Photo report from first concert of Steven Wilson in Ukraine
Steven Wilson is an English multi-instrumentalist, founder of several musical projects and a member of the prog-rock band Porcupine Tree. Becoming a nominee for the Grammy Awards for 4 times, Wilson was described by The Daily Telegraph as "the most successful British artist you've never heard of". On March 2, the Kyiv’s public had the opportunity to attend the musician’s show who visited Ukraine for the first time in his 25-year career.
The concert of Steven Wilson was held in support of 2017’s album "To the Bone", which received positive reviews from critics and was included into the charts of 20 different countries. The tour to promote the release lasted for several years and the performance in Kyiv ended such a long concert leg.
The show began with a demonstration of the short film "Truth". The video contained footage with photographs and captions for them, which with every new screening became more frequent and intermingled — so, for example, the image of the Ku Klux Klan, originally signed as "Hate", received the new names such as "Love" or "Family" while mixing. It seemed to me that it was a satire on manipulating the opinion of the crowd, whose perception depends on how exactly the information is provided.
One of the concert’s feature was a thin transparent screen — almost unobtrusive from the spectators seating, but on which the footages and images were clearly visible. In addition to the film screening, there was also showed a video with singing Ninet Tayeb — an Israeli singer who sang a duet with Wilson in the song "Pariah". In addition, during the gig, there were shown the footages from the artist's clips, for example, the video "The Same Asylum as Before", shot in Pink Floyd’s surrealistic style.
Besides of a spectacular visuality, the audience was able to fully enjoy musical skills of Wilson and his live musicians — bassist Nick Beggs, guitarist Alex Hutchings, keyboard player Adam Holtzman, and drummer Craig Blundell. The artists showed not only a high level of performance, but also tried their best to entertain themselves and the public: at some point of the gig Wilson played the guitar without looking at the instrument, and later he lay down on the floor with Nick Beggs, continuing to play their parts.
In between songs, Steven talked a lot with the audience, leading long monologues. The musician honestly admitted to the public at the very beginning of the evening about his love for blabbering. During the concert, he strongly encouraged the spectators not to restrain themselves and express their emotions and attitude to what is happening on the stage as strong as possible. In response, the audience willingly supported the performing artists with loud applause and cries. At some point, a part of the public rose from their seats (the performance took place in the concert hall of the October Palace) and came close to the stage.
After the event, the musician posted a message on his website, in which he thanked all those involved in the tour in support of "To the Bone", emphasizing the following:
"If you came to any of the shows, then I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your continued support and enthusiasm for the music, you were a big part of this too."
Setlist:
- Intro ("Truth" short film)
- Nowhere Now
- Pariah
- Home Invasion
- Regret #9
- The Creator Has a Mastertape (Porcupine Tree song)
- Refuge
- The Same Asylum as Before
- Ancestral
Set 2:
- Arriving Somewhere but Not Here (Porcupine Tree song)
- Permanating
- Song of I
- Lazarus (Porcupine Tree song)
- Detonation
- Heartattack in a Layby (Porcupine Tree song)
- Vermillioncore
- Sleep Together (Porcupine Tree song)
Encore:
- Even Less (Porcupine Tree song) (SW solo)
- Blackfield (Blackfield song) (acoustic SW and Adam only)
- The Sound of Muzak (Porcupine Tree song)
- The Raven That Refused to Sing
Text report by Anastezia G.
Photo report by Olga Abrisad
Noizr Zine thanks Alena Skulkina for the accreditation