The Porcupine Tree Experience

Music in my head: The Porcupine Tree Setlist @ Mood-i
Today's weather: Chilly.

We were there.
We booked our tickets online for a pittance.
We waited in queue for two hours listening to a group of dumb-girl-stereotypes going "Oh my Gaawwd! I can't believe she's not into P-Tree". We tried not to think of the obvious phallic reference.
We waited. We got hair-gel samples from Gatsby. We watched people play human snakes and ladders for Durex jeans.
We listened to the MoneyBrother soundcheck.
And then, we heard him for the first time- a lone, unaccompanied voice, a-capella-ing "Way out of here". We didn't believe at first that it could be him. We thought it was probably some IIT pricks goofing around. Until we heard the first of the riffs from "Blind House".
We got carried by our feet and ours ears to the source of the sound. We found barricades, we strained to look over, under and through them. We climbed up to the top of the Swimming Pool wall.
We finally saw them. Steven Wilson on an acoustic guitar, singing "Time Flies". We craned our necks to absorb the whole scene. The other musicians waited for their cue. "...and the best thing that you can do, is take whatever comes to you, 'cause time flies...".
We cheered on throughout the song. We saw Gavin Harrison thumping away purposefully on his enormous drum-set. We saw Richard Barbieri hiding behind his shades as always, working five sets of keys. We saw John Wesley and heard his crooning voice as he backed up Stevie W. We saw Colin Edwin, playing effortlessly, with his usual spaced-out smile.
And then, they played "Open Car".
The small crowd atop the swimming pool erupted, threatening to bring down the wall. We sang along, we banged our heads, and we finally stopped. It was over.
The instruments were covered with black cloth. Soundchek was over.
We returned, for a while to Burgers and Dew and Gatsby, and then walked over just as the queue for entry to the OAT was being formed. We were lucky. In ten minutes, we looked behind us and saw the longest queue we had ever seen in our lives.
We waited- one hour, then two, and finally we the line started crawling forward ever so slowly. We watched as a group of people trying to jump the queue being met with a thick bamboo in the rear from a security guard.
People with iPods were thrown out of the line, somewhat appropriately, what with Steven Wilson's iPod breaking campaign. We moved forward, and half an hour behind schedule, we were finally in.
We listened, very superficially, to the last of the Semi-Pro finalists. Then Parikrama, the opening act, came on stage. They were average, and full of themselves. They sang two lame-ass songs which they claimed was inspired by Lord of the Rings. Peter Jackson would've murdered them. Their violinist was holding the act together, and their egos were badly hurt when they were bc-mc-ed in between songs. Their response was weak and baseless, with some crap about psychology. Their final song seemed never-ending, and the crowd erupted in a cheer of relief when they left the stage. They must've assumed that we liked them. If you're reading this, Parikrama, you're a good band, but you sucked yeterday.
Finally, the stage was prepared for Porcupine Tree by their technicians. Some annoying ads were played on the big screen as this was being done, which met with curses from the crowd, much like the Nokia incident during the Opeth concert at Chennai. (click here and here for more info)
And then, the wait was over.
Steven Wilson and co. exploded into the powerful riff of "Occam's Razor" and continued on to "Blind house". We expected them to play the whole of "The Incident", but we were in for a surprise as a hearty "Namaste India!" from SW was followed by, would you believe it, "Sound of Muzak". It was executed flawlessly, with the crowd joining in for the chorus. If that wasn't good enough, "Hatesong" followed, and it was amazing, right from the baseline to SW's weird solo, to the little drum innovations from Harrison. We then re-heard "Open Car". It was better than before. We were delirious.
And if this was delirium, what followed was, I don't know, madness, perhaps. Arguably their most popular song, "Lazarus" brought even those dumasses who had their asses parked for the first two songs to their feet. We waved our back-lit cellphones in appreciation. And six minutes later, we started banging our heads to the explosive intro to "Blackest Eyes".
Masterpieces followed one after the other, with "The Start of Something Beautiful", the first half of "Russia on Ice" and the second half of "Anesthetize".
This was followed by "Time Flies". It started as perfectly as the rest of the gig so far, but in the middle, the unthinkable happened. The drums and keys lost power for a few seconds, and the visuals went blank. But the true professionals that they were, they recovered in less than a couple of seconds to end in style. A couple of more songs from the incident followed with "Octane Twisted", "The Seance", and "Circle of Manias".
What followed was probably the high point of the concert. "Way Out of Here" combined perfect vocals, guitars, drums, bass- the usual, with visuals that can't be adequately described with the word stunning.
They bowed out after this, and some of the aforementioned dumasses started to walk out, thinking the concert was over. Sure as hell, they were left feeling stupid as the band returned for an encore, and what an encore it was.
It started with "Trains". It was brilliant. The solo, the clapping, it was the stuff of dreams.
And then the finale. The best for the last.
"You can be right like me, with God in a hole, you're a righteous soul,
I've got a Halo 'round me, I've got a Halo 'round me...
'Cause I've got a Halo 'round my head.
Thank you India!"
And then, they were gone.
Now, we say, suffused with pride and joy and disbelief, that, yes, we were there, on the night of the 21st of December 2009, a night which we will remember as (as quoted by the Parikrama frontman, one of the few things he said that actually made sense) Porcupine Tree Night for the rest of our lives.
Bully for the dumasses who weren't there.