Porcupine Tree @ The Vic Theatre in Chicago - 9/22

Porcupine Tree is the greatest rock band that no one has heard of. While they have amassed quite a large following in Europe, it’s been an uphill battle catching on in the United States. To their credit, however, Porcupine Tree has simply been chugging away and going on tour after tour – winning loyal fans along the way.

Porcupine Tree’s most recent tour brought them to the Vic Theatre in Chicago on September 22nd in support of their new album, The Incident. A double cd, The Incident is one 55 minute track on the first CD and a second EP length CD with a few more tracks from the same recording sessions. The Incident is a complex, spiraling album that builds on the heavier sound Porcupine Tree has been fostering recently with In Absentia and Fear of a Blank Planet but also adds in more piano and mellow vocal lines.

I got to the sold out show just as King’s X was finishing their set – the last few songs they played were full of energy but the sound could have been better – it was difficult to hear the vocals over the rest of the mix.

Porcupine Tree came on to a roar from the audience, and immediately launched into “Occam’s Razor”, part 1 of their 55 minute epic from The Incident. I recently picked up the album and gave it a few spins before the show so I was familiar with the material but looking around I did see a few blank faces for the first 10-20 minutes of the show. To the band’s credit, though, even those people who had not yet heard The Incident seemed to really get into the performance about halfway through the first set.

Although technically one long 55 minute song, it’s actually broken up into separate tracks and there were some obvious highlights: “The Blind House”, “Time Flies”, and “I Drive the Hearse” really got the crowd going. At the last few shows I’ve seen, Porcupine Tree has been creating videos to go along with the songs and this concert was no exception – Every piece of music they played had some dark, pink floydian visuals that went perfectly with the band’s sound and lyrics.

After a short break between sets (the band actually put a timer counting down from 10 minutes up on the main screen, nice touch) Porcupine Tree launched into their second set with “The Start of Something Beautiful” followed by “Russia on Ice” (during which Steven Wilson (composer, singer, guitarist) used a very unique instrument on this song – a guitar that had a moving stream of colors and shapes on its body.. breathtaking). It’s always great to hear older material from a band you’re familiar with, but even better when the songs are played differently than usual – Porcupine Tree played an abridged version of “Anesthetize” that sounded aggressive and angry.. a completely different vibe than on the original recording, and it gave me a new perspective on the song.

“Remember Me Lover” was next, and this was the first time that Porcupine Tree had ever peformed the song live. A wonderful piece of music, “Remember Me Lover” starts very slowly and builds to a full out sonic landscape. Porcupine Tree went on to play “Strip the Soul”, “3” and “Way Out of Here” and after another short break came back on stage for an encore of “The Sound of Muzak” and “Trains”.

The sound from Porcupine Tree was absolutely stunning – crystal clear highs and crunchy, raucous lows. Colin Edwin (bass), Gavin Harrison (drums) and Richard Barbieri (keyboards) are always standout performers and amazing in their roles, but the real magic these past few tours for me has come from John Wesley (guitar, backing vocals) – the vocal harmonies that Wesley and Wilson execute in the live show are as close to perfect as I’ve seen.

Overall one of the best Porcupine Tree shows I’ve been to, the only thing that I have to complain about is the lighting at the Vic Theatre.. It was simply too dark on stage to see the band clearly. Obviously this didn’t take away from the music at all, but I think it detracted from the performance in a small way.

Edit: Whoops! Thanks for the comments, guys - it was indeed during "Russia on Ice" and not "Remember Me Lover" that Steven Wilson used the LCD guitar.