Just so nobody gets terribly excited, the venue didn’t allow cameras (more on that later in this post) so I have zero pictures from the show, leaving only my always thrilling written account of a concert to be posted. I know, you’re probably shaking with exhilaration at this point…

I’m still amazed that I even got to see Porcupine Tree on Tuesday night. The show was in Seattle- a good 7 hour trip, meaning I had to skip two days of school and find somebody willing to drive there. So basically I whored the fact that my birthday is next Friday, and since I’ll be 18 I should get something kinda special… Surprisingly, it worked. And Jed (see The 7th Act) went with me, so that made the trip itself a bit more entertaining.

Anyways, The Moore Theater was a nice enough venue: It looked spectacular, though it was obviously quite old… Their site claims it holds over 1400 people, and I’d say it was probably at 75% capacity. So we got as close as we cared to to the stage (about 4 rows back), took our seats, and waited for the show to start. Now, all the concerts I’ve been to so far (save for the PT/Opeth show 2 years ago) are ones that appeal more towards people my age, so looking around I started to notice that for the first time I was actually in the minority as far as age groups go. Every once in awhile I’d see kids that couldn’t be more than 20, but on average I’d say people there were 30-40 years old. It’s not so much that it’s surprising- after all, Porcupine Tree’s sound tends to appeal more towards fans of 70’s prog (Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, etc) than to the typical teen fans of rock and metal- but seeing people at least the age of my own parents (who have mostly crap taste in music) at a loud, fairly energetic show was funny. Especially the guy we talked to behind us: He had a nine-year-old kid named Ian Anderson. Ahh, prog fans…

So the night started off with something completely unexpected: An opening act by the name of “Marjorie Fair”. In all of the shit I went through ordering tickets and even on the marquee outside (I’m pretty sure, at least) there was nothing regarding any sort of supporting band, but it turns out they did the two PT shows prior to this one as well. Odd… Anyways, their sound was kind of like a post-rock version of Radiohead, and I quite enjoyed it. Some of the sections of guitar distortion dragged a bit, but overall it was a good opener for PT. Plus, they had the most bizarre projection going on the monitor behind them (70’s film quality footage of squirrels, tall grass, and the sides of highways in the mountains, for example).

Onto the main attraction…

PT kicked it off with Open Car, one of my favorites off Deadwing. But to make it even better, they extended it by about a minute with a heavy, improv-sounding bit which kicked major ass. After that it was onto Blackest Eyes, which still sounds about 10x better live than it ever will on CD, and then back to Deadwing material with “Lazarus”. Lazarus and Mellotron Scratch were definitely my least favorite tracks of the night… Not to say they’re BAD songs- far from it- just that I would’ve rather heard Deadwing and Shallow instead.

Overall they performed an excellent mix of old and new material, though I’m really disappointed they didn’t play Buying New Soul, which they’d been doing quite a bit prior to this show. And speaking of B-sides, they did two from the Deadwing sessions, the first of which was an instrumental (“Mother and Child Divided”) a bit similar in style to Wedding Nails, and “So Called Friend”, which was equally good.

Aside from the extended version of Open Car, “Arriving Somewhere But Not Here” was one of my favorite moments of the night: It’s really something to behold live (and their screen projection during it was absolutely perfect). I guess it’s not too different from the album version, but it’s got such a great atmosphere to it that I know they’ll be playing it for years (and Wilson said himself that it was really growing on him). The other amazing moment was the first song after the encore: Radioactive Toy. Given that the album version was recorded back in ‘91 when PT consisted of Steven Wilson doing everything by himself, hearing it live with their full line-up was fucking incredible by comparison.

And of course “Trains” is always great, not to mention a perfect closer for the show.

As far as individual performances go: Wilson is an incredible vocalist, but he seems to be forfeiting a lot of his higher vocals to John Wesley (guitars/backing vocals) in favor of the style he started using on Deadwing. It was especially noticeable on “Don’t Hate Me”, though overall it was nothing too bad.

Given that this IS Porcupine Tree, everybody there put on a great performance. Colin (bass) had on his usual grin the whole time- as if life just doesn’t get any better for him, Wesley did all the backing vocals and guitarwork perfectly, and Richard Barbieri’s keyboard/synth job was outstanding. But the real standout of the night was Gavin Harrison, their drummer. I’d honestly put him up against Danny Carey (Tool) after seeing this show: he added so much more to every song than what you hear on the albums, that I probably spent half the time just staring at him in awe.

