Are there big things in the pipeline? In the past few months, the Porcupine Tree, believed to be dead, have shown signs of life again.
First a download page was published on Bandcamp. There is plenty of material there from the British band’s extensive live archives. Fans like me cheer for the sweets. Like a recording from the very first Porcupine Tree tour: 1994 in Salford, England. Or a never published concert as part of the “In Absentia” tour 2003 at the House of Blues in Los Angeles.
Other highlights include the audio version of the WDR Rockpalast broadcast 2005 in the Live Music Hall in Cologne and a one-hour excerpt from the 2007 concert in Cologne. I was very lucky to have been there on both occasions. The memories of the brilliant performances are still present today.
Porcupine Tree: YouTube page completely redesigned
But Porcupine Tree go even further. The YouTube page of the progressive rock spearhead of the late 1990s and early 2000s has also been completely redesigned. Is that what you do when frontman and founder Steven Wilson’s band has been declared disbanded for years?
In addition, there are always re-releases of the PT albums. The classic “In Absentia”, for which the group even signed a record deal with a big label, came out about a year ago in a remastered deluxe edition with numerous bonus tracks and demos. Such a deluxe version is also planned for the successor “Deadwing”. And now a new edition of the last studio work by Porcupine Tree is coming out on CD and vinyl.
The Incident: A controversial work among fans
“The Incident” is known to be controversial among fans. The concept work consists of just one piece, almost 60 minutes long, but it has been split up into individual tracks. The result: You have to take the time to listen to the entire album. The pieces on their own seem to have fallen out of context.
But there was also the second part of The Incident: The band put those songs from the recording sessions on the disc that didn’t fit into the concept of the marathon song. I already thought at the time: Disc #2 is the better one. It contained pearls like the melancholy “Black Dahlia” about the Black Dahlia murders of Elizabeth Short in Los Angeles in 1947. Or “Remember Me Lover” with its sarcastic text about a broken love affair. This song also contains the wonderful melodies and polyphonic choruses that made PT stand out from the crowd of modern progressive rock bands. The quintessence of everything that made the band so awesome, and fittingly the last track on the last studio release ever. So a worthy conclusion.
Porcupine Tree back on stage someday?
The new edition of “The Incident” will be launched on September 3rd. Besides the regular work and the bonus disc, this time there is no further, unreleased studio material. I guess nothing exists anymore. The formation was burned out at the time from the many tours. Steven Wilson has explained this many times in interviews.
But who knows: Maybe the band leader will call his ex-colleagues Gavin Harrison (drums), Richard Barbieri (keyboards) and Colin Edwin (bass) as well as live guitarist John Wesley at some point. The end of his The Future Bites Tour last year is likely to have torn a deep hole in the wallet of the 54-year-old. And this year, planned performances of the European tour – including on October 18 in Bochum – were canceled again.
Porcupine Tree Tour would be financially lucrative
Then maybe you would rather bring your former comrades together in the coming year and play a few sold-out concerts in really big halls? Why not? Porcupine Tree would still attract a significantly larger audience than solo artist Steven Wilson is currently able to do.
So a little dreaming is allowed. Even if nothing has been announced so far.
Porcupine Tree on the web:
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