Steven Wilson at the Copenhagen Opera House - 21/02/2019

I’m pretty much a newcomer to the music of Steven Wilson. Though familiar with a few tracks from his former band Porcupine Tree, it’s only in the past few months that I have begun to explore his solo work, starting with latest release To the Bone and working backwards through his catalogue. I therefore attended Wilson’s recent gig at the Copenhagen Opera House as very much a casual fan looking to expand my ear on more of his music, in addition to hearing how the songs that I was familiar with, would transpire to the beautiful live setting of the Opera House. This gig was one of the final dates in support of To the Bone, an album which, while – as typical of Wilson – is dark lyrically, is not as conceptual as previous releases Hand. Cannot. Erase and The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories). Musically, To the Bone takes a more mainstream pop/rock direction – a perhaps brave departure from the prog rock genre that Wilson is renowned for.

The set began with a short film montage in which various photographs were superimposed with words that seemingly represent their meaning. These images were then repeatedly replayed with the words mismatched, to convey the theme of perception and the alternative, and at times more sinister, realities that exist in life. The mounting urgency in which the montage progressed, coupled with the unsettling instrumental audio effects that gradually increased in intensity, provided an ominous tension that finally made way for Wilson’s entrance to the stage for the anthemic pop/rock of ‘Nowhere Now’.

This intro sequence set the scene for what was musically and visually a stunning show, with Wilson incorporating cinematic video backdrops and holograms into the generous three-hour set. One of those key audio-visual moments was 'Pariah', a duet with Ninet Tayeb. Arguably one of the strongest tracks off To the Bone, the song sounded even more haunting live, due to Tayeb’s vocals being projected on a huge video backdrop, adding a more intimate element to the track.

As anticipated, much of the gig featured heavy musical arrangements and lyrically dark themes; on 'Index', Wilson depicted the character of a lonely man with a compulsion to “collect anything I find”, backed by eerily sombre instrumentation that hinted at a much more disturbing undertone. However, with a set as unusually long as this one, Wilson was able to incorporate a range of genres into the performance, most memorably on ‘Detonation’, which featured an impressive keys-based jazz instrumental that progressed into an irresistible funk groove, while poignant lyrics were offset against a musically softer tone on 'Lazarus' – a fan favourite from the Porcupine Tree catalogue.

An observation from my perspective as a new fan to Wilson’s music, is that the heavier material he did play, really emphasised the different musical approach he has taken on To the Bone. The most notable example of this was the blisteringly upbeat piano pop of ‘Permanating’ – a song so strikingly different to any other I heard during the evening’s performance, that even Wilson himself referred to it as the "disco" portion of the set.

Wilson aptly closed the set with a beautiful rendition of ‘The Raven That Refused to Sing’ – possibly the best song of the evening, definitely the most melancholic. However, among the hard-hitting, and at times, depressing lyrics that comprise much of Wilson’s work, there are some glimmers of optimism, even if it isn’t always immediately obvious. ‘Song of Unborn’ addresses the fear and negativity in the world, concluding with the line “Don't be afraid to die / Don't be afraid to be alive”, a powerful lyric that serves as a message to live life to the fullest. It’s lyrics like these that resonated the most in what was a very compelling, thought-provoking and intense gig.

Setlist
Nowhere Now
Pariah
Home Invasion / Regret #9
Don't Hate Me (Porcupine Tree song)
The Same Asylum as Before
Get All You Deserve
Ancestral
No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun
Index
Permanating
Song of I
Lazarus (Porcupine Tree song)
Detonation
Song of Unborn
Vermillioncore
Sleep Together (Porcupine Tree song)

Blackfield (Blackfield song)
Sentimental (Porcupine Tree song)
The Sound of Muzak (Porcupine Tree song)
The Raven That Refused to Sing