.... at the Royal Albert Hall. A breathtaking gig! I don't think I've ever been to a more enjoyable show. Great light show, incredible material, some fantastic projections on a screen bigger than the side of a house - Some abstract imagery, and some weird films, a bit horror in tone. The start to the gig was really ominous - the lights went down, some drone was playing for quite a long time and the screen showed a picture out of a window. This went on for a while, then I noticed that there was a figure in black in the background, almost imperceptibly moving closer, closer .... it was eerie!
I wish I could have made the first night as well as they played mostly different material on each night.
Dave Kilminster was superb on guitar, but also we had Guthrie show up and blast three of my favourite numbers: Home Invasion/Regret#9 and Drive home. Wilson's PRS sounded superb with powerchords throughout, and some of the music was really heavy - absolute cacophony! (in a good way).
2 hours of music plus about 20 minutes of encore. Utterly fabulous! Much prog rock over the years has still had it's head stuck in the 70s, but Wilson's material is much more vibrant and edgy.
Comments
Necro bump - I'm going to see SW in Dublin in a few weeks, cant wait.
Love the new record.
That whole new fandangled "Hologram" stuff is out there....
Great great gig.
What a band.
I like Alex Hutchings on the guitar as well, he seems a good fit with the rest of the guys. He seems a little more reserved than Dave and kept himself to himself on stage, mind you he has only recently joined. Great player though! One thing that surprised me is that the length of his strap appear to change from song to song. Some of the more technical parts the guitar was jacked right up to his chest, other heavier songs and it was haning below the waist!
Any one else catch a RAH gig?
However, I'm not a fan of Alex Hutchings in SW's band. His playing isn't emotive (at all), whilst technically very demanding - which I find very dull. I also thought his guitar sound was awful - indistinct and muffled for most of the time. His solo on Regret 9 wasn't moving or inspiring, and missed the whole point - I thought Dave K's solos from last tour were *incredible* and the night I saw the hand.cannot.erase tour in London I'd say Dave's solo was better than Guthrie's recorded one (and I consider that to be in the top 10 greatest solos of all time). I'm not saying Alex is a bad player - not at all - but I think Dave was a better 'fit' due to the emotive qualities in his playing. I'm hoping that Steven can persuade Dave to come back in the future, as I'd love to hear an album written with Dave doing to 'stunt' guitar stuff.
On a different note - Steven's new CS Tele sounds incredible. And I'd say sounds 'bigger' than his PRS guitars - obviously for the drop tuned stuff with big amounts of gain, it may not work so well but he looks so much more comfortable with the Tele and I thought his playing was the best I've seen from him.
Have you listened to the 41/2 album? I think that has lots of Dave K guitar on it. Theres a nice melodic solo in My Book of Regrets, love his phrasing in that.
Totally agree anout SWs tele, sounded mega. Even through that little H&K during Even Less.