Home Invasion is a stunning concert film capturing the final night of Steven Wilson’s three night sold out residency at the Royal Albert Hall, London in March 2018.
I first happened upon Steven Wilson through Freak Beat Magazine back at the tail end of the last century. From the first moment I heard his then band, Porcupine Tree, I was hooked.
I still shudder at the term ‘Prog Rock’. It conjures up images of beardy blokes in capes with a Lord of the Rings fixation playing keyboards with knives. Porcupine Tree were probably not the first, but certainly one of the first, Progressive Rock bands that I recall rehabilitating the genre and demonstrating that intelligent, ever so slightly psychedelic, heavyish rock can be cool. I hate using comparisons, but I wouldn’t be the first to say they picked up the batton dropped by Pink Floyd.
Wilson is a fascinating and endearing character. A multi instrumentalist and music magpie obsessed with music and a perfectionist when it comes to production.
I was initially gutted when he put Porcupine Tree on ice, but by very definition ‘progressive’ means going forward and exploring new things. He’s been a busy little bee, releasing eight solo albums and being part of the bands Blackfield, No Man, Bass Communion, Storm Corrosion and The Incredible Expanding Mindfuck.
This is a film of one of his three-nights at the Royal Albert Hall in 2018 and showcases the full range of his career high points, with a hugely-talented band. Wilson weighs in with vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass. He is joined by Ninet Tayeb on vocals, Alex Hutchings on guitar and backing vocals, Nick Beggs (introduced as ‘Sir Nicholas Beggs’) on bass guitar, stick, backing vocals and keyboards, Craig Blundell on drums and last but not least Adam Holzman on keyboards.
There is inventive use of screen projections, most notably Jess Cope’s Animation for ‘Song of the Unborn’. As with everything Wilson does, he has ensured that the footage is perfect, with closeups from many different angles, combined with wide shots of the stage and occasional, but not too often, blending of the footage with the animations projected on the back drop. There’s even dancers. Oh, and for a live concert, the sound is truly immense.
I don’t normally go in for live concert footage, I’d rather go to a gig, but this film has me going back to it time and again. It really is a bit special.
It is available on Blue Ray/DVD, there is a two disc CD of the gig and a five LP vinyl version with additional tracks. And it is currently free (if you have an account) to stream on Ye Olde Amazon Prime (other tax dodgers are available)