A Transactional Masterpiece
It was November 2025 where the prog god descended on Bengaluru just 5kms away from where I stay and play a kickass gig, and fortunately for a die hard fan like me, it was the best thing to happen this year. With his new eighth studio album – Overview as the main focus, this world tour revolved around the majority of his solo work, and of course due to the popularity of Porcupine Tree, he included a few songs on public demand. The show was a calculated mayhem of some hard core psychedelic music and some good old heavy metal but in Steven Wilson style.
Having attended his last concert in Nh7 Weekender Pune back in 2017, watching him again was something I was really looking forward to. But god damn, every minute of the show was engaging, endearing and orgasmic.
Through this short and sweet blog I’ll try my best to take you through the whole journey of taking part in an unforgettable experience, and with equal emphasis on the goods and the bads, and how the organizers Skillbox can improve lots on.
So the dream came true
Having booked the ticket about 5 months ago itself, the only thing I was hoping all these months was the gig to not get called off.
And after an immense amount of anticipation, the day finally arrived. After having played in other major Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata, it was Namma Bengaluru’s time. And the venue chosen was Bhartiya Mall. Where back in the days we used to go watch concerts in open grounds, I was skeptical about how the sound and experience is going to be inside a mall. But, Skillbox delivered in this regard. With a few manageable glitches in the sidescreens, the sound was impeccable. The only thing I hoped to achieve was to get a center spot 🙁 which was not possible because of the low civic sense our fellow folk. Eventually I had to find a sweet spot on the Left Wing, which I was pretty happy with, as I got to rave hard without feeling some rando’s breath on me, yet – get a perfect glimpse of perhaps my most favourite music artist to ever exist.
What a setlist!
Without any introduction and shizz, the Steven Wilson band started around 7.20 p.m directly with some hard hitting songs from the album Overview.
The songs played listed below:
Set 1 (The Overview):
Roughly with a 20 mins of constant space adventure, the band took a small break of 10 mins before the real shizz was unveiled. Personally, not having dedicatedly listened to the new album, it was kind of a revelation to me – how this new album is so Porcupine Treeish, which is now a chance for me to binge on the album and master the lyrics and riffs completely 😛
Set 2:
- King Ghost
- Home Invasion/Regret #9
- What Life Brings
- Staircase
- Dislocated Day
- Pariah
- Luminol
- Harmony Korine
- Vermillioncore
After that long ass 10 mins which felt like forever, the band was quick to be back and right away started with a song me and my wife love and adore – King Ghost.
When Steve sang –
“Will you help me gather my thoughts?
Will you help me find
Transitions I forgot?”
I literally had tears in my eyes and some major goosebumps.
Nodding/headbanging the whole time, time flew, as the band started playing songs which were already decided well in-advance. And sadly with Steve having a bad time in Mumbai and other cities where folk requested songs and he clearly got irritated, he made sure he’s not engaging in crowd banter, which I felt was for the best.
The second set had its share of some hard hitting metal songs, and my mind melted for sometime when the band started playing – Dislocated Day. A song which I adore and love. From the album ‘The Sky Moves Sideways’, a PT song from back in 1995 when I was just bloody 2 years old, this song is a complete mixture of heavy riffs and major psychedelic rock elements.
Once the set 2 was complete which involved intense manual labor on the stage by the bandmates it was time for the band to lay low and move to the last part of the concert – the Encore part.
Encore:
The Encore started with Lazarus. No points for guessing.
As the crowd consisted of 80% of folk who had to come just to watch Lazarus this decision was worth the money, if not for me – at least for the others. Me being a hard core Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree fan, any song is a good song for me, so no complaints either.
Post Lazarus, the band started playing Ancestral 😵💫 One of my most favorite SW songs, mostly due to the transitions the song has and some dark dark lyrics.
The song goes:
‘Reason never seems to come to guilty men’
‘Things that meant so much, means nothing in the end’
A perfect anthem to sing, headbang and feel bad, Ancestral has my heart and this is a song I can listen to every day and every night.
And finally before we realized the last song of the evening was played and it was none other than – The Raven That Refused to Sing.
What a lovely, happy song to end the evening on Steve, I must say.
On a note of wanting more, and without a basic thank you and see you soon, the band just got off the stage and left.
Goods and the Bads
There were hardly a few bads when compared to the goods, but let me just list them down, so that if this blog reaches the Skillbox folk, they can work on it.
Bads:
- Entering the venue took forever and was complicated without much information laid out clearly
- The washrooms were shaky and taking a leak felt like an adventure on its own
- Despite the venue being open we were chased off the place once the gig got over, and the guards behaved rudely with us
Goods:
- Sound setup
- Getting Steven Wilson to play in Bengaluru
So its a Late Goodbye
Having created our own vibe, the bads didn’t seem much like a hassle and overall it was a crazy experience for the money paid. I wish the setlist was a bit longer with a bigger break, but considering how complicated is playing prog rock on stage, let’s not behave critical and eat what’s on the plate.
Hoping Steve to come back to Bengaluru or at least hoping to see him or PT on stage very soon, irrespective of wherever it is, the Overview Tour of 2025 almost concludes with a few more cities scheduled in Australia. Maybe next year again once he’s done producing some crazy music, SW will be back on the stage, giving back to the world what is indeed an underrated commodity – Good Music 😀
