Earlier this month, I had the opportunity of seeing Roger Waters' performance of The Wall Live for a second time. This show was seriously worth every penny to see it the two times, the first in Nassau Coliseum and the second at Yankee Stadium.
Yankee Stadium, 7/7/12.
The nature of this show was just massive for both shows, but I thought that the Yankee Stadium performance completely blew away the first time I saw it. Naturally having an indoor show versus an outdoor one, there will be many differences between them. The outdoor atmosphere definitely suited this show better, in addition to the fact that the actually wall itself was much more massive at Yankee Stadium. The wall took up the entire outfield, so if you have ever been to that stadium you can get an idea as to how huge it was.
Here we have "The Show Must Go On" and "In The Flesh" as performed on 7/7/12.
I have to say, this part of the show was really one of my favorites. I still can't get over the massive projection of Roger Waters with the machine gun aiming it at the audience. When I saw it in Nassau, he did not have that added in the show, but that really adds to the dramatic nature of it all.
Now both shows had the pyrotechnics, projections, and the crashing plane.. but an additional thing that the outdoor performance did was in the opening having fireworks shoot up behind the stage. It went perfectly, plus during the opening the sound of the planes spanning across the stadium I thought sounded much more realistic like they really were all around us. The one thing that was a little off in the second show was during "Another Brick in the Wall Part 2", the kids singing the chorus were a little ahead of the rest. But after that song, Roger took a moment to thank them for being with them, for being in front of the massive audience of Yankee Stadium, and how it is very easy to get nervous performing in front of such a mass amount of people. That was really nice, and the little bit that was off didn't take away at all really. For me personally I loved the Yankee Stadium performance more than the Nassau Coliseum one.
Now here we have "Run Like Hell", which is another favorite of mine, this recording being from 10/13/10. This version and the one from the second show were a bit different, but both awesome. The second time I saw it I feel like it was better, but that is also after doing for a year and a half more of touring. So while that first show was amazing, the second really blew it away.
Every aspect of these two shows was amazing, I really loved it all. I wish I could go and see it again, while the tickets were expensive it was worth every penny. I can't possibly accurately describe just how amazing, and really how grand the whole production was, but maybe I was able to convey some of that within this post. Though if you saw anything from this tour, I'm sure you understand just how amazing it was. So, from the Yankee Stadium show I got one of the posters that was specific for that show, seen below.
I'm going to start this off by saying that this is a Steven Wilson appreciation post. By that I shall be going into a discussion of the three times I have seen him live; Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, and his Grace for Drowning tour.
Steven Wilson is a huge inspiration to me, between just absolutely loving all his music, the vast amount of work he has been able to create, his musical integrity, and overall just all that he's accomplished are just mind blowing. He really is my idol, and if I ever get to meet him again I just want to tell him "thank you". For putting his work out there, being the nicest person to his fans, and just never stopping creating music.
Porcupine Tree - 9/24/10 Radio City Music Hall
For those who are unaware the Radio City show was one of two special shows for Porcupine Tree, the second being the show at the Royal Albert Hall in London. These shows were consisting of material that the band has not played in some time, and prepared specifically for those two special evenings.
The show itself consisted of three sets, plus an encore. As an audience we were graced with three wonderful hours of music provided by Porcupine Tree. While everyone would love for the shows that they go to be the ones that are recorded for official release, this show I feel really should have. Either Radio City or the Royal Albert Hall would be wonderful to have, so those of us who went could relive the moment and those who didn't experience a small fraction of it. But I do kind of understand how making a release of that would take away part of the special nature of those shows really being a once in a lifetime moment.
They opened the show by being their own opening act, playing the songs acoustically. Their first set consisted of the following:
01. Stranger By The Minute 02. Small Fish 03. Pure Narcotic 04. Black Dahlia 05. Futile
This recording of "Stranger by the Minute" can give you an idea as to how we began the show.. This was another one of those shows that as the night went on, just got better and better. Below is a video from later on in the show, how they conclude the second set with "Bonnie the Cat".
I wish I could go back to that night just to see it all again.. But for your interest here we have below, the setlists of the rest of the show that night:
Second Set: 06. Even Less | 07. Open Car | 08. Lazarus | 09. Tinto Brass | 10. The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase One) | 11. I Drive the Hearse | 12. Bonnie the Cat
Third Set: 13. Occam's Razor | 14. The Blind House | 15. Great Expectations | 16. Kneel and Disconnect | 17. Drawing the Line | 18. Dislocated Day | 19. Time Flies | 20. Anesthetize | 21. Up the Downstair | 22. Sleep Together
Encore: 23. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
Really, for those people who traveled to see this I know it was worth it. For me going to the city is easy for concerts, you just have to hop a train, but if they did another show like this I would be willing to travel to another state just to see it. It really was amazing, and this being the first time I had seen Porcupine Tree live it was really special for me. Once they return to the studio or to tour, I know I shall be getting tickets to see them as soon as possible. Everyone in the band is such a fantastic musician, and from watching their performance you can tell they just loved playing the show.