Anyways, here’s the full set-list:

1. Open Car
2. Blackest Eyes
3. Lazarus
4. Hatesong
5. Don’t Hate Me
6. Mother and Child Divided
7. Mellotron Scratch
8. So Called Friend
9. Arriving Somewhere But Not Here
10. Heart Attack In a Layby
11. Start of Something Beautiful
12. Halo
Encore
13. Radioactive Toy
14. Trains

After the show we stood around out front (they got everyone out as quick as possible basically) with about a dozen other people, waiting for our ride and hoping to catch the band since their bus was right in front of the theater. After about 15 minutes I notice that not 10 feet away from Jed and me is John Wesley signing autographs and chatting with the rest of the group of fans. I still have no idea where he came from…

Anyways, I got my copy of Deadwing signed and since I have no shame, I told him it was my birthday in a few days so it says “Happy 18th Chris!”. A bit ironic, since he doesn’t even play on the CD (a fact which Jed had no trouble pointing out every 20 minutes or so for the rest of the trip). What really blows is we thought we had driven the farthest to see them, but some older couple from NPR out of Missoula was in that group too and talked to Wesley first, so we kinda lost there. And Wesley claimed at one point that “the rest of the guys are honestly just shy”, but I’m starting to think they use him as a diversion because as we were standing there talking to him I saw Wilson and the rest of the band rushing into the bus (we stood facing the driver’s side so the bus doors were on the OTHER side, which was wonderfully convenient for them). Ah well, he was a great guy and I’m happy I got to meet him.

As for pictures… The Moore Theater not only says on their website “no cameras allowed”, but they actually had somebody going down the line outside before the show with a sign that said the same thing. Oooh, but what do I see as soon as PT starts playing? People using camera phones to take pictures, and with a security guard not 10 feet away. I’m seriously considering buying one just for that purpose, because driving 500 miles to see one of my favorite bands and NOT getting to take pictures is fucking ridiculous.

So my only big complaints (aside from the above) were that the overall sound pitch during the show was often too high, and Wesley’s backing vocals on the first few songs were way too loud. But this is compared to their performance at The Showbox 2 years ago, which was perfect in just about every way.

All in all, it was a great show and I’m damn glad I made the trip to see it. Hopefully I can do it again when they come back next year. And who knows, maybe I’ll take that one bassist kid with me…

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Jack Thompson is an odd duck, you might say. For what other description can one give a man who, as a medical malpractice attorney, seems to spend the better part of his time berating video game developers for violence and obscene content? Well I suppose “fucktard” works too, but that’s hardly as charming…

I’ll spare you the history of the guy; suffice it to say that he’s a rant unto himself. Thompson has attacked everything from obvious targets like GTA 3, Manhunt, and Postal 2, to not so obvious ones like… The Sims 2 (“vile smut” as he put it; there’s a cheat to take off the blurs over characters in the nude, go figure).

So what’s a guy to do when ranting and raving about video games and their apparent degradation of society, doesn’t do squat? Why, propose his own game of course! The following is the full message Thompson sent on Monday to the press and Doug Lowenstein, president of the ESA (Electronic Software Association), along with my commentary to liven things up a bit (not that they need to be, given the insanity of the content already at hand). And yes, Mr. Thompson is quite serious.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” The Golden Rule

This writer has been saying for seven years that violent video games can be “murder simulators” that incite as well as train some obsessive teen players to be violent.

I’ve been on 60 Minutes and in Reader’s Digest this year explaining how an Alabama teen, with no criminal record, shot two policemen and a dispatcher in their heads and fled in a police car–a scenario he rehearsed for hundreds of hours on Take-Two/Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto video games.

First off, who the hell steals cop cars THAT much in GTA? It’s no fun: You can’t listen to the radio in them, the vigilante missions are boring, and they’re wretchedly slow compared to other vehicles. Jeez, it’s like Thompson has never played the thing…

And treating teenagers like they’re damned morons is always nice. OoOoh, he knew that aiming for the head would likely kill his targets! Good thing he couldn’t have learned that from TV. Or movies. Or the Internet. Or biology. Dammit Rockstar, stop highlighting simple facts of life!

I have sat with boys in jail cells, their lives over because of murder convictions, after they, with no history of violence, have killed innocents while in a dreamlike state. Said one cop who investigated such a murder in Grand Rapids, Michigan: “The killing was like an extension of the game.”

Look, a point! Oh wait- it seems to have buggered off here. No doubt to join Thompson’s already loooong gone marbles.

The video game industry, through its lawyers, its spokesmen, and its head lobbyist, Doug Lowenstein, the president of the Entertainment Software Association, all say it is utter nonsense to suggest that what is dumped into a kid’s head hour after hour, day after day, year after year, could possibly have behavioral consequences. Cigarette ads can persuade kids to smoke, but interactive simulators in which these same kids punch, hack, bludgeon, and maim affect not a wit their attitudes and behaviors, notwithstanding the findings of the American Psychological Association, published in August 2005.

