This is fate

This is your escape

Leave here now

it’s over

This show was announced way after all the other dates, but with Bratislava being just an hour drive from Vienna (I joke that it’s basically a suburb), it suited me perfectly fine! The venue is some sort of converted art and community space in an old oil refinery, so it was outside of the city center, and we drove there after doing some sightseeing. We had just gotten out of the car and were looking for the main entrance, when a van dropping off the entire band pulled up! They had crew with them as well, and were busy with their bags, so we didn’t approach them, although I had the Munich setlist with me I would’ve loved to get signed, but it just didn’t seem appropriate. Steven had also been sick the past few shows, and he was wearing slippers, so there was no way I would’ve stopped him in the cold anyway, I didn’t want to have his voice on my conscience! Some time later, we heard them soundcheck Nowhere Now and parts of Pariah.

The first thing we noticed once inside was how low the screen and lights at the back of the stage were hanging—coupled with a relatively high stage, it looked like half the screen would be cut off, but since there was a support act at this show, we didn’t think much of it at this point, and figured that they’d raise it up some more during the change-over. David Kollar was supporting—a Slovak guitarist who featured on To The Bone (on Song of I and Detonation—this was something I learned that day, oops), and already supported him at the first show I saw, in Vienna. His set consisted of what seemed like one long piece of music again (although I find it hard to tell with instrumental music I’m not familiar with, so I wouldn’t swear on it—it might’ve been separate songs, and he just played them seamlessly), and it’s really fascinating to watch him, he’s clearly talented and passionate about the instrument, but not the sort of stuff I’d otherwise seek out—I need vocals to really fall in love with an artist, but I can appreciate his technical talent. I loved when all his pre-recorded loop parts finally kicked in though, that sounded amazing, but it was towards the end of his set, while most of it was more on the ambient side compared to what I remember from last year. Reception was much better though, since he was on home ground, and he seemed to know quite a few people in the audience. A crew member vacuumed the stage after David Kollar’s set-up was dismantled so Steven wouldn’t hurt his bare feet, and he got such big applause that he took a bow with flourish, it was funny!

The lights and screen were unfortunately not raised any higher: I could only see the upper third of the screen from where I was standing, and the lights were often in my eyes (which also explains the weird tint all my pictures seem to have, as well as the lens flare in the cover photo). I didn’t mind not seeing the screens that much, I’ve seen the show often enough after all, and I kind of enjoyed the really shabby, industrial looking concert hall with its exposed air ducts (quite the change from my last show at the fancy Philharmonie in Munich earlier that week!), but I felt a bit bad for the people around me who were seeing him for the first time and didn’t get the full visual experience.

Apart from the venue, something else seemed different from the very first few songs: There’s usually little variation in Nowhere Now and Pariah, they are pretty straight-forward, but Steven was exceptionally active (perhaps ‘restless’ would be the better word) even during those songs. He greeted the audience saying that it was their first time in Slovakia, better late than never, adding that while “fun” is not a word usually associated with his music, they like to have fun on stage and want us to do the same… he knows people come to his shows to get depressed though, and there’d be plenty of that to come later. He also said that they respond well to enthusiasm, but that he doesn’t think he needs to tell the Slovaks that, usually it’s the German and British audiences that need some prompting in that regard, haha. He also mentioned that he would prefer no pictures being taken, so I only took a few sneaky shots this evening to respect his wishes.

Home Invasion and Regret #9 followed, and both went incredibly hard this evening! I remembered that he once said in an interview that the secret of his glasses not flying off when he head-bangs is that they are tied at the back of his head, but now that he no longer has the long hair to hide it and there’s clearly nothing there, I’m not quite sure if he was taking the piss, but I can only stress again how very active he was tonight. At one point he also seemed to get fascinated by something on the ceiling, he pointed and stared at it for so long that I looked up to see if anything was there. During the interval, before I could remark on it, A. said that he felt that Steven was ‘weird’ tonight, and would’ve said drugs if he didn’t know any better. Since it wasn’t just me I can’t just write it off, and we suspect that he might’ve been medicated pretty heavily because of his bad cold—Creator supported this theory. He turned his face away from the mic to cough between pretty much every verse, hit his chest while singing, seemed to be in actual pain in parts (he clutched at the base of his throat a few times), and he could not get the “pills and chloroform” lines out properly, they were really croaky and petered out to nothing, he had me really worried during this one.

