In a time when the sonic landscape of most bands’ music is littered with tired and re-hashed riffs, frivolous lyrics, and directionless angst one could easily lose faith in the idea of music as a stepping stone to a higher consciousness. And while this idea may sound a bit lofty or even arrogant, it is in fact the foundation upon which many bands of the 60’s and 70’s were realized. But the music industry these days seems to have less and less to do with the creation of anything real and lasting every year.

Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, and Peter Green are just a few of these esoteric sorts of bands that members of Porcupine Tree have cited as influences. Steven Wilson (lead singer, main songwriter, and producer for Porcupine Tree) said in a past interview about the origins of the band, "It was something that I started doing as soon as I had the money to buy my own studio equipment. When you've got a studio in your house you tend to do things you wouldn't do when you're paying to go into a professional studio, where you're watching the clock all the time. The one thing I wanted to do, because I had a great love of late 60's/early 70's psychedelic and progressive music, was to make my own slant on that."

The make-up of the crowd at a concert is generally a good indication of how broad a band’s appeal is across multiple generations and genres of music. At this show specifically it was rather difficult to pin down just one major demographic in attendance – scattered around the Park West were Porcupine Tree fans ranging from mom, dad, and the kids to groups of metal heads forming mini moshpits, to 30 and 40-something mega fans of Rush and Genesis wearing 100% cotton memories of concerts they attended in the 70’s and 80’s.

The obvious diversity of the crowd attests to the nature of Porcupine Tree’s musical roots and the type of songs they create. Never happy to linger in a single musical moment, they have effortlessly slipped in and out of multiple genres throughout their career: from psychedelic pop to rambling electronic noise – from sentimental acoustic numbers to multi-layered pinkfloydian excess to searing metal. Not an old band, but a prolific one, the Tree was conceived in 1987 and in that time have released 9 studio albums, not to mention countless live albums, singles, and other special releases. Porcupine Tree performed their newest release, Fear of a Blank Planet, in its entirety at the Park West along with other scattered songs from their discography. The album encapsulates much of the band’s musical history to create a dark, musical landscape containing all of the aforementioned elements.

This tour was Porcupine Tree’s biggest production to date and the band used massive visuals on all sides of the venue to portray some of the lyrical concepts from their latest disc, among them how videogames, television, and the internet have in some cases become a substitute for parenting as well as the willingness of people to accept drugs as a solution to the smallest problems from giant pharmaceutical companies who don’t care about anything past the point of sale.

The sound was nothing less than incredible at the Park West, which is probably why Porcupine Tree chose to film their last DVD there fairly recently. The band always gets a good reception in Chicago, and this time around had to book the venue twice on the tour because the first show sold out so quickly. Always a tight performance, Porcupine Tree took to the stage with a little more control than I’m used to from past performances. The band really excels at changing the atmosphere of a venue in a split second by shifting the tempo and temperament of a song in just the right places. They’ve always looked and sounded comfortable playing to a crowd but now it’s more than that… seasoned, maybe.

Highlights from the show include the almost 20 minute epic song, Anesthetize, from their newest album - as well as every minute of drummer Gavin Harrison’s performance. Gavin is a fairly recent addition to the Porcupine Tree lineup (2002) but has been received very well by fans and is being honored with the prestigious “Best Prog Rock Drummer” award by Modern Drummer magazine this year. The concert was not without its problems, though. Steven Wilson, the driving force behind the Tree, was having a few slight pitch problems with his vocals throughout the show and there was a technical glitch with the visuals about halfway through their set. Thankfully though the visuals were soon fixed, and John Wesley (backing vocals and guitars) really stepped up the vocals with a stunning performance (while only officially a member of the band in concert, he did contribute vocals in the studio for Fear of a Blank Planet).

Do yourself a favor and give this band a chance to draw you in – you can stream songs from the new album for free at http://www.porcupinetree.com/