March 9, 2005 Middle East Club, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Baltimore, Maryland - Early 2005
The time was early 2005. I'd already had an import version of the first Blackfield CD for a while now even though an American version was only just now being released. To promote the release of the CD in America, the band scheduled a few U.S. shows with Steven Wilson as the opening act. Being from Baltimore, I had already planned to see the Philadelphia and D.C. area shows. When the dates were announced, however, and I realized that the Boston area show was the day after my 38th birthday, I decided to throw caution to the wind and spend my birthday week In The Blackfield. Wouldn't you?
So, tickets were purchased, hotels were booked and I crossed my fingers that there wouldn't be a huge snowstorm like the kind that can happen in that area of the country around early March.
Then, the announcement came that due to problems obtaining visas, not all of the Blackfield band members were going to be able to get into the U.S. Instead, it would be more of an acoustic evening with special guest keyboardist, Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess, joining Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen. This didn't really negatively affect our plans. I thought it all sounded even more intimate and special. The day of the show finally arrived. The weather was cold, but there was no snow. We made our six hour journey up north into even cold lands.
Cambridge Massachusetts - March 9, 2005
We got there and checked into our hotel and got some information about where the Middle East Club was located. After a short rest and some food, we made our way into downtown Cambridge where the streets aren't well marked and it is incredibly difficult to find a parking space. How we did it I'll never know, but we found a place to park and made it to the club.
The Middle East Club is one of those places where you can have a band playing upstairs and a band playing down in the basement at the same time. I liked it, because they were nice enough to let us Blackfielders, who showed up early to get a good spot for the show, wait inside out of the freezing cold. There were a few folks already waiting when we showed up. We began chatting with them as we waited for the doors to the basement stage to open. We didn't realize it at the time, but we would end up seeing some of these same fine folks every time that we traveled up here to see Porcupine Tree time in the future.
One of these guys was the drummer for a local Progressive Rock band called Time And Tide whose name was also Steve. And, there was also a street teamer there named Cyndi. She was with her significant other named Steve and with her son named, you guessed it, Steve. I had to laugh as I told them my name was Steve as well and that we were all waiting to see Steve. Cyndi was handing out Blackfield stickers to the crowd which was really nice of her. There was also a guy there from Montreal who had traveled about as many hours South for this show as we had traveled North. I didn't get his name though.
As we waited, the band was downstairs trying to get things together having just teamed up with Jordan Rudess around 4pm that afternoon. From behind the closed doors, we heard them run through "The Hole In Me" and "Blackfield."
Finally, the music stopped and the doors opened and they started letting the sizeable crowd that had gathered into the basement of the Middle East Club. We were one of the first few let down and we gathered right in front of the stage. In fact, most of the whole front row was made up of Steves with the exception of Cyndi .
I did make a stop by the merchandise table where I picked up one of the few remaining Blackfield T-shirts from the European tour. They went fast and then there were none left for the rest of the US tour. We waited patiently until finally, a door opened on the left side of the stage and out walked Steven Wilson in a sharp looking sport coat and shoes?!? This was one of the few times I have ever seen SW play in shoes. I've never seen him wear shoes at a Porcupine Tree show. The stage was kind of scary though. A few old cigarette butts and maybe even a few sharp pieces of trash. SW greeted the enthusiastic crowd and prepared his guitar for his first chords back on US soil. But, as he started to play the opening of Even Less, before he could even sing a note, a guitar string broke. He apologized and since he hadn't really even started yet, he retreated back through the door he had entered from to restring his guitar.
He came out again five minutes later and this time, things went much better as he played through a few Porcupine Tree tunes and a Cover Versions A-side and a B-side. He switched instruments as he played, starting with electric guitar and then over to Aviv's side of the stage for some keyboards (the first time I had ever seen him do that) and then to acoustic guitar for the forever haunting "The Day Before You Came" for which I was directly in front of him. I can still feel chills when I listen to it remembering that evening. Then, he ended his set and he told the crowd that Blackfield would be out momentarily.
A few moments later, Steven, Aviv Geffen and Jordan Rudess came onstage to our happy applause. Things quieted down as Jordan played the opening notes to the first song, "Blackfield." As SW and Aviv gently strummed their first magical guitar chords, we were off into that special melancholic place we call the Blackfield. The band continued playing songs from the debut album with SW playing electric guitar and singing while Aviv switched between acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocals. They played most of the Blackfield album, "Cover Version I", the PT song ,"Feel So Low" and a few new songs including "Epidemic" and "Miss U." SW made a few comments about the tuning of Aviv's guitar and even did an impromptu tuning for him. Aviv's attitude was "this is rock and roll, and we are here to rock, not stay in tune." This was very humorous to the crowd considering his band mate's reputation for high quality music. The show ended all too quickly. There is only one album of material, after all. They encored with a longer, more rocking version of "Pain" which had been played earlier in the set. I called this version "Pain (Again)."
After the show, we waited around to see if Steve or Aviv would hang out and sing autographs and chat. Aviv, with a woman at his side, exited pretty quickly. I never saw SW though. It had been a long day and I still had three more shows to go on this tour. I figured that SW didn't really want to or have to do any fan favors tonight. Why should he have to? His job is to play music, and he did that. Now, go home or back to the hotel in our case. So, I gathered some e-mail addresses from my new friends and did just that.
SET LIST
STEVEN WILSON SET
Even Less
Smart Kid
How Is Your Life Today?
