Blackfield in NYC May 1

[Eli Friedman]

I hadn't seen this mentioned here recently at least. I was fortunate to attend this show last night at the Best Buy Theater off Times Square in New York. The previous time I saw Steve Wilson there on his Raven tour there was a much higher attendance and the rear seated section was filled with seated fans. Last night the attendance wasn't as overwhelming so the seated section in the rear was closed off, making it a standing only gig. There was a nice crowd filling the large room, but not an elbow to elbow crush. John Wesley opened the show fronting his band, which consisted of a bass/stick player, drummer, and very hot, fast, psychedelic styled guitarist. They played a 45 minute set of mostly songs from their new album, which is currently streaming on progstreaming.com. I found it very enjoyable, and I can't help saying that it evoked the heavier side of Porcupine Tree's back catalog. After a half hour break Blackfield came on and played a really great 100 minute set. They played a broad range of really great songs off all 4 of their CDs, and I was pretty surprised to see how many hard core fans knew all the words. The crowd was really into the show, even after being teased by Wilson for showing their American enthusiasms by shouting between numbers. He explained that English people don't do that, that they're very sensitive and write songs about it. Aviv Geffen mentioned during the show that it was a difficult emotional evening for him because he had received news earlier in the day that a close relative of his had passed away in Israel, and he dedicated a song to his passed family member, and mentioned that playing music was always a cure for him. The show was extremely well played and high energy, and pretty much alternated between Steve and Aviv on a song by song basis. It seemed to me that Steve might have done more vocal duties than Aviv over the evening, but only by a tiny margin. Its also really nice to see Steve in a lead guitar role in this band, which he fulfilled wonderfully. The evening concluded with the participation of a guest: Jordan Rudess, who totally shined on a lengthy keyboard intro, and solo break which also included him rocking some heavily synthesized tones out of some small pad like device. Sadly this was Blackfield's only show in North America and their last show. They definitely went out in a blaze of glory, and Aviv made some very warm remarks about thanking Steve for bringing Aviv's music to the world outside of Israel. Steve and Aviv seemed to be in heavy mutual admiration mode all night.

[Dave G]

I was there - great show!
enjoyed it thoroughly

[rushfan]

I also attended the show last night with my wife. I love these one off shows like the DVD performance in 2007 at the Bowery Ballroom, the PT show from 2010 at Radio City and last night's final Blackfield appearance with Steven. There is a camaraderie at these shows that make them special. Steven joked about how he is accustomed to writing songs that are usually 20 minutes in length and how it contrasts with Aviv's ability to write shorter pop songs. Tbese two guys have a great friendship and respect for each other that resonated through the show. A lot of clips from the show can be found on youtube if you search by upload date. Setlist below:


Faking
Blackfield
Pills
Miss U
My Gift of Silence
Pain
DNA
Go to Hell
(Dedicated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu)
Jupiter
Dissolving with the Night
Where Is My Love?
1,000 People
Some Day
Once
Summer
Oxygen
Hello
Encore:
Glow
(performed by Aviv Geffen and Eran Mitelman)
End of the World
Cloudy Now
(with Jordan Rudess)

[Eli Friedman]

Thanks a lot for the setlist. I get too caught up in the moment to remember all the titles and the song order. I'm glad you could provide that.

[rushfan]

Oh, believe me, this was not my creation. I got this from setlist.fm which usually has this info. Glad you enjoyed the show.

[marltonfan]

When I saw black field a few years ago in Philly they were a great live band. Sorry to see them go

[ScottAM]

Thanks for the review for those of us who couldn't be there but would have loved to. Did you notice if they were filming it for a farewell DVD?

I love Steven's solo career, but I'm sorry to see him closing shop on so many of his other projects. It doesn't seem to speed up his release time of solo releases, either. So, is he just spending his extra time doing remixes of other relic artists, and mixing some current ones (like the forthcoming Opeth)? It's his life to do what he wants, but I'd much rather hear new releases & see new tours of Blackfield, Porcupine Tree, No-Man, etc... than get remixes of Yes and Tull's back catalog, as much as I love those and other artists. He obviously enjoys that, but it seems like a mis-use of his creative genius to me. I guess not to him. Maybe in 5 years he'll get that out of his system, and be driven to actually release one or two CDs a year under one name or another.

[skysaw]

Steven produced the upcoming solo album from Tim Bowness, which I guess is as close to a No-Man album that we'll see for awhile.

[Eli Friedman]

Unfortunately it did not appear to me as if the show was being video recorded in any way. It was a very special night and deserves its own document. Perhaps a live CD isn't out of the question.