If you look back through previous reviews you will see my review for Fear of a Blank Planet. This recording is the culmination of that tour whereby on the last leg they played the album in it’s entirety plus the tracks from the Nil Recurring EP – except funnily enough not the track Ni Recurring, although it does appear on the Blu-ray as a projection film.
This version is the lavish 4LP box set that came out on Dutch label Tonefloat. Quite apt really as this was recorded at the 013 in Tilburg. This is the second live album by PT, the first of which was Coma Divine recorded in the band’s more tripping psychedelic era.
The live set up of Porcupine Tree see the band complimented with an extra band member, which is John Wesley who plays guitar and backing vocals, which is great as he fills the sound out nicely. I caught this tour in Toronto when they passed through and I loved every second of it. The songs come across a lot heavier live as to what they are on album, which is no bad thing as it adds to the atmos. If I remember rightly the show was split into two as the band went off and came back after they had played Blank Planet.
As per my original review, Blank Planet was the pinnacle of their recorded output and this tour, a high point even though the Incident tour after this saw bigger attendances. The band at this point were super tight and special mention goes to drummer Gavin Harrison whose performance is outstanding – some of his fills are jaw dropping. You get the sense that the band knew this was a special occasion as they give their all.
PT use a lot of visuals when they play to enhance the songs to the max, and when you are used to seeing them that way it does leave an empty feeling when listening to the vinyl. Nevertheless, the songs are strong enough to stand alone and the performances of each song are nothing short of amazing. The second half of the set consists of songs in their back catalogue going back as far as the Sygnify album – highlight for me being Halo.
Unfortunately the band doesn’t exist anymore as Steven Wilson now has a very successful solo career, and the prospect of PT getting back together is very slim. This live album is a great testimony to what was one of modern progs greatest bands. Definitely one of the best live albums around.
9/10 from The Grooveman.
