Well, I'll start with "apart froms": Apart from being the shortest visit to Melbourne EVER (I'm used to staying more than just 11 hours), and the fact that the venue was not great, and the sound for the support band was awful which made me a little nervous for PT, and the fact that it was all ear-bleedingly loud, it was quite a good show.
They exploded onto stage with
Fear Of A Blank Planet and they followed it with many a quality track primarily handpicked from the rest of FOABP (including
Anesthetize,
Way Out Of Here, and the apocalyptic
Sleep Together which finished the main set before encores). Tracks from In Absentia were
The Sound Of Muzak,
Blackest Eyes and
Trains which was the first encore. From Deadwing we were treated to
Lazarus,
Open Car and
Halo which was the very last song for the night. There were a couple of earlier tracks but only one of which I recognised which was
Hatesong. I felt it was a very well balanced set list which didn't leave a "virgin" audience wanting for much, although there were personal favourites that I missed such as
Shallow,
Arriving Somewhere,
Heart Attack In A Lay-By, etc. But what we
did get was a strong set showing their live skills to the fore. The performances were as tight as they were slick.
Some minor downsides: I thought Richard Barbieri's work could have come to the fore a little more (and yes, I possibly am a little biased thanks to his kind favours to me, but, for example, I couldn't clearly hear the strings in
Sleep Together and they really make that song, especially toward the end). I thought even some of Colin Edwin's playing wasn't as noticeable as it could have been. And my main complaint was that the decibel level was
so high, it would often detract from the overall balance. I'm actually very glad I thought to take my earplugs otherwise I suspect they might still be ringing. In the end, though, it was a quality set list from a high-quality band, and what surprised me the most (for Australia) was the large percentage of the audience that were singing along to so many of the songs.
It was great meeting up and chatting with Richard Barbieri and the rest of the group after the show too. They're a quiet, almost humble bunch, somewhat belying what they produce on stage:grin:
