Brando
Envious. Never got to see Porcupine Tree. Would love to see Steven Wilson - though I'm a huge fan of Barbieiri since his days with Japan. His minimalist style is what makes him so great imo.
I specially like the touches that Richard adds to the PT albums, and it is just as fine as Mr. Wright from PF. Very well defined and played touches.
Saw PT once, in 1999 in SF at the International Progressive Music Festival, a show that I was one of the official photographers for (some shots on my website), and I wish I had been able to get more pictures of PT, but Steven had made it clear that he wanted no pictures, and that made the producer upset, but I thought it best to let that one go.
It was a fabulous show, considering that when they arrived Sunday at noon, the Prophet 5 had taken a nasty spill at the airport, and they spread it out on the floor and some folks tried to fix it for 3 hours and failed, and in the meantime Richard went backstage and spent 3 hours programming 2 other synthesizers for the show. For my tastes, it was a fabulous show, with the exception that one roadie was going crazy that the band sounded bad. It sounded fantastic, and clean! It just showed how professional and how good these guys were.
SW on his own, for me, is an acquired taste, and he is fine and very good, however, not one of my favorites, but you know that there will be great folks with him, and it will be a very good show and well rehearsed and played.
So, yeah, it was a very good show, and Nick Beggs, was probably the best musician of all of them, though SW was also special in his own way.
AND, for once, in Portland, you could actually hear the keyboards!