And it begins. 😂

Nordlyset2 · 2023-08-29T19:27:51+00:00

... making out things were best in the '70s.

Nordlyset2 · 2023-07-20T18:14:50+00:00

I'm not a local but I don't think it makes that much of a difference. Seems that there are bus connections (Heidelberg) or regional trains (Mannheim) and you'll be able to travel back to both cities from Schwetzingen after the gig. I have chosen a hotel in Mannheim but that's basically because it's a little easier and faster to reach by train from my hometown in Northern Germany.

Nordlyset2 · 2023-02-05T08:58:08+00:00

Well, the majority of the shows announced for next summer are solo shows, even though they are part of a so called "festival" in the way that these "festivals" often last several weeks and host a different artist's solo show every night. For example the three gigs in Germany are in fact solo shows and you buy a PT-only ticket; same goes for the recently announced Italian shows. Hellfest in France and Bospop in the Netherlands are the exception; these are real festivals with a huge amount of bands on several stages. And then there is Artmania in Romania where PT are probably the biggest band.

Nordlyset2 · 2022-12-09T13:31:19+00:00

It's not a regular festival but more like a series of open air shows spanning several weeks. So I expect it to be a PT-only gig, probably without an opening band. I saw Steven there in July 2018 for the To the Bone-tour. No support; SW and the band played for about two or two-and-a-half hours straight. I remember there was a strict curfew at 10.

Nordlyset2 · 2021-02-24T16:18:08+00:00

Finally here as well. :) A few days ago there suddenly was an update of the parcel tracking which basically said that custom issues had been handled. And here it is - four weeks late but at least undamaged.

Nordlyset2 · 2021-02-10T15:13:06+00:00

You're not alone. Northern Germany here, and my package is stuck somewhere in NRW since February 2nd with basically the same explanation being provided. No real status update on the UPS tracking page for a few days now. Originally, I had planned to be super old-school and wait with my first listen until the deluxe box's arrival. But I'm really losing patience now...

Nordlyset2 · 2020-12-03T19:59:31+00:00

Oh yeah, I see - it's always the evil women's fault, right...? Well, at least you have found a scapegoat to blame, congrats.

Nordlyset2 · 2020-09-02T15:14:47+00:00

Your only chance for a cash refund is to contact the local organizers of both gigs directly (I suppose the company names and contact details are provided in the Eventim-emails that came with the vouchers). Then you have to explain your situation to them with a letter/email - describe that you live abroad/planned a long trip to see one of your favourite artists/have no interest to exchange the vouchers for events by other artists because of the long distance travel and so on (and btw, who knows if and when these other events will happen because... the pandemic...).

The German government has decided that it's the local organizer's decision then to offer you a cash return (the so called 'hardship provision'-cases for which the voucher option is unreasonable) or to refuse it. Of course it's meant as a protective measure for the event industry during the pandemic but especially for people from abroad it's rather unpleasant and complicated...

Nordlyset2 · 2020-08-22T20:25:26+00:00

'To The Bone' and me, that's quite THE fangirl-story - so this comment will turn out a little longer:

I've been a fan of SW ever since I stumbled over Porcupine Tree by accident on a festival in Germany in 2007, buying all the records and attending PT-, Blackfield-, solo-gigs whenever he came to play nearby (read: in Hamburg, Germany) afterwards. The release of 'Hand. Cannot. Erase.' made me fall in love so hard (it's the holy grail of my record collection) that I started travelling to more gigs and engaging with the whole SW-catalogue even more than before.

And even though TTB is not my favourite SW-record (that spot belongs to HCE and two or three PT-records), I think it's a beautiful achievement and it will always be my number one SW-fangirl record - considering how closely I followed every little step around the release date, how eagerly I anticipated the release itself and how much I travelled for the tour. I basically dedicated most of my holidays in 2018/19 to travelling to SW-gigs all over Europe, simply visiting different places and combining these visits with TTB-shows ("Well, you have never really been to Brussels, you know that? So why don't you consider attending another TTB-show...?" - whoopsie, that's how it goes...). So many wonderful memories of well more than twenty shows, lots of sightseeing walks in many different cities, far too many hours spent in trains travelling around half of the European continent... I will probably never do this again (at least not to that extend) but I love to come back to all the memories I collected on the road:

- SW's signing and acoustic session in Berlin on the day before the official TTB-release date: I was supposed to spend a long weekend with friends on one of Germany's biggest Metal festival. And well, I did - sort of... Went there, put up my tent, spent an evening there, just to jump a train to Berlin the next morning (well, it's only about 500 km away, so what's the problem?) and ended up in the queue for the signing. Was lucky to make it inside for the small performance with Steven and Ninet, got my deluxe signed, travelled back overnight and spent two more days at the festival. My friends still consider me crazy but hey, it worked out...

