Porcupine Tree
Closure/Continuation. Live. Amsterdam 07/11/22
Music For Nations/Megaforce Records
Porcupine Tree is a band I’ve heard about for years but somehow never got around to checking out. I’d see them mentioned when reading about Prog bands that I liked back in the day, like Genesis and Yes. My personal tastes moved away from Prog around the same time Porcupine Tree was getting started in the 1980s, so I never made an effort to track them down. Thanks to Steve Hackett and Rick Wakeman, my interest in Prog has been rekindled. When this live album by Porcupine Tree came up as a review opportunity, I jumped on the chance to check out a band I’ve heard good things about but know next to nothing about.
The studio album Closure/Continuation came out in 2022, marking the end of a 12-year hiatus. The new Closure/Continuation. Live. Amsterdam 07/11/22 CD/DVD was recorded at Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome in 2022. The lineup for this tour features Steven Wilson on guitar and vocals, Richard Barbieri on keyboards, and Gavin Harrison on drums. Randy McStine and Nate Navarro have been added to the lineup for the tour on guitar and bass, respectively. Porcupine Tree play the entire Closure/Continuation album, but mix it with the other highlights of the band’s career. Five of the songs are from the 2002 release, In Absentia.
So what does a complete newb think of Porcupine Tree, now that I’ve listened to this two-plus-hour set multiple times? I’m impressed. They fluidly incorporate everything from metal to techno in a flavorful musical stew. They manage to avoid the pitfalls of ’70s Prog — instrumentalists showing off at the expense of the song — while using their abundant skills to further the music. On a song like “Harridan,” they take you though a variety of moods and textures. The guitars punch with metal might when it serves the song; at other points, Richard Barbieri’s keyboard textures dominate. Through the whole song, Gavin Harrison’s drums add melodic rhythmic flourishes, making them as much a lead instrument as a rhythmic one. On “I Drive the Hearse,” the band can ease back into an atmospheric trance with Navarro’s bass sounding like a lead instrument. The band close the show with the closest thing they’ve had to a hit: “Trains.”
I didn’t have a chance to watch the full DVD of the concert, but the tracks I previewed on YouTube look great. If I ever get the chance, I’ll try to catch Porcupine Tree live. In the meantime, there is a very deep catalog for me to check out when I have the time.
