2007
tonefloating on sunday 27th of february i had the privilege to be present at a special event. steven wilson played an acoustic set as special guest to dutch psychedelic outfit the use of ashes. what's more the entire audience at the concert got a free 7inch single with on one side a use of ashes track and on the other a steven wilson solo track (a reject from the upcoming porcupine tree album). steven entertained us with many of his own compositions and a few surprising covers. of porcupine tree's last album only three tracks were played, the singles stranger by the minute and pure narcotic got the stripped down version whilst a smart kid was already heavy on the acoustic side. steven started however with a sneak preview of the new album, where we would be. a surprise to all was fade away and small fish, both from up the downstairs, the latter being premiered live. also played was the track from the aforementioned 7inch, cure for optimism. now you wonder what covers did mr wilson present us. well, the first one was not really a cover as it is a song from his other act no-man, the shell of a fighter. i do hope steven will visit our country with this band once. the inclusion of the needle and the damage done by neil young was a strange choice but got rave reactions from the audience. the highlight of the set however was the final song of the evening, the day before you came. a cover from abba! a magnificent sad love song that steven likes so much. again not an obvious choice, although ... it is possible to play. after the break, the use of ashes played a long and musically interesting set, starting off with a 15-minute beautiful soundscape, which developed into a slow and moving piece. this band (consisting of peter van vliet and maarten scherrenburg) is well known among connoisseurs of experimental progressive music and has released several albums (both on cd and vinyl) in limited editions. some (short) songs played live at the gig were in the style of syd barrett and nick drake and minimal in instrumentation. other songs, like the live favourite under the black sun, featured sequencers, spacey guitars and mellotron sounds. the atmosphere was great and although many visitors didn't catch the magic, others were having a great time. |