Blackfield - 5/20/11 Irving Plaza
Tickets to this show was actually a birthday present from my parents, which was great. This was the first time I had seen Blackfield, as well as Anathema who was the opening act. Now it wasn't the entire band of Anathema because they weren't all able to make it to the US, so just Vincent and Danny Cavanagh playing acoustically. I have to say, they put on such a fantastic show.
Anathema's set from that night was as followed: 01. Thin Air 02. Deep 03. Angels Walk Among Us 04. Lost Control 06. Fragile Dreams 07. One Last Goodbye 08. Flying
Their acoustic performance was just beautiful with so much emotion put into each song. I really hope that they tour the US at some point in the near future so I can see them again, and get to see the whole band. But just meeting those two at the end of the show, they really were extremely nice. They almost seemed surprised that we were saying how much we loved their performance, but they were really great. They had even signed the special edition of We're Here Because We're Here that we bought right after the show. If you haven't listened to them yet, you really are missing out. Now this was when they were touring We're Here Because We're Here, which is fantastic, but make sure to check out their newest album Weather Systems. That album I would say is definitely one of the best released this year. I am hoping that following their current European tour that they come back to the states for a headlining tour of their own.
When Blackfield came on, they put on a great set. I was really close to the front for that show, and I was completely thrilled. The set they did for that night was the following:
01. Blood | 02. Blackfield | 03. Glass House | 04. Go to Hell | 05. Open Mind | 06. Pain | 07. DNA | 08. Waving | 09. 1,000 People | 10. Once | 11. The Hole in Me | 12. Miss U | 13. Zigota | 14. Epidemic | 15. Oxygen | 16. Where Is My Love? | 17. Dissolving with the Night Encore: 18. Far Away | 19. Hello | 20. End of the World | 21. Cloudy Now
The whole concert was just amazing, and I had two nice added bonuses for that show. The first being I got one of Steven Wilson's picks. Now the second is even better.. as you can see to the right I got to meet Steven Wilson. Honestly I was really kind of star stuck since I love his music so I don't recall saying too much, but I did get a photo with him and he was kind enough to sign some stuff. Seriously, he was so nice to everyone who was there at the end I still can't get over it. I had also gotten to meet Aviv Geffen, who also took a picture with me, and Eran Mitelman. It was great, and I am looking forward to the next album and tour that they do, even if Steven Wilson isn't going to have as bi of a part in it.
Grace for Drowning Tour - 11/11/11 Best Buy Theater
This concert stands as one of the best shows I have seen. The amount of talent on that stage, was just completely mind blowing. I wish that it didn't have to end, because I loved every single second I was there. From the moment we got there where they had Bass Communion playing as the crowd walked in up until the beginning of the set, up until the last note.
Here is what the amazing setlist from that night was:
01. No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun | 02. Index | 03. Deform to Form a Star | 04. Sectarian | 05. Postcard | 06. Remainder the Black Dog | 07. Harmony Korine | 08. Abandoner | 09. Like Dust I Have Cleared From My Eye | 10. No Part of Me | 11. Veneno Para Las Hadas | 12. Raider II
Encore: 13. Get All You Deserve
I really wish that I could have seen a second date of this tour, but I am very glad that I got to see it. Every second of this show was just amazing. I don't really have words for it, but I am looking forward to watching the Get All You Deserve blu-ray to sort of relive moments of the show.
"INDEX"
Now this over here is the third in a series that I plan to continue, which is to draw something to connect to a specific concert. This well, is taking the lyrics of the song "Index" and referencing the point in the show when Wilson got out the gas mask. If you are interested I do have this up on deviantART.
I hope that you have enjoyed this accumulated post on the various times I have seen Steven Wilson related projects live. Every single one was amazing in their own way.
Well, I did have this all types out before but apparently it got reset even after being saved.. so here we go again.. I had already posted something similar on tumblr, so this is a bit of reiterating that and expanding upon it. This past week Dream Theater played two nights in a row at The Paramount in Huntington NY, with the opening act of the Crimson Projekct. Both of these bands put on fantastic sets, I would have loved to see them for both nights.
Well the Crimson Project had played for about 45 minutes, but I really thought they could have been on for longer. Every minute of their performance was just mind blowing, I would love to see a whole concert of just them as the main act in the future.
