Tonight there were some other complicating factors. First of all the band asked Anathema to be their supporting act and to be honest, Porcupine Tree close to never reached the high standards of this band. Second the Broken Wings tour is named after the yet to be released new Porcupine Tree album. Most of the new songs were played tonight and it’s a known fact that it’s always hard listening to new tracks for the first time. The ingenious and rather complex music of Porcupine Tree makes it almost impossible. Therefore it’s almost impossible to give you a proper impression of the new material. Another thing that makes a Porcupine Tree concert complicated is the fact that it’s very hard to generate the ambient atmospheres, so characteristic of Porcupine Tree’s music. To be honest I think I prefer listening to the albums over the live experience. The high volume and the raw live sound make it hard to enjoy the delicacy of the music. As a matter of fact this reminds me of present day Marillion (see Anathema review), I simply love the music, but performed live, it fails to touch me.

Ah well, I might be too critical. Noticing the reactions in the crowd I’m sure that most of the people in there had an excellent evening. They discovered a great band they had heard of, but never took the time too check out, and they were overwhelmed with the power of Broken Wings. For me, I know I’m going to buy the new album (I’m certain I’ll love it) and I’m going to give the band the benefit out the doubt by checking out their performance at Bospop in July.

(Review & Pics: Geert Oldenmenger)