For me, the second night was easily the best of the three. Not because I was ever a Porcupine Tree fan - I wasn't - but because of the beautifully verbose informality of proceedings. And yes, it's a real shame it wasn't recorded.
The recording absolutely affected the atmosphere, and in a couple of ways: 1) the venue was comparatively brightly lit (I remember RCMH being the same way for the recording of Score), 2) Steven spent two minutes after the first song or two telling us how he was barely going to speak for the rest of the evening so he could cram all the songs in (he referred to the strict 11 pm curfew at the RAH although he finished at 2302 on Wednesday and 2305 on Thursday).
I agree with an earlier comment that Routine absolutely should have been committed to film. Could have dropped Home Invasion and Regret #9 for that without really losing anything from the show (plenty of instrumental songs/passages already included). I suspect Harmony Korine was originally going to be played but following the resounding success of Song of Unborn on the first two nights, Steven said he wanted to include it in the filming.
He did say during the show that other songs will be included on the blu-ray, and someone in the Facebook group said several songs had been filmed the afternoon of the show so we'll see.
Don't get me wrong: it was a great show, especially Permanating (dancers were back following a break for the middle night), Song of Unborn and Song of I (I am in love with the projection!). And the instrumental breaks in both Ancestral and Detonation were again worth the price of admission alone. It's just that my personal preference would have been for the informality of the middle show to have been captured.
Topic: Steven Wilson v. To. The. Bone. (Read 370380 times)