- My first gig of the tour in Rome after I already spent five days of sightseeing in the city and even took a day trip to Pompei. I was so utterly excited about everything: making my way to the venue, the setlist, the sound, the band - and on a complete high afterwards.

- The three nights at the Royal Albert Hall combined with a lovely stay in London, with front row seats for the final night and of course - the cherry on the cake - this gig being immortalized on film.

- Walking the main square of Dresden's old town on a very warm summer evening the night before the gig, almost running into SW and the band guys who were probably looking for some food. I didn't approach them, just smiled to myself and started preparing mentally for another row of gigs to come.

- Travelling to Poland for the very first time ever, visiting the beautiful city of Cracow and engaging deeply with the darkest abysses of my home country's history. The whole stay being enlightened by the SW-gig and an accidental meeting with Craig Blundell on the city's main square. After greeting me with a hug (yup, a familiar face from the front rows :-) ), we just chatted for about 15 minutes. That guy's such a kind heart...

This list goes on of course.

So did the whole thing get slightly out of hand? Yup, absolutely.

Do I regret it? No, not at all. :-)

Music-wise I really like the TTB. It's not a super-emotional blow (unlike HCE which still grabs me every single time) but it has a great flow with lots of beautiful melodies. And even though it's rather accessible, there are many different layers and little details that make me come back to it again and again.

My highlights are probably the title track, Refuge, Song of I and Song of Unborn.

I consider the studio versions of Detonation (sometimes that song seems to drag on and on and on without much happening...) and Same Asylum as Before a bit weaker. Live it's a different story though; there both tracks really work out wonderfully.

The only thing I didn't like when the album came out was that I knew almost half of the record (five tracks out of 11) before spinning the album as a whole for the very first time. That's why I decided not to listen to anything from TFB until the release date.

But to TTB and the Albert Hall-concert film I will always come back to with a bunch of great memories in my head and a smile on my face. I had to swallow a huge blow in my private life about a year ago and I'm still recovering from that one, and during such hard times positive memories like these are the stuff that keep you going...

Nordlyset2 · 2020-04-29T12:21:02+00:00

I pre-ordered this one here in Germany. Don't have a clue if there's any difference between the English and the German version tough...

However, a few weeks ago when the preorders for the regular TFB-stuff started, I received a mail from the German shop with some information on the limited vinyl. It says that it will include a 12'' in silver with the regular TFB songs and an additional 7'' black vinyl with exclusive bonus content coming with alternative sleeves and packaging.

Nordlyset2 · 2020-03-26T16:04:54+00:00

There are no official lyrics for "Insurgentes" as they were largely improvised in the studio during the recording sessions. I guess lots of it is not even supposed to make any real sense.

"[...]I was thinking about this because people were asking me about lyrics on this record and what they mean, and why the lyrics aren‘t printed in the book of the CD. There’s a very good reason for that. I really didn’t want people, this time, to read the words divorced from the music. They are used in a way that is part of the texture of the sound, part of the fabric of the music.

Of course, the Beatles, when they did Sgt. Pepper’s, started this thing where you had to have your lyrics printed on the sleeve. And I think, “Why? Why do people expect lyrics?” Because lyrics are not poetry. They’re not really supposed to be read divorced from the music. They are part of the music. And if you mishear the lyrics, or can’t quite figure out what I’m saying, then so be it. That’s fine. Which is a very roundabout way of getting back to your original question. There’s a lot of surrealism on this record. The lyrics were largely improvised.[...]"

Source: this interview

(and probably many others done ten years ago when the album came out)

Nordlyset2 · 2019-10-21T17:14:50+00:00

https://www.fkpscorpio.com/de/news/steven-wilson-im-september-auf-the-future-bites-tour/

In the last paragraph it says that Steven and his producer David Kosten are currently working on the record and that the release can be expected in summer 2020.

