Four years ago I landed on Mytilini for the first time, scared and literally treading in dark waters, and right into Mario’s and HM’s world… Just thought I’d celebrate and maybe remember the post I wrote 2 years ago, for when that “four” used to be “two”…
Back then, I catalogued what had changed since I had first set my foot on Gasmaland. So much has changed within me in those two years, I can neither think nor bother to write it all down. Only looking at that post, it’s clear to me. I wonder if it is to anyone else out there possibly reading my egocentric chronicles? Sometimes, it’s only the inside that changes and it’s only us that feels the difference. But isn’t the outside just a reflection of the inside? Or is it only when the inside has changed so much that it’s literally bursting at the seems, that it finally manages to show?
I’ve been listening to Porcupine Tree since 2004. I wasn’t even 16 years old then. My first contact with them was by listening to The Sky Moves Sideways… It was just right for me then: I was a developing Floyd fan and I could really relate with their sound as it was when they (him? Porcupine Tree was little more than Steven Wilson’s pet band that early) did it, their prog rock side shining through… It didn’t take long for me to listen to In Absentia in all its glory as well, and a few months later their newest album, Deadwing, was released. And then I started actively following them.
It was July 2005 when they played in Lycabettus Theater together with Blackfield and Van Der Graaf Generator, under a full moon. Back then, they had played 9 songs; some of them I didn’t know. I was there with my friend George. Porcupine Tree hadn’t grown enough on me for me to truly have a great time but I liked it nonetheless. I was a fledgling rocker anyhow (I consider myself a fledgling rocker even today).
It took Porcupine Tree another 5 years to re-visit Greece and Athens. Within those years, there’s been great change inside of me. I was 16 back then, I’m 21 today, that’s obvious enough… But I feel that whatever I like about Porcupine Tree grew up with me as well, it matured. The years passed and I loved them more and more. Their music accompanied me through times happy, sad, hard and carefree. It inspired me, mystified me. Fear of a Blank Planet and The Incident came out within those years and I was there to celebrate. These guys’ music even served as my initial common ground with Maaike and anything that relationship, quotes or no, ever symbolised or tought me. To summarise: Within 6 short years, Porcupine Tree developed into my favourite band.
So of course it was a special moment when I learned that they would be coming this year and what a surprise: they’d be playing in Technopolis, one of the coolest places in central Athens. So the months passed and the night came! I left the day before yesterday from Mytilini to be here in Athens on time for the concert and I’m leaving again for my beloved little island town tonight. ~24 hours worth of hanging around ship interiors, studying and reading The Drawing of The Three. I could honestly take twice as much for what I experienced yesterday. And on my own was great. Neni, of course, in one of her usual bouts of derangement decided not to take the opportunity to even come to the concert on her own, let alone with me. Not that I cared in the end: I was able to take it all in with no distractions in my head. What can I say? Her loss. That’s the least I can say.
The ‘Tree gave a fantastic performance. I wish I could be at the railing but I was just half a meter behind! I would have managed to be at the railing if not for a few friends that I met and gave the extra ticket to, but I didn’t mind at the end, we had a good time after the concert! 😉
So! What did they play?
The Setlist:
Occam’s Razor
The Blind House
Great Expectations
Kneel and Disconnect
Drawing the Line
Open Car
Lazarus
Russia on Ice (part 1)
Anesthetize (part 2)
Time Flies
Degree Zero of Liberty
The Séance
Circle of Manias
Normal
Way Out of Here
Sleep Together
Encore:
Stars Die
Blackest Eyes
Trains
Highlights:
Right when they came out and started playing Occam’s Razor, at one of the pauses it seemed as if there was something wrong with Steven’s guitar, which might actually have been the case. But he just made it look as if it was just dramatic idling.It was suspenseful! And then of course came The Blind House.
Open Car in last night’s show had a brand new breakdown! We were all ecstatic, looking at eachother in crazy disbelief. Check it out in this video that, strangely, has not been taken down. 2:10 marks the spot.
Russia on Ice together with Anesthetize? What an inspiration! Steven did a trick where he played his chords by just kind of slapping the strings there. It was impressive!
I didn’t expect to like the 2nd part of The Incident, that is, the songs after Time Flies, but the band managed to give them some kind of energy that was absent on the recording. I liked that…
After they finished their standard setlist with Way Out of Here and SleepTogether, they left the stage. I always find encores funny, how the artists just leave the stage like that. It’s as if they’re saying “Klain” to everyone! 😀 Anyway, they came back of course and Steven said: “We have some of the older songs for you tonight…” He had already mentioned it at the beginning, but it was really happening! And we were all like: “what might they have in store for us tonight?”, you could smell the anticipation in the air. We hoped their guilt for leaving us with no Porcupine Tree for 5 years would be enough for them to do something special, at least they sounded guilty when Steven said “we hope you haven’t forgot us” or something to that extent… And it begun with Stars Die.
And here’s your proof, the best quality I did find… The song took me back to when I had first listened to PT. It was one of the first songs of theirs that I had come to love. And I remember Giorgos, an old friend of mine, telling me he’d told a girl he was hitting on, drunk of course: “Stars die, stars die…” I dedicate this memory to him. 🙂 Incidentally (pun unintended), he was the one that introduced me to Porcupine Tree. Cheers mate. We need to talk more.
And then came Blackest Eyes and Trains (Fanis would have gone wild with this one). I’ll leave the following do the talking. By the way, you can listen to me cheering and making happy noises and remarks at least at 2:07 and 4:14, that ETSI REEEE!! must be me… I’m not sure! I was somewhere around there. Also notice, at the end of the concert, how Gavin does his magic trick (hard to see on the video) and Richard produces a suitable sound effect and Colin took out his video camera and recorded the whole scene, including the wild crowd (that’s us)! Yeah! I can’t imagine the guys just sitting in a couch, watching crowd videos from the tour and making funny comments. I would actually pay money for such a deep behind-the-scenes.
EDIT!: THEY DELETED IT! THESE ASSHOLES! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT… :'( YOU’RE NOT EARNING ANY RESPECT OR FANS FOR THIS, YOU KNOW…
I sung every song at the top of my voice. I headbanged and rocked with my whole body. I got lost in memories and created even better ones at this concert. I had the chance to see them live again and it was awesome. Gavin is the best drummer alive, Richard is a master of atmosphere, I’d like to have Colin’s coolness and bass guitar skills, and Steven is a bare-foot musical genius with incredible live energy and style. John Wesley, their guest guitarist and backing vocalist for the tour, melted girls’ hearts yesterday in addition to playing superbly… Thanks for a great show, at a great place, with great music.
Have a look at their older setlists in Athens, however, and tell me how awesome it must have been to see them play stuff off Lightbulb Sun, for example…
Oh, Anathema also played… Meh… These are the songs they played, they really weren’t anything special in my opinion. Don’t know their old songs, of course, nor did I catch them at their hayday.
EDIT:
Maybe not all that much has changed after all… has it?
