Cleveland 9/21/09 House of Blues - Porcupine Tree / King's X
Having met up with fellow QQers in the same venue back in 2007 for Fear Of A Blank Planet, I figured I knew what to expect. This time it was a pkg deal with dinner and early entry for some of us because I got tickets thru Residents Of A Blank Planet (fan club). After dinner, we entered the theatre. It was packed and did get to be sweltering at times; I should've stayed in shorts and t-shirt and fared much better. We sure had GREAT seats though! Reserved barstools on either side of the soundboard, about 30 feet from the stage.
Just before King's X was to start, the curtains parted and a single person introduced himself as PT's tour manager. He made us aware that some of the gear was arriving late from L./A. but this only meant that the changeover time between bands would take longer. "Don't listen to the rumors and thanks for your patience." Rock and roll is never on time, this night would be proof but we were on a mission.
King's X played a fine set just shy of 1 hour; they managed a nice blend of new songs (XV album) and classics. My jaw dropped when the second sond was Lost In Germany (1992) as I'd maybe heard them play that once ever in 5 shows I saw over the years. When they finished, Dug announced that they'd come out to the lobby tables to meet us. Not only did I shake hands with each of them and chat for a bit, I managed to get all of their autographs as well. They may rock hard on stage but very thoughtful pleasant and funny up close.
Meanwhile back at the barstools.... I'm AMAZED that the PT crew literally did the setup work in such short order! When they un-crated the effects rack and had a snake (cable) with at least 24 channel inserts to patch to the board and the band mixer was still getting instuction from the house mixer on the board bussing and automation, I wondered how long it would take and what might suffer. But they pulled it off! The sound was spot on and that comes from good crew and attention to a detailed plan. No sound check, but they must've checked all the outputs using headphones; it was all there.
The Incident was played straight through with only a couple breaks of a minute or so. Steven played acoustic guitar much of the time, allowing John Wesley to play some of the monster riffs. Then a quick handoff of the acoustic to sit at the piano or fire up his amazing tone and textured leads on electric guitar. Visuals were astonishing incorporating stills , motion video and all manner of SFX. Again, no soundcheck and it rolled along all timed out almost perfectly. Time Flies is the centerpiece and it soared though the room, although the other songs still reverberate for me. They took a 10 minute break and then....
The Start of Something Beautiful... started the 2nd set. Next song I confess I wasn't sure of; acoustic and maybe off Signify. Anybody? Then Anesthetize (middle section; crowd reacted like it was a hit single), followed by Lazarus, Strip The Soul/.3. Encore was Mother and Chile Divided and then of course Trains. Probably omitting something but quite the enjoyable show top to bottom.
Back to the album:
I think much more of The Incident now than when it first arrived. FOABP was separate songs but locked into a central theme, which limited the range somewhat. The Incident is one song yet the parts each touch on different aspects of life. The more I listen the more it seems unified but in a different way than FOABP. Reading the TI lyrics before hand they seemed really just tossed off like the way you play Scrabble; work with the letters you get. Then in context, they work perfectly!
Having met up with fellow QQers in the same venue back in 2007 for Fear Of A Blank Planet, I figured I knew what to expect. This time it was a pkg deal with dinner and early entry for some of us because I got tickets thru Residents Of A Blank Planet (fan club). After dinner, we entered the theatre. It was packed and did get to be sweltering at times; I should've stayed in shorts and t-shirt and fared much better. We sure had GREAT seats though! Reserved barstools on either side of the soundboard, about 30 feet from the stage.
Just before King's X was to start, the curtains parted and a single person introduced himself as PT's tour manager. He made us aware that some of the gear was arriving late from L./A. but this only meant that the changeover time between bands would take longer. "Don't listen to the rumors and thanks for your patience." Rock and roll is never on time, this night would be proof but we were on a mission.
King's X played a fine set just shy of 1 hour; they managed a nice blend of new songs (XV album) and classics. My jaw dropped when the second sond was Lost In Germany (1992) as I'd maybe heard them play that once ever in 5 shows I saw over the years. When they finished, Dug announced that they'd come out to the lobby tables to meet us. Not only did I shake hands with each of them and chat for a bit, I managed to get all of their autographs as well. They may rock hard on stage but very thoughtful pleasant and funny up close.
Meanwhile back at the barstools.... I'm AMAZED that the PT crew literally did the setup work in such short order! When they un-crated the effects rack and had a snake (cable) with at least 24 channel inserts to patch to the board and the band mixer was still getting instuction from the house mixer on the board bussing and automation, I wondered how long it would take and what might suffer. But they pulled it off! The sound was spot on and that comes from good crew and attention to a detailed plan. No sound check, but they must've checked all the outputs using headphones; it was all there.
The Incident was played straight through with only a couple breaks of a minute or so. Steven played acoustic guitar much of the time, allowing John Wesley to play some of the monster riffs. Then a quick handoff of the acoustic to sit at the piano or fire up his amazing tone and textured leads on electric guitar. Visuals were astonishing incorporating stills , motion video and all manner of SFX. Again, no soundcheck and it rolled along all timed out almost perfectly. Time Flies is the centerpiece and it soared though the room, although the other songs still reverberate for me. They took a 10 minute break and then....
The Start of Something Beautiful... started the 2nd set. Next song I confess I wasn't sure of; acoustic and maybe off Signify. Anybody? Then Anesthetize (middle section; crowd reacted like it was a hit single), followed by Lazarus, Strip The Soul/.3. Encore was Mother and Chile Divided and then of course Trains. Probably omitting something but quite the enjoyable show top to bottom.
Back to the album:
I think much more of The Incident now than when it first arrived. FOABP was separate songs but locked into a central theme, which limited the range somewhat. The Incident is one song yet the parts each touch on different aspects of life. The more I listen the more it seems unified but in a different way than FOABP. Reading the TI lyrics before hand they seemed really just tossed off like the way you play Scrabble; work with the letters you get. Then in context, they work perfectly!
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