Coheed and Cambria destroy Los Angeles with help of U.K.'s Porcupine Tree

Photo: Tina Hagerling

Music fans rejoiced Thursday night at The Wiltern Theater when two of progressive rock’s craftiest bands took the stage. Tickets for the originally scheduled Hollywood Palladium date were honored, although the setting turned out to be excellent. I was shocked when my eyes scanned Porcupine Tree’s name under Coheed and Cambria on the face of my ticket. What was the band with ten albums, four live CDs and EPs, with a smattering of compilations, DVD’s, and singles doing opening for anyone? My bias aside, the answer is more complex than a mere comparison of talent level.

England’s Porcupine Tree came out to a rousing welcome before dazzling the audience with a 75 minute set. Cuts from their newest album dominated the playlist, but the few classics they chose delivered the fix PT junkies crave. They chose to start the show exactly how they start 2009’s The Incident, with a brilliant track entitled “The Blind House.” The song encapsulates the diverse band, showing spikes of fancy bass and drum work, with psychedelic keys and guitars pulling the piece along. Steven Wilson’s tempered voice proclaims “Free love for all my sisters” during the initial song and finishes the set with “Sleep Together” from Fear of a Blank Plane. Like everything Wilson does, great care was put into crafting their performance. Every note from Colin Edwins’ graphite-reinforced bass sounded like a revelation and Gavin Harrison stole the show on the drums.

The gems were “I Drive The Hearse” and 2000’s “Russia On Ice”. The latter is an epic tale that can span anywhere from four minutes to twelve, depending on how the group approaches the performance. Wilson and company found a perfect transition during the heart of that song to jump halfway into the 18-minute monolith called “Anesthetize.” Chugs and disruptions erupted from the band’s main amps, as the intense breakdown follows a machine-gun pattern before spiraling into madness. Chopping this redwood of a song in half was a clever way to get people to listen to music they might have never approached. Their place on the bill made sense during their set, and it comes down to location. If this tour was across the pond, Coheed would be opening for the ravenous Porcupine Tree fans. And playing “the hits” is a good way to get people into your music.

Hunting down out-of-print albums that cost Euros instead of dollars is not an effective way to make new fans. Today’s music fan is not a crate-raiding album hunter of yore; if it isn’t on iTunes or MTV, then it does not exist. The stunning amount of cell phones held up during a ballad (compared to the two lighters) installed the nail patch into the coffin app.

Singer Steven Wilson asked the fans of Coheed and Cambria to cheer, and they did, before he asked the fans of his band to cheer, who then responded louder. But when Coheed hit the stage, the floor erupted into a cacophony of Coheed cultists. I use that word because Coheed and Cambria are a modern cult classic: intensely adored by those whose preferences are rarely represented in mainstream media. Their song titles are insanely long and the overarching arc of their musical story is more theatrical than Lion King. But with the right amount of guitar work, forethought, and musical ability, the band busts through the barrier and becomes their own. The group also played their newer material, but the throwbacks started, filled the middle, and ended the show. "In Keeping Secrets Of Silent Earth: 3" started their set, and I was not kidding about the ridiculousness of their song titles. The energy was outstanding and the crowd belted out every note, including vocalizations featured on the album that vocalist Claudio Sanchez was not performing live. It was intense.

Both bands benefited from the wall-sized screen backing the groups displayed beautiful graphics and crystal-clear clips from videos or the crowd. The lighting for PT was soft and psychedelic; Coheed’s was more epic and haunting, with smoke and daunting images dazzling all onlookers. Sound quality was also top notch, although some of Coheed’s heavier sections seemed to blend all guitars into one blurry fuzz rocket. The guy in front of me checking out coupons on his Blackbery probably didn’t notice.

The crowd was an even mixture of teenage Coheed fans, hip to be square 20-30something Porcupine Tree fans, and not yet “over the hill” dudes with Rush shirts. Each tier of the theater’s floor housed their respective fan base, as the youth attempted (and failed) a few mosh pits, those behind the first row headbanged from a safe distance. The kid near me (holding singer Claudio Sanchez’s comic book) believed enough in the story to buy the comics, the tickets, some merch, and presumably an album or two. What else is the mark of a successful art? This bill might have been the smartest I have seen in ages. These bands are both branches on the same tree, and most people heard something intriguing regardless of which they came to see. The range in age, race, profession, and lifestyle was immense during this show, but based on the audience reaction and artist enthusiasm, it was a smash.