PINE'ing for a tree-some

There was an intimate feeling around Indiranagar Club – Everyone standing patiently in the queue, exactly where they wanted to be. Calm, poised, inwardly excited; waiting for the Humming Tree’s Backdoors concert to begin.

As far as line up goes, it was a great, albeit a niche, one. Jose Gonzalez, Patrick Watson and Steven Wilson. While the music of the three bands is in no way similar, it’s hard to deny they inexplicably compliment one another.

Cast one sweeping glance around and one could see the factions. The Steven Wilson fans in their black t-shirts, and on the other side, the more colourfully dressed Jose Gonzalez and Patrick Watson fans. The colours reflecting the subject and musical inclination of the bands.

Gonzalez was the first on stage with his melodic acoustic guitar works blending lazily with the late evening sun and the chirping birds sat on the tree behind. If there were any who weren’t aware of this Swedish-Argentine band, in 45 minutes they surely climbed up the ranks in their priority list.

Watson and his men took to the stage next to perform their songs which portrayed strong British influence cultured through their Canadian upbringing and impressive stage setup and presence.

It was two light drizzles and little over two hours after the start of the concert when Steven Wilson took to the stage. There was little doubt that an alarmingly large majority had come to watch the Porcupine Tree frontman live.

The chants as he took the stage and the roar as the first note of his guitar pierced through the night sky proved ample evidence of that. As far as concerts go, this was on the smaller side. A fraction to the number of people who showed up at the NH7 concert in Pune the day before. But it was one where people showed up because they were fans, individually, of the musicians.

Just one word David by Wilson and everyone understood the song in question. Just one small riff or a still on the screen behind and the crowd instantly grasped the next song.

The Brit’s rendition of dark themes conveyed through glorious tunes and heartfelt melodies was quite a treat as many broke into tears during his set, which to be honest was more on the upbeat side considering his body of work.

With a mixture of old, including Porcupine Tree, and new songs, the 152nd and the last concert of Steven Wilson’s Hand Cannot Erase album tour came to an end. And it did so with his best and favourite work, Raven that Refused to Sing. Fittingly enough, there were no dry eyes around.