Portishead has lots of meaning for me , I was almost at the end of my teenage years. They were probably one of the most important band of the beautiful 90’s , they music was weird and their video for their most famous song Glory Box was unforgettable. That song had a important role in Bertolucci’s amazing movie Stealing Beauty.
Their sound was probably the climax of the 90’s with Beth Gibbon’s magic vocals. We know that they don’t tour much and also they don’t go to the studio very often either. Come on now , only 3 albums in 14 years!
Finally they decided to tour three years after their latest album( Third released in 2008), after that all I have to do buy the ticket to go to see them. Despite the a little high price for the ticket , I would say it was worth it , because it was one of the best show in my life.
I never seen a show at PNE before , even though I live in walk distance I had a hard time to find the venue. Whoever organized the show was must be specialized in long line ups. Entering the venue took us 20-25 minutes because of the crazy security check and this was the first line up! Then there was a beer line up , SEVEN dollars and you get a horrible Budweiser but it was not over , there were only probably 10 mobile washrooms for about 2-3000 people. Anyways at least the acoustic of the venue was nice.
Portishead was well prepared for their show.They had tiny cameras all over the stage and at the screen there was really beautiful visual shots that would impress even Jean Luc Godard. It was mostly Beth Gibbon but sometimes it was the turntable that they use or guitar of Adrian Utley. The visuals were mostly dark,dirty and blurry and that was a perfect match with the music.
Listening their latest album live was quite interesting , because I heard the crazy beats of german legends Neu! in their sound especially when they perform Machine Gun,We Carry On and Nylon Smile super loud. But of course my focus was the first album(first love). First they played Sour Times from Dummy and that was actually my first favorite Portishead song. But the peak of the show was when Beth Gibbon sat on a stool and sung Wandering Star in a really dark dark spooky way. Audience stopped even breathing when she was whispering the lines “ And the time that I will suffer less
Is /when I never have to wake /Wandering stars, for whom it is reserved/The blackness of darkness forever”.
Just watch this version that I find on youtube from their 2011 tour...Amazing!
They are planning to release a new album in January 2012 but they may postpone it to 2013 and then go to the touring 2017. Well , I sure will go see them again when they come to the town and that’s what you should do too.
