Porcupine Tree Revisited

Went to see Porcupine Tree at The Grand at the Regency in San Francisco tonight. It was kind of a mixed bag.

Pros:

• Different set from previous shows. They played several songs from Stupid Dream and a bunch of other albums that I didn't recognize.
• Some of the songs were great: "Heart Attack in A Layby" and "Arriving Someplace But Not Here" were outstanding.
• It had a lot more of the acid-trip-gone-horribly-wrong visuals I remember from previous tours.

Cons:

• The sound was awful. I think they were using stacks meant for arenas or something. When they did quiet bits, it sounded pretty good, but as soon as low frequencies came in, it became very muddy. Dunno. Maybe it was me.
• They started pretty late. The opening act started at 9pm and the garage I parked at closed at midnight, so I had to skip out on the end of the encore.

Overall, I'm kinda glad I went alone. I think I narrowly enjoyed it, but I don't think anyone but a nutty fan like myself would have had the least little bit of a good time. Unless they were drunk. That might have helped. Oh well.