The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema & Tv
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
      • Shows
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Steven Wilson at the Royal Albert Hall

Steven Wilson at the Royal Albert Hall | Live review
30 September 2015
Steven White
Avatar
Steven White
30 September 2015

Music review

Steven White

Steven Wilson at the Royal Albert Hall

★★★★★

Highlights

Routine

Links

Twitter Facebook Soundcloud Website

At least half of the hands in a full Royal Albert Hall go up when Steven Wilson asks who was here last night. It’s the second show of prog-rock’s most protean of modern talents under the venerated London dome and, after performing his latest album Hand Cannot Erase in full 24 hours ago, tonight is a run through his back catalogue of solo and band work. No repeaters present can accuse him of not giving value for money, that’s for sure.

The droning ambience of Cenotaph permeates from the empty stage until, one by one, the musicians walk out to cheers, the loudest being saved for a bare-footed (it’s his thing) Wilson. No Twilight Within the Courts of the Sun has the type of elongated introduction associated with the genre, eventually dropping into a deathly riff in time with flashing lights shooting out all around. Having regularly collaborated on a record, he continues this bonhomie and brings out Ninet Tayeb to sing Routine, a sorrowful piano song. Even with a powerful performance, so much so that it receives a standing ovation, it’s almost subordinate to the accompanying, animated visuals playing out behind. On more than one occasion, the beautiful, disturbing and sometimes pensive changing visuals make the music feel like it is there only to serve as a soundtrack – yet they do not take anything away from the music, or the night, itself.

Great chunks of thought have gone into the show and this doesn’t escape the audience. Nor do indulgent guitar solos: Guthrie Govan comes out on Home Invasion and Regret #9, hammering out blurry-fingered solo after solo, smiling away. As heavy as things turn though — at one point Wilson says “let’s play some dumb heavy metal” — rather than going wild as might be expected, many a long-haired person nods along in an introverted manner, staying politely quiet between songs, save for the odd shout out. Quiet or not, they love him enough (or vice versa) to coax him out for two encores and there is a sense that, if he played a third night, they would be there unfailingly.

★★★★★

Steven White
Photos: Carlos Glover

For further information about Steven Wilson and future events visit here.

Watch the video for Perfect Life here:

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Related Itemslive musicreviewSteven Wilson

More in Live music

Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins

★★★★★
Jessica Wall
Read More

Laura Mvula – Under a Pink Moon

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Tom Grennan live in concert – online

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

The Cinematic Orchestra at the Southbank Centre

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap

Music review

Steven White

Steven Wilson at the Royal Albert Hall

★★★★★

Highlights

Routine

Links

Twitter Facebook Soundcloud Website

  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • Smith & Burrows – Only Smith & Burrows Is Good Enough
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Creation Stories
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Gatsby at Cadogan Hall: An interview with Jodie Steele and Ross William Wild
    Theatre
  • Wrong Turn
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • My Wonderful Wanda
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Foster Boy
    ★★★★★
    Movie review
  • Your Honor
    ★★★★★
    other
  • Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins
    ★★★★★
    Live music
  • The most important inventions of the 21st century
    Tech & Sport
  • My Favourite War
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • Typical at Soho Theatre
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Detroit Stories – Alice Cooper
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Minari
    ★★★★★
    Film festivals
  • West End Musical Drive In Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

The Program | Movie review
Tipping the Velvet at the Lyric Theatre | Theatre review