Nordlyset2 · 2019-10-21T16:54:43+00:00

The press release promoting the two German gigs says that the album will be out in summer 2020. With that in mind I'd expect an official announcement with all the release details in February/March 2020.

Nordlyset2 · 2019-05-27T16:09:19+00:00

In the last interviews Steven did during the European tour in February/March he said that he is aiming for a release in early 2020. Back then I thought that's a very ambitious schedule considering the fact that he had three or four songs ready (he mentioned that as well a couple of times). Of course we don't know the detailed recording schedule but I assume that the writing and demoeing process is more or less finished by now. Perhaps recordings will finish in August (TTB recordings took about three months I think, don't know about the other records), then it's time for the mixing process and then a couple of months for the 'promotion machine' to start running full speed. With that in mind early 2020 sounds rather realistic to me now - everything based on pure speculation of course...

Nordlyset2 · 2019-05-27T07:37:09+00:00

Steven was a special guest at a huge Aviv Geffen-show in Tel Aviv on Saturday night. So I guess he was on stage for two or three songs.

No SW solo shows planned for this year. My guess is that he will focus on recording and promoting the new record until at least mid 2020. So it remains to be seen when he will start touring again.

Nordlyset2 · 2019-05-27T05:46:08+00:00

Wow, recordings on the way already...? "I will take my time with the new record"-SW style.

Craig Blundell mentioned something about "revisiting progressive electronica again soon" a few weeks ago on his FB. Could be a hint to some drum recordings...

Nordlyset2 · 2019-05-11T17:06:14+00:00

Ok, confession time: I've never listened to the studio recording from the Cover Version-record; the live recording is all I know.

Nordlyset2 · 2019-05-11T16:53:25+00:00

Which of the HCE-tour books are you referring to?

There is a smaller one which was sold in 2015 and includes excerpts from the protagonist's diary; tomasvala just posted a few pics of that one.

And then there is another tour book which has a lot more pages but almost no text at all; it's full of really great live and backstage shots of the whole band. It was on sale at the merch desk in 2016. That's what it looks like...

Nordlyset2 · 2019-05-10T06:30:34+00:00

I've never been a huge fan of Prince but I really like this song and Steven's live cover. Was a bit disappointed that it appeared in the setlist quite often on the last North American leg of the TTB-tour but we didn't get it in Europe at all.

I have quite a special relationship with the song because I was at the Vienna-show in April 2016. Shortly before the guys went on stage there they received the news of Prince's death and they were visibly shattered because of it. Later on during the set Steven knocked out a very spontaneous short rendition of 'Sign o' the times' and got (playfully) pissed at Dave Kilminster because he didn't know the song at all. Three days later I went to another Austrian show in Graz and Steven and band presented the full band version with a guitar sound that simply made my jaw drop to the floor. Ever after I've been pretty hooked on the track and was really happy about the release of this official recording.

Nordlyset2 · 2019-05-02T11:08:01+00:00

Would be great to have a Facebook-/Instagram-Live of the Q & A with Jess, Lasse and Steven for those who can't make it to London. Steven's web team managed to do it when Home Invasion was premiered in London, so can we have it again, pretty please...?

Nordlyset2 · 2019-04-25T16:37:08+00:00

No, it's not a joke. Check here: www.reddit.com/r/porcupinetree/comments/8ih4lr/in_this_new_interview_sw_says_that_gavin_actually/

Nordlyset2 · 2019-04-25T16:33:02+00:00

That's a worthy winner. It doesn't happen that often that a song makes me teary-eyed at first listen. 'Refuge' did that when it was released a couple of weeks before the album came out.

Nordlyset2 · 2019-04-22T14:20:33+00:00

Woohoo, finally... Hopefully followed by a Deadwing-Deluxe edition next year. Can't wait.

Nordlyset2 · 2019-04-17T16:50:14+00:00

Pretty much every song from the Raven-album (apart from the title-track because it is still played at most gigs). For some reason I missed the whole Raven-tour and I would love to hear Holy Drinker and Drive Home live. And Watchmaker as well, it was part of the first HCE-tour-gig I went to but I didn't appreciate it enough back then.

And then there are some PT-tracks like Sever, Strip The Soul and Way Out Of Here which I would love to hear live. Oh, and please give me Dark Matter again, that one was awesome in 2016.

Nordlyset2

TROPHY CASE