Moment I Lost
The Day Before You Came
BLACKFIELD SET
Blackfield
Glow
The Hole In Me
Pain
Summer
Thank You
Epidemic
Miss U
Cloudy Now
Feel So Low
Hello
ENCORE
Pain (again)
The time was early 2005. I'd already had an import version of the first Blackfield CD for a while now even though an American version was only just now being released. To promote the release of the CD in America, the band scheduled a few U.S. shows with Steven Wilson as the opening act. Being from Baltimore, I had already planned to see the Philadelphia and D.C. area shows. When the dates were announced, however, and I realized that the Boston area show was the day after my 38th birthday, I decided to throw caution to the wind and spend my birthday week In The Blackfield. Wouldn't you?
So, tickets were purchased, hotels were booked and I crossed my fingers that there wouldn't be a huge snowstorm like the kind that can happen in that area of the country around early March.
Then, the announcement came that due to problems obtaining visas, not all of the Blackfield band members were going to be able to get into the U.S. Instead, it would be more of an acoustic evening with special guest keyboardist, Dream Theater's Jordan Rudess, joining Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen. This didn't really negatively affect our plans. I thought it all sounded even more intimate and special. The day of the show finally arrived. The weather was cold, but there was no snow. We made our six hour journey up north into even cold lands.
Cambridge Massachusetts - March 9, 2005
We got there and checked into our hotel and got some information about where the Middle East Club was located. After a short rest and some food, we made our way into downtown Cambridge where the streets aren't well marked and it is incredibly difficult to find a parking space. How we did it I'll never know, but we found a place to park and made it to the club.
The Middle East Club is one of those places where you can have a band playing upstairs and a band playing down in the basement at the same time. I liked it, because they were nice enough to let us Blackfielders, who showed up early to get a good spot for the show, wait inside out of the freezing cold. There were a few folks already waiting when we showed up. We began chatting with them as we waited for the doors to the basement stage to open. We didn't realize it at the time, but we would end up seeing some of these same fine folks every time that we traveled up here to see Porcupine Tree time in the future.
One of these guys was the drummer for a local Progressive Rock band called Time And Tide whose name was also Steve. And, there was also a street teamer there named Cyndi. She was with her significant other named Steve and with her son named, you guessed it, Steve. I had to laugh as I told them my name was Steve as well and that we were all waiting to see Steve. Cyndi was handing out Blackfield stickers to the crowd which was really nice of her. There was also a guy there from Montreal who had traveled about as many hours South for this show as we had traveled North. I didn't get his name though.
As we waited, the band was downstairs trying to get things together having just teamed up with Jordan Rudess around 4pm that afternoon. From behind the closed doors, we heard them run through "The Hole In Me" and "Blackfield."
Finally, the music stopped and the doors opened and they started letting the sizeable crowd that had gathered into the basement of the Middle East Club. We were one of the first few let down and we gathered right in front of the stage. In fact, most of the whole front row was made up of Steves with the exception of Cyndi .
I did make a stop by the merchandise table where I picked up one of the few remaining Blackfield T-shirts from the European tour. They went fast and then there were none left for the rest of the US tour. We waited patiently until finally, a door opened on the left side of the stage and out walked Steven Wilson in a sharp looking sport coat and shoes?!? This was one of the few times I have ever seen SW play in shoes. I've never seen him wear shoes at a Porcupine Tree show. The stage was kind of scary though. A few old cigarette butts and maybe even a few sharp pieces of trash. SW greeted the enthusiastic crowd and prepared his guitar for his first chords back on US soil. But, as he started to play the opening of Even Less, before he could even sing a note, a guitar string broke. He apologized and since he hadn't really even started yet, he retreated back through the door he had entered from to restring his guitar.
He came out again five minutes later and this time, things went much better as he played through a few Porcupine Tree tunes and a Cover Versions A-side and a B-side. He switched instruments as he played, starting with electric guitar and then over to Aviv's side of the stage for some keyboards (the first time I had ever seen him do that) and then to acoustic guitar for the forever haunting "The Day Before You Came" for which I was directly in front of him. I can still feel chills when I listen to it remembering that evening. Then, he ended his set and he told the crowd that Blackfield would be out momentarily.
A few moments later, Steven, Aviv Geffen and Jordan Rudess came onstage to our happy applause. Things quieted down as Jordan played the opening notes to the first song, "Blackfield." As SW and Aviv gently strummed their first magical guitar chords, we were off into that special melancholic place we call the Blackfield. The band continued playing songs from the debut album with SW playing electric guitar and singing while Aviv switched between acoustic guitar, keyboards and vocals. They played most of the Blackfield album, "Cover Version I", the PT song ,"Feel So Low" and a few new songs including "Epidemic" and "Miss U." SW made a few comments about the tuning of Aviv's guitar and even did an impromptu tuning for him. Aviv's attitude was "this is rock and roll, and we are here to rock, not stay in tune." This was very humorous to the crowd considering his band mate's reputation for high quality music. The show ended all too quickly. There is only one album of material, after all. They encored with a longer, more rocking version of "Pain" which had been played earlier in the set. I called this version "Pain (Again)."
After the show, we waited around to see if Steve or Aviv would hang out and sing autographs and chat. Aviv, with a woman at his side, exited pretty quickly. I never saw SW though. It had been a long day and I still had three more shows to go on this tour. I figured that SW didn't really want to or have to do any fan favors tonight. Why should he have to? His job is to play music, and he did that. Now, go home or back to the hotel in our case. So, I gathered some e-mail addresses from my new friends and did just that.
SET LIST
STEVEN WILSON SET
Even Less
Smart Kid
How Is Your Life Today?
Moment I Lost
The Day Before You Came
BLACKFIELD SET
Blackfield
Glow
The Hole In Me
Pain
Summer
Thank You
Epidemic
Miss U
Cloudy Now
Feel So Low
Hello
ENCORE
Pain (again)
posted by The Bald Monkey at
11:48 AM
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