Time Flies

It's been a good week so far for yours truly.

If you know me at all, you probably know that I'm darn near obsessive about the British band Porcupine Tree.

I've wanted to see them for years. They came through a few years back when I was in grad school, but I think it was in October sometime, and mid-terms made it impossible for me to go.

So when they announced a Dallas date on their current tour for the brilliant The Incident, I simply had to go. I asked around, and soon a PT posse of Toland, Leigh, and Bond assembled.

We had a fine little dinner gathering here at the Ponderosa beforehand. Along with the aforementioned PT posse, Renee' came, as well as her daughter Megan and her boyfriend Josh. We whipped up some pasta, played some guitar, and generally had a loose, relaxed time.

(Thank you again, everyone, for sharing a meal and hanging out).

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The four of us made it to the House of Blues in time to catch most of Bigelf, a thudding quartet built around Mellotron, Orange amps, and... beards. Really though, I kinda dug 'em, even if I did keep expecting them to bust out with "Highway Star."

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Porcupine Tree took the stage shortly after a voice on the PA warned us that no photographs were allowed.

Steven Wilson et al did The Incident just about in its entirety. I personally love that CD, and the band's obvious dedication to putting on a good show made it pretty electrifying.

The second half of the show was devoted to material from the rest of their catalog. Honestly, this is a band that could probably play for four hours and still not satisfy every fan. They've been around for a lot of years, and have put out a lot of good songs, many of which are rather long. I enjoyed hearing "Way Out of Here," "Sentimental," "Lazarus," "The Sound of Muzak," and of course, "Trains." I wish they would have played "Open Car" or especially "Arriving Somewhere," but man, it's hard to complain about a show as good as that one.

And you know, the band seemed to really enjoy themselves. They've been touring for quite some time now, yet were cutting up onstage with little magic tricks. Wilson also mentioned that their short set at Coachella had left them "constipated," so they were glad to be able to have some musical release.



(Oh you knew I'd take some pics, didn't you?)

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It was great to catch up with Michael and Leigh yesterday, swapping songs and stories. Easy, as always. Thanks again, everyone. A big thanks to Bond for doing so much of the legwork to make this happen.