Richard Barbieri – St. Paul's Church, Birmingham

Richard Barbieri – St. Paul's Church, Birmingham

by Pete Clemons

April 1995 and Porcupine Tree played a gig at the General Wolfe, Coventry. Being quite keen on the band, and the venue being close to where I lived, I happened to be there, mid-afternoon, when the band arrived to set up. I even helped them move kit into the building. I had my daughter with me who was around 8 or 9 at the time and we stayed on to see the sound check.

The General Wolfe, as many will know, is a couple of miles outside the city centre and to pass the time, in between sound check and gig, Steven Wilson was keen to visit a record shop. I offered to drive the band into town. So, into my car they climbed. All except drummer Chris Maitland who had decided to go for a walk on his own. Sat directly behind me, in the rear passenger seat was Colin Edwin. Next to him was Steven. And to my left, in the front passenger seat was keyboard player Richard Barbieri. My daughter, for those following this, was sat between Colin and Steven.

Thinking back, it all sounds so surreal now. How I wished now, I had had a mobile phone back then, so I could have recorded the event by way of a selfie. Anyhow off we ventured down the Foleshill Road, happening to pass Chris Maitland who had made an earlier escape, and onward to the city centre. I dropped the trio at St Johns Church at the bottom end of Spon Street as it was a short walk to the record shop close to C+A - Spinadisc Records, I think it was called at the time. It must have been a disturbing experience for the band and one they are more than likely to have long forgotten although the gig, later on that evening, was a resounding success.

Fast forward almost quarter of a century and I find myself at a church once more. And, again, Richard Barbieri is a major part of the story. This time however, we are at St Pauls Church in Birmingham, close to the Jam House, for Richard’s solo gig as part of another ‘Seventh Wave electronic music festival’. And Richard is blissfully unaware that I am in the audience.

For the next hour and a half Richard, along with Lisen Rylander who added saxophone and effects, puts on a masterclass. In Richard’s words it was all unrehearsed. I took it that he was making a reference to the set itself as he had to refer to his notes once or twice. But Richard knew exactly what he was doing as each piece was musically introduced and was built upon with added layers and textures. It was all totally absorbed by an incredibly appreciative and respectful audience.

Initially it was music from Richards most recent release, ‘Planets and Persona’, that created the ambiance. But then it was the turn of the unmistakable sounds of the Japan hit, ‘Ghosts’ that filled the air as it was given an instrumental outing.

A high point came around half way though when, to my surprise at least, Richard and Lisen were joined on stage by Nick Beggs and his 10 string Chapman Stick. What made this incredibly special however, was that they performed an instrumental version of another Japan ‘Nightporter’ which felt almost baroque in style. It was truly breathtaking and spell binding few minutes.

As quickly as Nick had joined the pair, he then packed away his gear and left the scene. Presumably to another engagement. And from then on in, the music - in the main - tended to concentrate around Richard’s series of Variants albums. He finds the time, however, to finish off with another Japan track ‘The Experience of Swimming’.

Surrounded by synths, sequencers and a lap top computer, Richard mentioned that he finds his Roland system a struggle nowadays and that it is forty years old. But to these ears at least, all seemed to perform well as he glided around the variety of keyboards. A memorable evening in an incredibly unique setting.

And the daughter that I mentioned earlier in this tale, well just to put things into perspective, she is now in her 30s and has 2 children of her own. One of them, not far off the age she was, when she experienced the Porcupine Tree.