A date with Porcupine Tree

Getting to the IIT campus is like undertaking a trek. Powai isn't the easiest place to get to, especially if you're crawling through the traffic in Marol

A date with Porcupine Tree

Getting to the IIT campus is like undertaking a trek. Powai isn't the easiest place to get to, especially if you're crawling through the traffic in Marol u2014 and most of us inevitably are. There are mosquitoes the size of woodpeckers sucking away at every available piece of flesh. I'd never heard the Brit progressive rock band Porcupine Tree (PT) play before this show, and had, at best, a very vague idea of what to expect.

A journalist friend and I walked towards the stage and saw an impressively long queue. We were told that people had been queuing up since the afternoon. The security, which was being handled entirely by students, was tight u2014 they even kicked up a fuss about my friend carrying a pen! When the concert began, I realised there was no way I'd get a good look at the band unless I went further up towards the stage (I'm 4' 11" and shorties always get the worst deal).

When the band launched into the trippy track, Lazarus, it was easy to blank out everything else
I spent a good half hour trying and finally gave up, turning into an armrest for taller kids who were oblivious to the fact that their body weight was directly on my right shoulder. I finally walked away for some air when a communal sweat bath began; this really was the limit of my newfound love for Porcupine Tree.

The view was far from perfect, but when the band launched into the trippy track, Lazarus, it was easy to blank out everything else. This was the first track that managed to seep into my head and stay there. I realised that a lot of people in the audience were humming along. Okay, so PT is a Grammy-nominated band, but this was some serious hero worship going on here. Band front man Steven Wilson, who reminded me of Kurt Cobain with his shaggy blond hair (the comparison ends there), got the most hoots.

It was a near-perfect show. The band may not have had the force of a blood-thirsty metal act or the charisma of rock n rollers, but the fact that they managed to bring their psychedelic, mind-expanding sound to the stage so effortlessly was an astounding feat. I mean, theirs is the kind of sound that you play on repeat mode on your iPod until it is firmly lodged somewhere behind your eyes. At least that's how I perceived it, I felt it was meant for a more intimate space.

When the call for an encore came up, Porcupine Tree obliged after a rather long pause. Encore calls have become so common that it's almost a farce now. PT signed off with Halo u2014 a fitting end as most of the audience saw one around each of the band members that night. I don't think there could have been a better venue or an audience for this show. Great going, IIT.

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