Actually, the APA found that “showing violent acts without consequences teaches youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict. Whereas, seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can inhibit aggressive behavior.”

Come on kids, sing it with me! “Where are the parents, ooooh where are the parents!” Everybody!

The video game industry says Sticks and stones can break my bones, but games can never hurt me. Fine. I have a modest proposal for the video game industry. I’ll write a check for $10,000 to the favorite charity of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc’s chairman, Paul Eibeler – a man Bernard Goldberg ranks as #43 in his book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America –

Beaten out by the likes of Latrell Sprewell, Howard Dean, and Michael Moore (#1). Jimmy Carter is #6 in there. That humanitarian bastard…

For crying out loud, citing Goldberg’s book as some sort of authoritative source is like wearing a “kick me” sign with big, flashing neon lights.

if any video game company will create, manufacture, distribute, and sell a video game in 2006 like the following:

Osaki Kim is the father of a high school boy beaten to death with a baseball bat by a 14-year-old gamer. The killer obsessively played a violent video game in which one of the favored ways of killing is with a bat. The opening scene, before the interactive game play begins, is the Los Angeles courtroom in which the killer is sentenced “only” to life in prison after the judge and the jury have heard experts explain the connection between the game and the murder.

Osaki Kim (O.K.) exits the courtroom swearing revenge upon the video game industry whom he is convinced contributed to his son’s murder. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay” he says. And boy, is O.K. not kidding.

O.K. is provided in his virtual reality playpen a panoply of weapons: machetes, Uzis, revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, Molotov cocktails, you name it. Even baseball bats. Especially baseball bats.

O.K. first hops a plane from LAX to New York to reach the Long Island home of the CEO of the company (Take This) that made the murder simulator on which his son’s killer trained.

Well I suppose it’s no less contrived and boring than Rockstar’s storylines are… But a baseball bat? Not exciting. A baseball bat with spikes? Exciting.

O.K. gets “justice” by taking out this female CEO, whose name is Paula Eibel, along with her husband and kids. “An eye for an eye,” says O.K., as he urinates onto the severed brain stems of the Eibel family victims, just as you do on the decapitated cops in the real video game Postal2.

And hey, who DOESN’T love playing games blatantly ripping off other’s originality?

O.K. then works his way, methodically back to LA by car, but on his way makes a stop at the Philadelphia law firm of Blank, Stare and goes floor by floor to wipe out the lawyers who protect Take This in its wrongful death law suits. “So sue me” O.K. spits, with singer Jackson Brown’s 1980’s hit Lawyers in Love blaring.

With the FBI now after him, O.K. keeps moving westward, shooting up high-tech video arcades called GameWerks. “Game over,” O.K. laughs.

Of course, O.K. makes the obligatory runs to virtual versions of brick and mortar retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, and Wal-Mart to steal supplies and bludgeon store managers and cash register clerks. “You should have checked kids’ IDs!”

Structured. Boring. I’d rather be speeding around aimlessly on a crotch-rocket with GOOD music blaring in San Andreas about now…

O.K. pushes on to Los Angeles. He must get there by May 10, 2006. That is the beginning of “E3″ — the Electronic Entertainment Expo — the Super Bowl of the video game industry. O.K. must get to E3 to massacre all the video game industry execs with one final, monstrously delicious rampage.

Boooring. Even with the Source engine, killing things that don’t shoot back gets dull real quick.

How about it, video game industry? I’ve got the check and you’ve got the tech. It’s all a fantasy, right? No harm can come from such a game, right? Go ahead, video game moguls. Target yourselves as you target others. I dare you.

Alright look, you twit: I’m sure you feel real clever for having read “A Modest Proposal” and likened your own insane, idiotic and misinformed babble to such classic literature. But unlike Jonathan Swift, YOUR proposal IS NOT poignant. Some contrived, B-quality game would solve no developer’s economic plight (can’t see this crap making them much money), nor would it soothe the pain of parents mislead by halfwits like you into believing gaming companies are at fault for any of this crap.

Firearm crimes are down, violent crime among teens is down, and hell, even violent crime in GENERAL is down. And that’s according to The U.S. Government! Fucking hell, it took me 5 minutes to find that information and yet people, usually spineless parents 40+ years of age, still listen to low-lifes like Jack Thompson who spout off fallacious garbage like the above and think “wow, this guy is onto something!”

This is called fear mongering, and perpetrators of it like Thompson need to writher away to some small hole in the ground where they can die a slow- and hopefully very painful- death. That may sound harsh, but piling on bullshit like this to confused and grieving survivors of tragedies like the case of the aforementioned kid in Alabama, school shootings, and generally anytime a teenagers gets pissed off and finds a gun, is a crime of equally disgusting proportions.

