Porcupine Tree @ Nokia 10/6

Aliza and I had the pleasure Friday night of seeing our client Porcupine Tree perform their only NYC show of 2006 at the Nokia Theatre. Amazingly enough, it was my first trip to Nokia. I liked it. Very clean, and the VIP areas were spacious, with good seating and sightlines. Nokia also has my new favorite backstage hospitality room, with an Ali Baba and the 40 thieves vibe.

After an opening set by Robert Fripp and Adrien Belew that was by turns exhilarating and hypnotic, NY Times music critic Jon Pareles joined us for the first half of the Porcupine Tree program, in which they debuted new material that will appear on their upcoming studio album. Fans seemed to take to it- the ones I eavesdropped on while waiting to claim my bag from coatcheck were intrigued and surprised by how 'dark' it was. The second half of the show was devoted to fan favorites.