Porcupine Tree

Park West, Chicago

I went to this concert with pretty high expectations, since PT was one of my newest favorite bands. Robert Fripp was the opening act, and his guitar work with King Crimson (who I saw at the same venue about 2 years ago) was another reason for optimistic anticipation. Boy, was I ever surprised once the show began.
Throw expectations out the window – this was one of the best concerts I have seen in years from a musical standpoint. It started with Robert Fripp sitting alone on stage, playing his Frippertronics rack to create ambient soundscapes. While that was happening, he had a slide show backdrop of old King Crimson band pictures, backstage concert stills, and photos of himself as a young person. It was like a travelogue with soundtrack, and it was extremely interesting to experience. Fripp played for about 45 minutes and then walked offstage.
Then came the Tree, which started as a project by Stephen Wilson back in the early 90s. The band now has 4 full-time members, all of them virtuoso-level performers who can zip through complex time signatures and genre changes with ease. Wilson’s songwriting has evolved over the years, and it is now a very orchestral progressive rock, leaning more to mid-period Pink Floyd and Genesis. Songs will mutate from acoustic guitar and voice to synth-dominant orchestral passages that evolve into hard rock with a twinge of metal before swirling back to the original mellow riff – and it works seamlessly.
The only less-than-perfect component were the backdrop images during PT’s performance, which were often more distracting than supporting in my estimation. But the tightness of the band and crispness of the sound more than compensated. Seeing a band this powerful in an intimate, 1,000-seat venue was truly inspiring. It turns out that this concert was taped for an upcoming live DVD – so any reader can check it out and experience the show too. If you appreciate innovative, progressive rock music, then you owe it to yourself to check out this DVD or any of the recent Porcupine Tree releases.

- Reviewed by Dennis Collins

American Music Club
Old Town School of Folk Music in Chicago, April 2004
San Francisco-based AMC was groomed to become the next big thing in the early 1990s, but never developed more than a cult following. That's a shame, because this is an exceptional band with an original lyricist and vocalist in Mark Eitzel. His alcoholism probably doomed the band and his career, but I was lucky enough to catch lightning in a bottle one cold evening in April when the band re-formed and played a three-city tour that stopped in Chicago. The Old Town School of Folk Music is a wonderful venue to hear a band like AMC and the band was in top form this evening, performing a blistering rendition of songs from their entire catalog. As Eitzel swallowed more and more alcohol that evening, things started to spin out of control, but that only made the performance more special. In the song, "Sick of Food," Eitzel sings, "Sometimes I wake up and I still haven't any gravity," and I believe he's telling the truth. Only a 100 or so diehards witnessed this show, but if AMC ever catches on, thousands will probably brag that they were there.
- Reviewed by Mike Nikolich