So I’ve got a proposal for Mr. Thompson: How about a first person shooter in which the player roams the country (in no defined path) in search of politicians like Senator Lieberman, Mary Lou Dickerson, Jim McCune, Jim McDermott, and Jack Thompson himself, in order to kill them by whatever means necessary: Guns, bombs, piano wire, office chairs… You name it. Think of it as the ultimate “free-form” game, and unlike Thompson’s asinine idea, there are HEAPS of gamers that would play it. Not only that, Thompson and the rest of them would have something really special to whine about in public, thus boosting their name recognition and fulfilling every politician’s wet dream of being “known”.

A modest proposal if ever I saw one.

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Prior to this morning I had given up on this particular “category” of the site, but this is just too good to pass up…

[in class, talking about a student who, while drunk at a recent high school football game, punched a kid from the opposing team]

Student A: “…Oh, he was suspended for fighting and being drunk at a school function.”
Student B: “How is a football game a school function?!”

Yes… Just how IS a game on school property, funded by school, and played by students representing a high school a school function at all? Clearly this is just one more attempt by The Man to bring us down!

Fight the power!

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By the time you hit your senior year of high school, you’ve seen just about every fashion trend you care to. You think it’s over. You think maybe this year people have realized that looking completely shallow isn’t terribly appealing. You think your eyes have been insulted more times than humanly possible. And you’re dead… Fucking… Wrong.

The worst part about “fashion trends” in high school is that the lot of them are based off of, or at least originated with, music. And I figure, “meh, shitty music deserves a shitty look”. But no, trend whores just can’t leave the good stuff alone can they?

Enter Pink Floyd. And I swear if any of you reading this have never heard a Pink Floyd song but sport any of their apparel, I hope you die a slow, painful death at the teeth of a very angry and diseased rodent. That’s right, thanks to the fine folks at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, and the rest of the grand ol’ mega-corporations currently taking over the country, t-shirts sporting the Dark Side Of The Moon album cover are now widely available to young tykes 12-15 years of age. Oh, but we should be happy relatively good albums and great bands are being tacked onto t-shirts en masse for the pathetically impressionable youth of America to be wearing, shouldn’t we?

FUCK NO. Sure, somebody with an Ashlee Simpson shirt on is probably completely worthless (or deaf; or, most likely, both), but worse than that is somebody who doesn’t even HAVE the musical taste that their apparel would lead you to believe they do. For example, my first day back at school I saw no less than four kids parading around in the same exact Pink Floyd “Dark Side Of The Moon” shirt (our student population is less than 200, so yes, it’s actually noticeable), and I would bet any number of important appendages that I possess that not a single one of them has listened to that album all the way through.

For crying out loud Pink Floyd is prog rock, a genre that does nothing if not defy trends. And what happens to them after their musical career ends? They turn into a trend. Irony is such a blast…

Hell, while we’re at it, let’s take a look at two of the other fascinatingly moronic things people are calling “a look” these days:

Emo kids – Cutting yourself because “pain r0×0rz!!1″, wearing heaps of eyeliner, having some of the most obnoxious and ridiculous hairstyles known to modern man (and that includes 80’s punk), appearing to be anorexic, and generally walking around looking like somebody just stomped your pet bunny to death is one way of spending your adolescence. Another is simply living up to your own hype and getting rid of yourself, thereby saving the rest of us the trouble of looking at you and putting a lot of really shitty bands out of business in the process. A win-win situation!

HIM fanatics – HIM is a generic and lyrically stupid Goth-rock band from a country that has produced DOZENS of far, far more talented ones. So why do so many people like them? Because some assclown with a camera and zilch in the way of common sense got popular (imagine that) and along the way decided “hey, their logo is purdy, so the music can’t be that bad!” That’s another thing: Stop kidding yourself if you think a heartagram is somehow a clever design; 12 year olds with MS Paint can scribble out more meaningful crap in 5 minutes. On the other hand, I guess I could say their devoted following is a fine example of how sheep-like many teens are these days. But then I’d be insulting sheep…

Why do people abandon logic and reason in the face of vanity? Hell if I know. Probably the same reason they watch American Idol: Repeated blows to the head when they were small children.

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^ I should probably be shot for that title.

There’s now a new video from The 7th Act on their page. This time it’s a jam (improvised song) they played after the junior party/cookout thing a few weeks ago, and I was pretty much the only one there at that point so I had absolute freedom of movement with my camera.

So please, check it out. And if you’re a junior, grab something heavy and hit yourself in the face with it for not sticking around to watch them.

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