STEVEN WILSON | LIVE REVIEW
St David’s Hall, Cardiff, Wed 21 Mar
Steven Wilson has sold out St David’s Hall. Glance at other dates on his touring cycle and you will see two sold-out nights at the Royal Albert Hall, among others. The album promoted by this tour, To The Bone, even briefly held the no.1 spot in the UK album charts the week following its release, earning the former Porcupine Tree frontman the moniker of ‘the most successful British artist you’ve never heard of’ from some national newspapers.
Admittedly, the entirely seated auditorium is something of a constraint, yet our frontman’s numerous calls for enthusiasm do not fall on deaf ears. Wilson devotes Even Less to two groups of fans who make up the audience: those who have supported him since the start and those who have only lately discovered his music. Undoubtedly, the type of progressive arrangements and musical stylings Wilson’s music has become associated with do not usually lend themselves well to mainstream appeal. However, observations like “I have never understood the concept of musical snobbery, a moving piece of music is a moving piece of music,” make clear his perspective on labels.
Certainly, the show is not devoid of proggier moments. Ancestral and Detonation are wonderfully winding, multi-layered pieces, performed with an acute sense of accuracy and precision. Yet the nearly three-hour setlist does not confine itself musically. Opening songs Nowhere Now and Pariah are blissfully melodic, contrasting melancholy and optimism in their structure. Sleep Together and The Creator Has A Mastertape create dark, brooding atmospheres before shattering them via wailing synths and gnashing guitars.
Some of the best moments come when Wilson and band apply their skills to pop or acoustic turns. Lazarus and Heart Attack In A Layby are gorgeous emotional moments, bringing me and certainly others here to tears; in contrast, Permanating is joyous pop perfection. Appreciation for experimentation is what imbues the show with life and colour.
The evening, too, is not made by song alone, thanks to the creations of animators Jess Cope and Lasse Hoile. Some moments, particularly People Who Eat Darkness and The Raven That Refused To Sing, are complemented by haunting short films. Other times, we see the pictures tell stories in simplicity, portraying city life on Arriving Somewhere, But Not Here or a beach with children’s clothes washed ashore on Refuge. Characters and images are projected onto an invisible net across the front of the stage – enabling quasi-duets with performers who couldn’t be present Wilson himself trapped in dance routines with his own creations. Suffice to say that YouTube videos or Spotify playlists can’t serve as a replacement for the sensory experience created here.
“This will probably be my last seated tour in the UK,” Wilson declares, perhaps to mixed feelings. Yet great art needs to change, and while many of the audience members, like me, may be experiencing their first Steven Wilson show tonight, others have attended the same tour across numerous dates and cities. While most will probably see him perform again, tonight’s show is only one stage in an ambitious and brave career which, witnessed from seats or standing up, will continue to progress.
words ALEX SWIFT photos GARETH GRIFFITHS