Blu-ray Music Review: Porcupine Tree - Anesthetize

After releasing what was arguably their best and most cohesive album to date, Fear Of A Blank Planet, in early 2007, Porcupine Tree embarked on an extended world tour where they would feature the entire album, from start to finish, for most of the 100-plus shows they would play. In October of 2008, near the end of that tour, the band played two nights at the famous 013 club in Tilburg, the Netherlands, where they recorded both shows for this concert DVD.

Anesthetize, taken from the name of their epic, 18-minute, FOABP track, was finally released in June of 2010 on DVD and Blu-ray + DVD set. The fact that Amazon.com quickly ran out of copies of the Blu-ray version while it was still in the pre-order stage, shows you just how much fan anticipation there was for this release. And it does not disappoint!

I, and plenty of audiophiles out there, have already commented numerous times about how Porcupine Tree mastermind, Steve Wilson, has become one of the best CD/DVD audio mixers in the business, and Anesthetize is certainly no exception. This baby should now be considered the new reference Blu-ray/DVD for those $50K surround sound systems you all have set up in those man-caves of yours - yeah...we all wish right? All of the CD + DVD audio re-releases of the classic PT albums are some of the best sounding audio discs you will ever hear as well.

I am not a huge fan of the whole "playing a new album from start to finish in concert" thing, because so few newer bands and albums are worthy enough to justify it. It's one thing to see Pink Floyd play The Wall in its entirety, or Rush play Moving Pictures from start to finish this summer (I'm there baby!), but to play a new album that most people have not even heard yet takes a whole lot of gall. And these arrogant bastards just did it again with their latest, two-disc, The Incident, album during their most recent tour! This is also precisely why Porcupine Tree are my favorite band.

I saw Porcupine Tree in Baltimore, in 2007, during the first leg of their Tour Of A Blank Planet where they also opened with the entire FOABP album. During the tour, and at the Tilburg shows, they also played a lot of their "hits," like "The Sound of Muzak," "Open Car," and "Trains," but for whatever reason they didn't include them on this DVD. It is quite impressive that there is only one song in common, "Halo," between this and their previous DVD, Arriving Somewhere..., and they are both still so incredible, but it makes no sense to leave off all of these other great songs that were recorded, especially on the nice and roomy Blu-ray version.

Article Author: Paul Roy

Paul Roy is a system administrator by day and amateur music DVD critic by night. When not attending as many live concerts as he possibly can, Paul likes nothing more than to kick back with a good concert DVD and rattle some walls. …

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