September 28, 2005 Lupo's, Providence, Rhode Island
This was originally a Porcupine Tree show and, later on, it was announced that Blackfield would be the opening act. I think this was because Robert Fripp, who was opening most of the shows on the PT tour, doesn't like to play to standing audiences who are often not as attentive to his soundscapes as seated audiences are. So, this being a general admission standing show, it seemed more suitable that Blackfield should be the opener. I was thrilled. We showed up early at about 4pm. The doors were not due to open until 8pm. Well, it's Blackfield and Porcupine Tree in one show. That doesn't happen too often. To my surprise, we were not the only ones already there. Cindy, who is the PT street team captain in these parts, and her husband Steve were already there. It was nice to talk to them and catch up on how they have been since last spring's PT tour. Cindy and I also sahre the same philosophy about GA concerts. Get there early so you can get close to the stage and really make it a memorable experience.
I also met another PT street teamer at this show. You can usually spot them by their street team T-shirts. His name was Jeff. (not the GK one) He kept appearing and then disappearing while we were waiting in line. Soon, it became apparent that he was a little tipsy which was cool. It was a concert, after all. We watched as the Blackfield band members and Aviv arrived in a small van and loaded their equipment into Lupo's. SW was already there traveling with PT. The doors opened and we got in. I have no ticket stub for this show since I bought the crappy internet printout kind. Cindy and Steve and Jason and I rushed to get those prime places in front of the stage only to realize that we had gone too far. We were supposed to have waited at another set of doors since Blackfield was still sound checking. SW asked, "Are they letting you guys in already? Were not finished yet." We were like, whoops! I said that I promised that we wouldn't look and covered my face. The security guards escorted us back to the previous set of doors to wait. Then, finally, we were let in and we ran to the front and got our special up close spots.
Cindy and Steve were on one side of SW's microphone stand and Jason and I were on the other and street teamer Jeff was somewhere between us. The place was also a dance/nightclub on some nights complete with dance cages and disco balls. After a while, the lights dimmed and the band came out to loud cheers. The show began with the opening notes of "Blackfield" and we were off again into the darkened place known as the Blackfield. Then shouts of "You're Awesome" came from behind my left ear. "Woo Hoo!" I turned around and Jeff is yelling "You Rock" and other things over top of the music as loud as he can and right in my ear. I moved away and tried to ignore him. The set continued "Open Mind", "Glow" and I hear his voice again. I turned and now Jeff is on his cell phone. "You'll never believe it man! I'm in the front row and Blackfield is on stage right now!" Cindy and I gave each other looks like 'are we allowed to kill this guy who is ruining our perfect moment with Blackfield just so he can gloat to his friends on a cell phone?' I controlled myself, barely. But, Cindy gave him a good scolding between songs about how rude it is to a performer (let alone to those around him) and then he mellowed out a bit for PT.
This Blackfield show seemed to be a lot tighter than the NYC show a few days earlier. Again, Aviv was rather crazy compared to the more reserved Aviv that I had seen on the US tour in May. Tomer Z was amazing again. He had his kit in front of Gavin's kit due to space restrictions, so it was just a few feet away.
The crowd seemed to be rather enthusiastic about these two bands playing together, and I can understand why. Some of the crowd I would see again at the Boston show a few days later. There were others though that I bet had no idea how lucky they were to see Blackfield opening for Porcupine Tree. I was well aware of how special this show was though and so were Cindy and Steve.
Set List
Blackfield
Open Mind
The Hole In Me
Glow
Pain
Epidemic
Hello
Cloudy Now
I also met another PT street teamer at this show. You can usually spot them by their street team T-shirts. His name was Jeff. (not the GK one) He kept appearing and then disappearing while we were waiting in line. Soon, it became apparent that he was a little tipsy which was cool. It was a concert, after all. We watched as the Blackfield band members and Aviv arrived in a small van and loaded their equipment into Lupo's. SW was already there traveling with PT. The doors opened and we got in. I have no ticket stub for this show since I bought the crappy internet printout kind. Cindy and Steve and Jason and I rushed to get those prime places in front of the stage only to realize that we had gone too far. We were supposed to have waited at another set of doors since Blackfield was still sound checking. SW asked, "Are they letting you guys in already? Were not finished yet." We were like, whoops! I said that I promised that we wouldn't look and covered my face. The security guards escorted us back to the previous set of doors to wait. Then, finally, we were let in and we ran to the front and got our special up close spots.
Cindy and Steve were on one side of SW's microphone stand and Jason and I were on the other and street teamer Jeff was somewhere between us. The place was also a dance/nightclub on some nights complete with dance cages and disco balls. After a while, the lights dimmed and the band came out to loud cheers. The show began with the opening notes of "Blackfield" and we were off again into the darkened place known as the Blackfield. Then shouts of "You're Awesome" came from behind my left ear. "Woo Hoo!" I turned around and Jeff is yelling "You Rock" and other things over top of the music as loud as he can and right in my ear. I moved away and tried to ignore him. The set continued "Open Mind", "Glow" and I hear his voice again. I turned and now Jeff is on his cell phone. "You'll never believe it man! I'm in the front row and Blackfield is on stage right now!" Cindy and I gave each other looks like 'are we allowed to kill this guy who is ruining our perfect moment with Blackfield just so he can gloat to his friends on a cell phone?' I controlled myself, barely. But, Cindy gave him a good scolding between songs about how rude it is to a performer (let alone to those around him) and then he mellowed out a bit for PT.
This Blackfield show seemed to be a lot tighter than the NYC show a few days earlier. Again, Aviv was rather crazy compared to the more reserved Aviv that I had seen on the US tour in May. Tomer Z was amazing again. He had his kit in front of Gavin's kit due to space restrictions, so it was just a few feet away.
The crowd seemed to be rather enthusiastic about these two bands playing together, and I can understand why. Some of the crowd I would see again at the Boston show a few days later. There were others though that I bet had no idea how lucky they were to see Blackfield opening for Porcupine Tree. I was well aware of how special this show was though and so were Cindy and Steve.
Set List
Blackfield
Open Mind
The Hole In Me
Glow
Pain
Epidemic
Hello
Cloudy Now
posted by The Bald Monkey at
12:53 PM
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