Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Portishead live

Portishead
Shrine Expo Center
Los Angeles, CA
18 October, 2011

Portishead, fresh off a triumphant performance at ATP's I'll Be Your Mirror festival in Asbury Park, NJ earlier in the month, brought their show to the Shrine Exposition Center in Los Angeles for the first of a two night stand.  The core trio of Geoff Barrow, Beth Gibbons, & Adrian Utley were expanded by a few members for an impressive touring version, that was tough and concise, with a sound mix that left room for shocking noise, but sold out none of the tender nuances.


From the opener "Silence" from 2008's Third, they were firmly in control of the proceedings, unveiling a set that was pretty equally divided between old and new, and the older material didn't seem in performance as far away from the more discordant newer tunes as it may seem with the recorded versions.

The emotional heart of the evening was the trifecta of "Magic Doors" into a breathtaking "Wandering Star", brought back to earth with the grinding "Machine Gun"  All in all, a stellar evening in the company of a band that's come firmly into it's own.

Setlist: (courtesy of Setlist.FM)

Silence/Nylon Smile/Mysterons/The Rip/Sour Times/Magic Doors/Wandering Star/Machine Gun Over/Glory Box/Chase The Tear/Cowboys/Threads  (encore) Roads/We Carry On

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