Lately, everyone seems to be on good behavior at shows. I really haven’t had reason to raise an eyebrow in a long, long time. Odd, very odd. I think that normally this would be a good thing. I’m sure we’ve all had Some Idiot nearly ruin an otherwise great set … but you know what I realized last night? I’ve been missing the drama a bit. Not only that – I’ve been missing out on some really entertaining progressive rock shows! So take note: I’m finally out of the prog rock closet.
This realization came from checking out the Bigelf/Porcupine Tree show at the House of Blues last night. Porcupine Tree drew a very entertaining and intensely enthusiastic crowd, but I have to say that Los Angeles maniacs, Bigelf, stole the show for me.
Bigelf grabbed my interest by doing everything up huge – Orange Amplifiers (of the highest quality, my boyfriend tells me), jackets made from leather and velvet, kohl-lined eyes and hair, lots and lots of hair. In short, it wasn’t hard to label their look: crazy. Their sound, however, was a lot trickier to categorize. They didn’t sing songs … they performed fully-composed pieces of music, complete with some truly wicked guitar solos (check out “The Evils of Rock & Roll”). I was intrigued.
Steven Wilson, frontman for Porcupine Tree, also came with a lot of hair but he was much cleaner about it. It was clear from the start that he wanted to be perceived a certain way and at times, the way I perceived him was to be a bit self-indulgent. But then I hopped on their website and it turns out that’s exactly the way he described his initial projects in the early ‘90s! So who knows, maybe Wilson really does execute everything exactly right. All I know is he came to Dallas armed with carefully crafted videos, a very complex, layered sound and black lights that made my nails and eyeballs turn blue. It was all very cool.
But for all of their efforts and Pink Floydness, the best part of the night was the crowd-watching. I just couldn’t get past the elderly gentleman who was rockin’ out hardcore in front of me, dancing his heart out as only someone who knew every song could. Nor could I resist the occasional peek over my shoulder, because everytime the band started a new song, the guy behind me would scream “Ohhhh sh*******!! F**CK YEAH!!!” Every. Single. Time. Seriously! There is no doubt in my mind that he is their biggest fan.
So even if they don’t have me hooked as much as Bigelf, at least they have that guy.