To the left here is a photo of the setlist that my mom had gotten at the end of the show. Now while we didn't get the set for the Crimson Projekct (unfortunately), here is what it was:
01. B'Boom
02. THRAK
03. Dinosaur
04. Elephant Talk
05. Red
06. Frame by Frame
07. Thela Hun Ginjeet
08. Indiscipline
As I was going on with before, every musician on stage was fantastic. While some of the people around me didn't appreciate it as much as I
did, I suppose their music isn't for everyone, but if you like King
Crimson at all you will absolutely love them. They were all very skilled musicians, played great together, and you could just tell from their performance that they were really enjoying themselves.
The Crimson Projekct
The night really kept getting better and better as it went on. Dream Theater was just amazing and put on over a two hour set. Every aspect of their show was just amazing; from the visuals, energy on stage, and musicianship, it was all amazing. Just seeing their performance and how technically skilled they all are, it's something that is really inspiring. Knowing that a band from the island got so far in their career and doing what they love, it's just something that makes you feel really good about what you can accomplish if you put your mind to it.
Rudess and Petrucci soloing.
Now I had looked up the set for Thursday's show, and they did change the set a bit. For that show Dream Theater did a cover of "Paradigm Shift" with Tony Levin on bass, and then as an encore they covered "21st Century Schizoid Man"
with the whole Crimson Projekct playing along with them.
Overall I am very glad that I got to see them at this show, and I really enjoyed every moment of the show. This was my second time getting to see Dream Theater live, the first being when they opened for Iron Maiden at Madison Square Garden in 2010. While I didn't get to see both shows as some people I know did, I am just so happy I got to see them at all. I can not wait until they come around again, I know I'll be sure to see their show.
Now to conclude this, here is a video of "The Dark Eternal Night" from Systematic Chaos at Wednesday night's show.
It has come to my attention that I seem to lack any posts on this blog. So, what I plan on blogging about here are the various concerts I have seen or am going to see. I'll also include posts on various other music related things, as well as other miscellaneous topics that strike my fancy.
I suppose one thing that I shall start with is the postings about concerts I have seen in the past, highlighting ones that I particularly loved. Now I have already a decent amount of posts on concerts over on my tumblr, but I think here would be a nice place to have the music (and some art) posts the main focus of the blog.
2006 - 2009:
11/2/06 Elton John, 4/25/09 Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, 7/3/09 The Stoop Kids, 10/29/09 We The Living
2010:
3/5/10 Muse, 4/17/10 Itzhak Perlman, 4/30/10 Hammer of the Gods, 4/30/10 Hammer of the Gods, 6/12/10 Iron Maiden, 9/24/10 Porcupine Tree, 10/9/10 New York Philharmonic, 10/13/10 Roger Waters: The Wall Live, 10/23/10 Muse, 11/24/10 Ian Anderson, 12/1/10 Ozzy Osbourne, 12/11/10 Patti LuPone
2011:
1/23/11 Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie, 1/29/11 Video Games Live, 2/4/11 Linkin Park, 2/20/11 Aaron Lewis, 3/20/11 Elton John, 4/16/11 St. Petersburg Philharmonic, 5/20/11 Blackfield, 8/5/11 God Is An Astronaut, 9/25/11 Optic, 9/26/11 Sonia Leigh, 11/6/11 Korn, 11/11/11 Steven Wilson, 11/12/11 Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 12/11/11 Between The Buried and Me, 12/21/11 Trans-Siberian Orchestra, 12/28/11 Phish
2012 (so far):
1/6/12 New York Philharmonic, 2/17/12 Soweto Gospel Choir of South Africa, 2/18/12 Optic, 2/25/12 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, 3/10/12 Dresden Philharmonic, 3/17/12 Optic, 3/24/12 Herbie Hancock, 3/31/12 Optic, 4/11/12 Mastodon, 4/28/12 Kayo Dot, 4/29/12 Marilyn Manson, 5/8/12 Korn, 5/19/12 Primus, 5/23/12 Meshuggah, 6/1/12 Radiohead, 6/15/12 Mogwai, 7/3/12 Phish, 7/7/12 Roger Waters: The Wall Live, 7/13/12 Optic, 7/18/12 Dream Theater, [...to be expanded]
Now what I just have listed above is the concerts that I have seen so far, whether it be at a larger venue for a band, a professional orchestra, or for small venue with lesser known bands. At a later date I plan on going into detail about some of these past concerts, as well as including the setlist and any photos that I myself took. But in the meantime, feel free to look at the concerts I have posted about on my other blog (that are in this post and this tag). The only things that may not be included in this are much smaller concerts from either a backyard, or something similar. This also currently does not list any supporting bands for the concerts, only the main act or at least my main reason of going if it is concerning the smaller shows.