Refuge was next, and he grabbed his drink and downed all of it while he talked to Craig at the side of the stage and Adam played the keyboard intro (which seemed longer than usual to me, as if extended on purpose to give Steven’s vocal chords a longer break). Incredibly, this was the first performance of this song I’ve seen this year where he managed to sustain the long note on “time“?? It was a stunning rendition all-around, and I don’t think that it was elevated just by virtue of contrast after that painful looking Creator—I think harsh vocals were giving him a much harder time than high notes this evening.

He still seemed a bit distracted, he walked right past the crew guy bringing him out his guitar for Same Asylum, and I figured that he’d probably not be quite as talkative as usual to spare his voice, but he proved me wrong there, going for his usual long guitar speech. When he asked how many people were under 25, a little boy yelled out “I’m 12!“, and Steven went “yes, good, 12 is less than 25, well done“, which made me chuckle, because despite now having step-daughters he doesn’t quite seem to have a grasp of how advanced a child of that age is? Or else it was a joke that I didn’t get. Among some of the usual things he goes on about during this bit (kids playing incredible things on Youtube, musicians who play just one note and break his heart, etc.), he added that the guitar is the hands-down sexiest instrument… when it’s in the hands of sexy people like Prince, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Hendrix, who were all “sexy motherfuckers“. He said that he’d try and be sexy too, and that he’d attempt to play the solo without looking at the guitar, which could go “very horribly wrong” and supposedly had at the last couple of shows, a fact that Craig loved, because “these guys just love it when I fuck up“. He actually did it tonight, the first time I witnessed it! He only snuck a glance once, very briefly, so he wouldn’t miss the correct fret during a part where he had to move his hand along the entire length of the neck, but he otherwise played it without a single look, and without any errors. Alex gave him a thumbs up, and when Steven walked back towards the drumset at the end of the song he gave Craig a heartfelt middle finger, haha.

Ancestral was really wonderful, and Steven exceptionally active, I don’t think there was a square inch on that stage he didn’t cover during it. During the part where they lie down on the floor, he was really going to town on his nails, like he was trying to get rid of an annoying hangnail. Like I said… he seemed a bit absent-minded tonight.

Arriving Somewhere But Not Here opened the second set, and it was the first time I saw it live where Steven didn’t communicate with Nick and Craig via weird hand count motions, they had it down pat without them, and they even carried on a conversation (not that I could hear anything, despite being up close, they kept well away from the mics, but their lips were moving a lot for it being just beat-counts or whatever, and they laughed in some spots). I was so impressed at how easily they could keep the rhythm up while doing it! It was a wonderful performance, and some respectable headbanging was going on both on stage and around me, which is not something I usually do, but I guess I was feeling it this evening, and I joined in (and woke up with a crick in my neck the next morning. Got all I deserve!).

The one day I decided to wear a Pink Floyd shirt so he’d have a ready target for his usual joke ahead of Permanating was the one evening when he didn’t crack that particular one! Instead, he said that the word usually associated with his music is “depressing”… except one song, which he wrote as a celebration of life, and one where he’d really love to see us dance, especially the metal fans, who are some of the most open-minded (“the new wave of British heavy metal was my gateway to all sorts of new music…. that’s right folks, I’m old!“). He also said that it was written as a tribute to the disco and pop music of his youth, and name-dropped ABBA (first time I heard their name mentioned this year, although this speech was a staple in 2018!): “Everyone loves at least one song by ABBA, and if they say they don’t, they are lying.“

Song Of I felt different because of the low-hanging screen, and the lack of the projected dancer as a result (as can be seen on the picture above, taken during this song, his monitors obscured the little strip of the screen I could’ve seen from where I was standing). If Steven was aware that there were no visuals to take some of the focus off him, he wasn’t bothered by it, and his heightened activity this evening carried over to his dance-moves. I’ve never seen him this uninhibited, and it was the hottest performance of this song I’ve seen yet (and am ever likely to see), he was downright writhing and his shirt was halfway up his torso for a large portion of the song.

