown Chicago. I would definitely go to another show at this venue.
Crowd:
It was an interesting mix of older and younger people. Sitting next to me were two college students who were too young to have seen Porcupine Tree back when they were together. They seemed to be enjoying the hell out of it. Nick DiVirgilio was sitting about five rows in front of us, and I recognized several Chicago prog musicians / regulars in the audience. I would guess that the audience was about 75% male. I know I have seen complaints here about ticket prices for this tour, but I did not see any empty seats from where I was sitting. Considering it was a 3-hour, full production show I felt like I got my money’s worth.
All in all, if you are on the fence about attending this tour I would highly recommend it. I hope this is not the last that we see / hear from them.
Wilson's voice seemed to be fading towards the end of the DC show.
Three nights in a row was the reason at the time.
I never noticed him taking a drink during the show, perhaps during song transitions ( certainly during the intermission ).
He hasn't gotten to the hot tea cup holder on the mic stand phase of his career, yet.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
-- Aristotle
Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
“A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain
We were sitting far enough away that I could not tell for sure, but I thought I saw him drinking out of a tea / coffee mug near the end of the show.
Anyone here go to the Milwaukee show? Curious how Wilson's voice was holding up?
I saw him in Dallas last night. His voice was ragged on the first song, but he found his voice by the second song and was good almost all the way thru to the encore. His voice was fading out when he finished with " Trains" (he even mentioned that it was going when he introed it. The band seemed to be over their recent heath issue.
For anyone missing Colin Edwin's playing from this line-up, he is all over Stephen Thelen's (Sonar) latest project Fractal Sextet. In my opinion it's some of his most expressive and assured playing since PT's Signify.
Neil
Last edited by boilk; 09-24-2022 at 04:48 PM.
Speaking for myself, what I found utterly ridiculous about Steve's post was this line:AH this is the gist of it - I wouldn't it call it cancel culture, though - Always believed is a form of Dunning-Kruger syndrome - which is OK, we all have it in some degree - there is a natural tendency to consider an internalized opinion a universal truth - which is of course a form of a logical fallacy. But since it has been internalized as core belief... well, people get offended, specially if the disagreeing party is forceful in their statement of their opinion.
Personally, I am more in the camp of, as many have expressed here, respect, but not really for me. I don't own any recordings of either one. They haven't compelled me to spend my money on their art. Spotify has been great as I can listen to the little amount that I do like ( and in the case of Prince is reduced to just two hits ) without having to spend money on stuff that holds to little appeal for me. Does that make me a musical ignoramus? Of course not. I could counter with some stuff that I like that well, is held even in higher regard than either one of them... But that doesn't make me a musical expert either... it is just taste.
To invoke your musical knowledge/experience ("you must not be a musician") it is also a logical fallacy - "argument by authority" - one's own authority!which is kind of funny, but to ME, the one form of that logical fallacy that triggers me, hence my need to mention it.
v
For two reasons. 1) It carried an overt air of superiority, and 2) it showed a major degree of ignorance on the subject being discussed.I stand by what I said, Prince and Bowie's music does nothing for me no matter how "cool" some people think they are, it's just wishy washy radio pop for me.
If he had ever listened to anything more by these two artists, he would know that it's not all just "wishy washy radio pop" (a listen to Station to Station and Sign O' the Times, as just two examples, would cure him of that misconception). Add to that the assertion that the people who like Bowie and Prince only do so because they think they're "cool", and I'm done trying to have a discussion with him.It's absurd. He has exhibited a pattern of behavior that makes me believe he likes to rain on others' parade -- his posting of recent Phil Collins' tour videos in the Genesis 2021 tour thread shortly after the announcement, in an obvious attempt to dampen enthusiasm for the tour by showing us Collins' physical state, was pathetic.
I don't care if he doesn't like Prince's or Bowie's music (or if you don't like it either, even though I feel you're missing out on some pretty cool stuff). Life is too short to be able to spend enough time sampling and enjoying everything the music world has to offer, so I'm content to listen to what I like and keep my useless negative opinions about what I don't like to myself -- because no one is interested in hearing those anyway, and it contributes absolutely nothing to the conversation. It took me a long time to learn that though.
"what's better, peanut butter or g-sharp minor?"
- Sturgeon's Lawyer, 2021
Hey man, I still think you're a nice guy. I was in a bad mood the day I said those things to you, and I'm sorry for saying them.
"what's better, peanut butter or g-sharp minor?"
- Sturgeon's Lawyer, 2021
Sign O the Times is fucking awesome...some crazy creative and intricate stuff on there. Top shelf imo.
We're always good!
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