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Gisteravond naar Porcupine Tree in de Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam geweest. Alweer optreden nummer nummer 59 en mijn 6e keer PT!

Helaas geen zelf gemaakte foto vandaag, aangezien al het opname materiaal verboden was. Op zich kan ik dat wel begrijpen, want het werd de laatste tijd ook wel erg druk met al die fototoestellen en telefoons die steeds de lucht in gingen. Kan me voorstellen dat dat voor de band ook niet erg fijn is. Maar ik had toch graag in ieder geval één leuke foto gemaakt. Maar goed.

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Morgen naar Porcupine Tree! Ben alvast wat setlists van deze tour aan het bekijken. Zeer benieuwd wat ze, naast het nieuwe album in z'n geheel, nog meer gaan spelen.

Een feest van mailorder hier vandaag. Gister al nieuwe muziek op de deurmat. De nieuwe Porcupine Tree is sindsdien niet meer uit mijn speler geweest. Nou ja, alleen even om 'em aan iTunes toe te voegen. Ik moet het werkje toch goed kennen, las dat ze het integraal gaan spelen bij het komende optreden.

Verder had ik nog de laatste Primordial, die al een tijdje op mijn lijst stond. En omdat je boven x Euro altijd iets relatief goedkoop kan uitzoeken ook nog An Ode To Woe van My Dying Bride, met als bonus de DVD van het optreden in Paradiso waar ik bij was.

Vanochtend kwam de pakketdienst met nog wat kleding van Bonapart en mijn boeken van Bol. Nu wacht ik nog op een Down t-shirt en een paar oorbellen via Etsy. Binnenkort hoef ik de deur niet meer uit!

Just found out the secret Special Guest for the Porcupine Tree show later this year will be Robert Fripp, of King Crimson fame. Which I'm sure is quite alright. Unfortunately the news is somewhat eclipsed by the the fact that the role will be performed by Katatonia in several other countries. I'd love to see them live again, so that would have been my choice of openers. Shame. Well, maybe they'll make it here on their own around the same time. Fingers crossed.

For the fifth year in a row, I'll be attending a Porcupine Tree concert in the fourth quarter. Their new album is due for release some time in September and they'll be playing Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on October 12th. The anouncement mentions special guests, I wonder who that will be. I've read rumours of a bunch of bands, from Dream Theatre to Opeth. Guess we'll have to wait to find out.

Porcupine Tree played two consecutive shows in 013, I attended the last yesterday evening. Both will be used to create a new DVD. We found a great spot on the balcony from which to overlook the stage. In hindsight it would have been cool to attend both nights, but that would get a bit expensive. Also I feared, like Madrugada did last year and as is quite common especially with DVD recordings, that they'd play the same songs both nights. This turned out not to be true though. Ah well. I had a great night anyway!

A review can be found on on Progwereld.org.

Two reasons to be happy it's September: summer's pretty much over and it's time for the concert tours to come round this way. I've got some great shows lined-up already: Anathema and Demians in Tivoli Utrecht, Madrugada also in Tivoli Utrecht, Porcupine Tree in 013 Tilburg, Hermano in Patronaat Haarlem.

Shame all the tickets look the same these days, and don't get me started on the e-Tickets. What kind of memento is that?

Update: unfortunately the entire Madrugada tour has been cancelled, so I'll have to return those tickets. Some good news too: got Tickets for Haggard in Kasteel Alphen and Riverside in Paradiso Amsterdam.

Porcupine Tree will play 2 shows at 013, Tilburg, the Netherlands, on 15th and 16th October. The short run of European shows during October is in order to shoot a DVD based on the Fear of a Blank Planet album cycle, and the main body of the filming will take place at Tilburg, where the band will play as much different material as possible during the course of the 2 nights.

After a brief period of doubt (it'll be my 6th show of theirs in only 3 years), I will attend the show on October 16th.

Tickets for the Porcupine Tree and Anathema show arrived earlier today. They're playing the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on December 5th. It'll be strange to see both bands at such a big venue. I almost contemplated not attending, but how could I not. As a bonus, my parents are big Porcupine Tree fans also and decided to make it a family outing, their treat. It is Sinterklaas after all! :-)

Just got back from Amsterdam where we attended the Porcupine Tree at at Melkweg. The third time I've had the privilege of seeing them live in a little under two years. Last time was in September when they played a few songs which they were then still working on for the new album. This has since been released as Fear Of A Blank Planet.

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Just got back from Amsterdam, been to the Porcupine Tree show in Paradiso. Running a bit late, so we completely missed opening act Paatos. Did manage to find a nice spot and after a few minutes waiting the band appeared on stage. The first part of the show was a showcase of the material from the upcoming album. A lot of groovy, lengthy songs with heavy parts on one side, soft and fragile parts on the other. Some very moving moments there and definitely an appetizer for the upcoming album!

After a short break they played mostly new material, including my favourite song 'Arriving Somewhere But Not Here', which was accompanied by some fitting video material. Other songs they played were: Open Car, Trains, Halo, Blackest Eyes. The band recently signed to Roadrunner Records and follow-up to the album Deadwing is due out early next year. Can't wait!

Update: here's a review of the show (in Dutch) on progwereld.org and Zware Metalen.

Finally, only one more day to go before the much anticipated Tool concert in Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. I've heard different reports on the sound quality, but since I haven't been, I'll just have to wait and see. The wikipedia does state The hall is praised for its acoustics and it's said these are the best in Europe. And I wonder if Tool can make it as good as the show in Paradiso I witnessed in 1997, just after the release of Ænima. That still remains my favourite concert ever, even after almost ten years and numerous shows.

I also picked up tickets to see Porcupine Tree. They're playing Paradiso in september. That will be the second show of theirs within a year. What a treat!

Another late night yesterday, as I had a wonderful dinner in far away Medemblik with the people from work. Glad to be able to sleep in this morning though, as I was still quite tired from last weekend. After a relaxed lunch with the newspaper I felt brave enough to go to the store to pick up some things. I'm quite sure one of my circles of hell will have something to do with shopping on a saturday afternoon. I did manage not to strangle anyone though, and arrived home with some nice pieces of music:

• Mourning Sun by Fields of the Nephilim
• Second Life Syndrome by Riverside
• Planetary Confinement by Antimatter

I originally entered the store to get my hands on the new Porcupine Tree, but that was unavailable. Ah well, you know how these sort of things go. You set out for something and return home with something completly different. Might give it another try after work on monday ;-). Oh, and I also bought a new electric kettle as the other one looked horrid in my pretty new kitchen.

Just got back from Tilburg, where, by way of celebrating Sinterklaas, we had a lovely meal in Grandcafé-Restaurant De Beurs and attended the Porcupine Tree concert in 013. The trip to Tilburg went quite smooth, also due to the assistance of the TomTom GPS system. I'd never seen it in action before, and am quite impressed. Though I'm sure there are people for whom this extra screen may end up being to much of a distraction. As I mentioned dinner was great, though maybe a bit rushed. But we wanted to be on time to find a nice place to stand.

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