"To The Bone" - 5th Steven Wilson Album, 8/18

I don't think Holzman could come up with some of the sounds and music that Barbieri has created. His music serves the songs quite well, in my opinion. That music didn't call for widdly keyboard solos, or Wakeman-esque playing. It called for creative soundscapes. I think in many ways that's just as difficult to come up with as flashy solo playing. I do think Barbieri is innovative in his own way, which I believe is specifically something SW elected to move away from in his solo work (given his continued use of Gavin Harrison in particular).

 

I think Barbieri and Holzman are both fantastic, albeit in different ways. I'll take either of them.

 

Just got back from the RAH - what a night, loved the show! I hadn’t really heard any of Steven’s music and went to the show on my cousin’s recommendation (plus I love going to the RAH!). The opening act Barbeiri & Lisan Love was interesting and Steven sat in for last number on acoustic.

Before starting his set, Steven announced that tonight would be filmed for Bluray and asked everyone for high dose of enthusiasm for the film (else he would have to overdub that, just like Deep Purple did for their Made In Japan album*).
He played two sets which resembled the March 27th setlist plus few extra songs for the film. It was fab!

*He mentioned that he made remixed Made In Japan for surround but it never saw release. This was news to me! Wish they’d have released that as part of 40th anniversary set.

 

Seems Wilson and Barbieri played “Buying New Soul” at the end of Richard’s set. I bet that was worth seeing.

 

Hope someone, who attended the 3rd RAH show, will post all of the Songs played, so we know what will be released on the Blu-Ray. Hoping like Gilmour, the Blu-Ray will include Bonus Section of Songs from other Tour Stops, or just from the the first 2 nights at RAH, although sounds like those, who attended those shows mentioned they did not see any Video Cameras set up to capture those performances(who knows for the other Tour Stops earlier, or if he will have some Video captured at any of the US/NA(not sure if their are any Canadian or Mexican Cities he will be playing) Tour Stops coming up.

 

That would be sweet to get songs from the other RAH nights as bonus tracks. Tonight's set list looked pretty much like this tour's set has been most nights, with a few nice additions (Song of Unborn), but not playing Routine with Ninet there for the recorded show seems like a big missed opportunity.

 

Hmmm, must admit I'm a little disappointed with the 3rd night set - The big omission being Heartattack for me because I felt the band absolutely nailed it with the 3 part harmonies on the shows I saw - it sounded better than the studio version.

I really hope some of the other songs were captured from previous nights too - a huge shame having Mark Feltham there to play his parts from To The Bone and Refuge but then dropping the former and then playing the latter without him. Same with Ninet and Routine.

 

Last night was truly amazing! I did somewhat save my enthusiasm for the final RAH show in order to make Mister Wilson look like a Rock God as he jokingly requested from previous nights, lol. And it was interesting to learn that he worked on a surround mix for Deep Purple's Made in Japan with regards to working in an audience reactionary track, as Japanese audiences can be quite subdued if not more respectable, compared to Western audiences. And as an above poster mentioned - it hasn't been released so I wonder if his surround mix will ever see the light of day? Also makes me wonder if Ritchie Blackmore enlisted his services for the Rainbow Rising remix that Ritchie so mentioned in his documentary The Ritchie Blackmore Story.

Anyhoo, a truly remarkable evening. Richard Barbieri's opening set was just okay to me, but he did make things interesting playing some Japan and most notably, that finish with Wilson performing Buying New Soul. Just wonderful! Was kinda expecting Barbieri to come back and play some more PT tracks but I suppose not.

And speaking of keyboard players, Adam Holzman's jazz infused solo on Detonation is a superb addition!

 

Interesting- I swore that Heart-Attack was on an earlier version of the set list but it’s not there anymore.

Also- are we sure Mark Feltham didn’t play on “Refuge?” Maybe someone forgot to write that on the setlist.

The setlist we are discussing, by the way:

Steven Wilson Setlist at Royal Albert Hall, London

 

I can't recall Mark Feltham playing at all last night (29th).

 

It will be a big miss in my opinion if Routine has not been captured for a live release.

 

Nah, that was perhaps the negative from last night. At least the Bollywood dancers came back...

 

I can't say enough good things about Adam Holzman's contribution to the second RAH gig which just blew me away.

Has anyone heard his "Deform Variations" CD which was issued after the GfD tour and has 20 or so piano solo intros he did for Deform To Form A Star during the tour?

 

^^^ I have this. It is a nice artifact but not something I listen to all that often.

 

Yes: I didn't much care for it. I have a friend who is a decent keyboardist and ranks Adam’s live work very highly but I'm not the biggest fan of it and Deform Variations is just not for me at all.

 

It overwhelms me. I hope this is the start of a rekindling of their musical relationship.

 

Given his song-based direction of late (Blackfield V, To The Bone), it would not completely surprise me if SW were to reconvene PTree for an album that is in the spirit of Stupid Dream/Lightbulb Sun. On one hand he tends to keep moving but on the other hand, it isn't unusual for him to scratch a musical itch over the course of several albums.

As much as I have enjoyed his solo direction, this little scenario could send PTree off with a last album that is more fitting than The Incident. Imagine the tour that would follow, especially if it was understood that this could very well be a grand finale.

 

Thank you for that nice moment.

I almost forgot how excellent Richard Barbieri was at generating these creepy and beautiful ambiance. Hope for some more collaboration in the future

 

Even though I'm a big prog guy, the Lightbulb Sun/Stupid Dream/Recordings period of PT is my favorite. I would definitely love this. Was not a fan of The Incident and thought it was not a good way for them to go out...

 

Great gig tonight, playing the 'B' set.

Played Buying New Soul with Barbieri and the encore was Blackfield and Postcard with just SW and Holzman, then Song of Unborn.

 

LOL, that bald head in the bottom left corner is my mate Allan. I was sitting 9 rows from the stage that night. Thanks for sharing the clip too.

 

Thanks for sharing this clip. Makes me feel that all is good in the world.

 

I love pretty much every era, but Lightbulb Sun is usually my favorite PT record (there are days where Deadwing gets the slight nod), while Stupid Dream is not far behind, so I would say that is definitely my favorite back to back PT ever did. Throw in Recordings, which has some outstanding tracks and, yeah, that era, while short, was nothing short of tremendous. I love how SW is always doing stuff a little different, but I would love for him to revisit that style.

 

SW is quite past the PT reunion, methinks. Shouldn't stop him from getting Chris Maitland in his touring band, though...

 

I've always thought that if you took The Rest Will Flow and Where We Would Be off the album and threw Buying New Soul on there it would be my favorite album of all time.