Detonation was a fun one tonight, because Alex and Nick were wiggling their butt and making kissy faces at each other throughout the song, it was hilarious, and what made it even funnier is that Steven was completely oblivious of it all, and I got the impression that they stopped every time he turned in their direction, as if they were misbehaving kids afraid of getting yelled at by mom, haha. The main set ended on Sleep Together, which was completely off the hook tonight, and my personal highlight—if harsh vocals gave him a hard time during Creator earlier in the show, he was sufficiently warmed up to absolutely nail them on this one. Has a sexier song about suicide ever been written? I think not. The energy in the crowd for this song in particular was absolutely electric, and you could tell that the band felt it. Steven spent almost every second he didn’t have to be at the mic to sing close to the audience at the very edge of the stage headbanging away—except when the song climaxed and he did his usual pose at the center of the stage. The lights always turn towards the audience for this part, but since they were hung lower than usual they were positively blinding, and all I could see when I squinted at the stage was a silhouetted Steven-Jesus in front of a glowing bright light, it looked incredible.

He came back for the encore with the Tele and practice amp, and introduced Even Less by saying that he was going to play us “a song from my back-catalogue, which is quite large“, saying that he’s proud of some songs more than others, and that this one was one of the best he thinks he’s written, because it still sounds good played without his amazing musicians or effect pedals. When Adam came on stage for the next song I crossed my fingers hoping for Sentimental, which had popped up at the Polish shows earlier in the week, but no dice—it was Blackfield, introduced by saying that while all the songs he’s played were his own, they were partly associated with different projects, and this one was the song that gave his project with Israeli singer Aviv Geffen its name. It was lovely as ever, but I would’ve enjoyed it more if I hadn’t felt that I was missing out on Sentimental in its stead.

The band came back for The Sound Of Muzak, and as usual, he introduced them first—surprisingly, Craig wasn’t made fun of tonight, but when it was Nick’s turn he went “who is this gorgeous, tall lady with the long blonde hair and deep voice?“, which prompted Nick to undo and shake out his hair and sensually approach the mic, striking a runway pose at every step while suggestively wiggling his eyebrows, before introducing Steve as “Steven fucking Wilson!“. Steven then said that they were about to play the last two songs: “One is depressing, just the way you like it, but it has a catchy chorus, so you can be depressed with a smile on your face. The last one… is just depressing, but one of my best songs“. Some people may find such a statement conceited, but I loved how unselfconsciously he said it; he’s obviously still incredibly proud of it, and I hope he brings other songs from that album back on the next touring cycle, it was the record that introduced me to his solo work and started this whole adventure for me, and I’d love to hear more of it live. He also asked who would be in Vienna the next day, and when there were a few cheers he said not to worry, he’d play us something different; he hadn’t realized just how close the two cities were, even though they are in different countries.

The setlist tonight was identical to Nancy, but the end result… well, there was absolutely no comparison despite Steven being sick, that’s how much difference an engaged audience can make. He definitely also tried to compensate by being more active than usual—and, as far as I’m concerned, he succeeded. Unfortunately, the venue wasn’t filled to capacity, but considering how late it was added to the touring plan and how close to Vienna it is, I don’t think it did too badly, and I hope that it sold well enough for it to have been worth it financially, so they’ll hopefully keep it on the itinerary for upcoming tours. It was a great show that left me hungry for more, but thankfully my hometown show, and final gig on my own personal To the Bone tour, was to follow the very next day!

Setlist » F i r s t P a r t «

Nowhere Now

Pariah

Home Invasion

Regret #9

The Creator Has a Mastertape (Porcupine Tree)

Refuge

The Same Asylum As Before

Ancestral » S e c o n d P a r t «

Arriving Somewhere But Not Here (Porcupine Tree)

Permanating

Song Of I

Lazarus (Porcupine Tree)

Detonation

Vermillioncore

Sleep Together (Porcupine Tree) » E n c o r e «

Even Less (Porcupine Tree) (SW solo)

Blackfield (Blackfield) (acoustic SW and Adam Holzman)

The Sound Of Muzak (Porcupine Tree)

The Raven That Refused to Sing