STEVEN WILSON – THE CIRCUS, HELSINKI – 19/04/2015

por Emil Gil Bretón · 17/06/2015

Steven Wilson – new master of modern prog rock

Who needs a support band when you have the one and only STEVEN WILSON playing for two hours the best progressive rock songs from his own repertoire. I have tried to capture the best parts of this really great concert in this review:

Around 9pm just before the band started to play people had gathered in front of the stage to see a huge screen covering the back part of it that had pictures of houses and apartment blocks on display. Later on one could observe how the lights in the windows of these buildings were switching on and off in different colors. Eventually as per the scheduled time the whole band entered the stage: Marco Minnemann (drums), Adam Holzman (piano, keyboards, synthesizers), Nick Beggs (bass), Guthrie Govan (guitar) and finally enters Steven Wilson (guitar, keyboards) barefoot.

The concert kicked off with a handful of great songs all of them from their latest album «Hand. Can not. Erase.» (2015, Kscope). It began with the delicate and beautiful instrumental piece «First Regret»; then move to the extensive, changing and progressive «3 Years Older»; followed by the dynamic new album title track with Steven Wilson playing the keyboard instead of the guitar. After that the band continued with the transitive «Perfect Life» in which you can heard in the spoken word part the sampled voice of Katherine Jenkins. Finally they end the set of new songs with the sad piece «Routine», in which one could hear in the background a sample of the incredible voice of Leo Blair, son of former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and vocal contributions recorded by Ninet Tayeb. It was a sensational first part of the concert with an amazed audience asking for more.

In subsequent songs one could see changing different images in the huge background screen during which Steven Wilson gradually won the audience. In the dark and electronic song «Index» from the album «Grace for Drowning» (2011, Kscope) one could appreciate the beautiful fragility in Wilson‘s voice. While the next song «Home Invasion» was much more interactive thanks to the many changes of time executed to the perfection by the drummer Marco Minnemann and bassist Nick Beggs. Meanwhile a brilliant Adam Holzman and Guthrie Govan played extraordinary synthesizer and guitar solos in the instrumental piece «Regret # 9». Like Wilson already pointed out, one can really say: «These are the best musicians in the world».

«Although I do not like to play songs from my previous band, this is a song which I feel very proud and can not be ignored» indicated Wilson before playing the acclaimed by all the people in the audience «Lazarus» a song from the catalog of his former band PORCUPINE TREE. Wilson also said as he grew up in the 80s he has a great love for alternative subgenre «shoegaze» and the bands that defined that musical movement as MY BLOODY VALENTINE, RIDE, SLOWDIVE and COCTEAU TWINS. So in tribute to those bands they interpreted the amazing and noisy «Harmony Korine» from his first solo album «Insurgentes» (2008, Kscope).

In the end, Steven Wilson and band said goodbye with three songs from the new album: the eternal, monstrous and full of light «Ancestral»; the acoustic and tender «Happy Returns»; and the short and instrumental «Ascendant Here On …». Subsequently, while the musicians exit the stage the lights were turned off and the transparent curtains were closed, in the curtains there was reflected an image of enormous eyes that watch us without blinking. While the audience applauded euphorically the lights turned on and the entire band got back. In this first «encore» Wilson who was sitting on a high chair and with a acoustic guitar, with his band they performed superbly and with a impressive technic the songs «The Watchmaker» from the excellent album «The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories )» (2013, Kscope) and «Sleep Together» from the album «Fear of a Blank Planet» (2007, Roadrunner/Atlantic) of his previous band PORCUPINE TREE.

The lights went out, the whole band left the stage and the curtains were opened. The audience asked for more and as a immediate response Steven Wilson and his band returned once again to play the last song of the evening, the forceful and orchestral «The Raven That Refused to Sing». Two hours passed by really quick and left us wanting more. The new tour of Steven Wilson and band in support of their recent masterpiece «Hand. Can not. Erase» (album based on the tragic case of Joyce Carol Vincent, the young woman who died alone in her apartment and was found 3 years after) proved to be a complete and amazing show. The Finnish public once again showed their love for progressive rock and for one of the best bands nowadays. The concert was a journey to the universe of Steven Wilson!

Setlist

1- First Regret

2- 3 Years Older

3- Hand Cannot Erase

4- Perfect Life

5- Routine

6- Index

7- Home Invasion

8- Regret #9

9- Lazarus

10- Harmony Korine

11- Ancestral