22
Oct
Last night I realized a dream of mine that’s been deferred since 1995: I finally saw Portishead in concert. I don’t think I was confident this day would ever come. They never played in Pittsburgh when I was addicted to them as a mopey teenager; their first two albums were released in 1994 and 1997, which was the last time they toured in the U.S. After an extended absence, they finally released a third album in 2008, but once again, they didn’t tour outside of a few festival appearances.
But then, seemingly out of the blue and unrelated to any kind of new material, they announced a small North American trek that brought them to the Greek Theatre in Berkeley last night. And I have to say, it was like going to church. I just sat in silent awe and reverence for the entire show. I won’t say much more than that, to spare the feelings of one of my few loyal readers (you know who you are, and it wasn’t the same without you!). The video above is my personal favorite moment from the show: a stripped-down version of “Wandering Star” featuring Beth Gibbons’ most haunting vocals of the evening. This video is by YouTube user mhc660, who recorded pretty much every song in HD. Click here to watch the rest of them on his YouTube channel.
