Steven Wilson European Tour - Vienna, Austria - 2 November 2013

Steven Wilson Photo from Wikipedia

I can't tell you how excited I was to find out Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) was going to be in Vienna for his European tour and on a Saturday night!  That means, seeing one of my favorite cities, Vienna for the day and then hearing Steven at night in a small, intimate venue in The Gasometer area.

And, when I say small venue, I mean small.  There was only a few hundred people. I'm used to at least a 1,000 - 2,000 or more when Steven tours with Porcupine Tree in the US, but still the audience was extremely receptive and excited to hear Steven's new album.  

He started the concert with Trains, one of his signature songs, and then immediately went to his new album, The Raven That Refused to Sing.  He played for about 2 1/2 hours and ended with a few of his trademark tunes. All bare foot as usual.

The best bits were when he introduced his guitarist Guthrie and spoke to the crowd in a very relaxed and easy-going manner. He stated he doesn't read or write music, he can only talk about "feelings" to his musicians to get the sound he is looking for. He proceeded to give us all a demonstration by asking Guthrie to produce a riff from "what a man who just lost his wife and was all alone in the forest and contemplating suicide" might sound like…Guthrie started by playing a melancholy tune and ending with a "go to 11" metal crash sound. It was pretty entertaining. I'm not sure everyone understood Steven's English, but the crowd seemed to be completely drawn into the scenario. Of course he showed his new Drive Home video. If you haven't seen it, check out his YouTube site. Classic Steven Wilson!

The other great bit was when he introduced his latest unnamed and as yet unrecorded 15 minute song. Steven has given the song a new title at each of his gigs and intends to continue this practice throughout the tour.  

Adding a flute and sax has made the sound decidedly more jazzy.  I'm not sure if I really like all the songs yet. As sometimes happens, you have to live with them for a while and then you wonder how you ever lived without them before.

For anyone who is interested, check out this link for tickets and tour dates, http://stevenwilsonhq.com/sw/tour-dates/. Also make sure to check out his Steven Wilson Facebook page. He has some great photos of his band. I tried to take some photos, but it was too dark.