ARRIVING SOMEWHERE...

Arriving Somewhere... was recorded at Chicago's Park West on October 11-12, 2005. The DVD takes its name from that album's masterpiece and questionably its best track, Arriving Somewhere But Not Here. The setlist weighs heavily on the Deadwing material, and its predecessor In Absentia. I picked this DVD up at the Keswick Theater show in philly during the second half of the Deadwing tour where they also played parts of Fear of a Blank Planet. I could not have been more primed to fire up my surround sound system and check out this new DVD.

This DVD and OAR Live at Madison Square Guarden are two of my favorite live DVD's. This one specifically is truly special because it is PORCUPINE TREE's first official live DVD and it is flawless. The visual effects dont bother me like they do to some people.

The theater lights dimmed to signal the start of the show, the erie keyboard samples of Revenant bellows out of the sound system as the band takes their positions on stage in front of an incredible video backdrop. Steve Wilson straps on his PRS Custom 22 guitar and fires of the chugging intro chords to Open Car, the ultra-heavy Deadwing track that also manages to blend in one of their famously compelling choruses.

The entire show is entertaining from beginning to end. The band members themselves look a little grim at times, which somehow comes out into their music, making the show especially dark. My favorite performances are Hatesong Buying New Soul and Trains. Gavin Harrison really shows tallent in Hatesong. Buying New Soul is such a good song that they never released on any of their studio albums, but if im not mistaken it was written for Stupid Dream but was cut. They later released it on Recordings. Anyway, the keyboard samples and live performance by Barbari on this song truely add more depth and atmosphere than he usually does. Finnaly, Trains is pretty amazing because it shows how well PORCUPINE TREE works with eachother. Wilson broke a string right in the middle of the song, and the band picks up right where they left off. It didnt phase through any of them, they just finished the song, and this is a quality I respect from PORCUPINE TREE.

The bonus DVD features performances of Futile and Radioactive Toy from Porcupine Tree's performance on Rockpalast. This audio from this entire performance is available for download on the Porcupine Tree website. Also included are the screen films for The Start of Something Beautiful, Halo, and Mother and Child Divided, as well as the promo clip for Lazarus, which were all directed by Lasse Hoile. One of the coolest special features is Gavin Harrison's Cymbal Song, which uses multiple split screens to show him playing a variety of cymbals, as each unique sound is layered together to form this unique song.

This DVD is truly one to go get, fan or not, because it is a pretty amazing performance of PTREE approaching their peak in their carrer. I recommend this for all fans of MUSIC

4.5/5