Portishead

Ever since university my all time favourite band has been Portishead. Around that time I was recording and touring with my own band and Portishead was a huge influence on our sound and what we wanted to be like.

I've always wanted to see Portishead live. Living in the United States made that hard. Then there's the fact that Portishead as a band has made very few albums and doesn't really tour that much.

It's unlikely that I'll ever get to see them play live. 😢

So a few days ago I got probably the next best thing to seeing them play live.

It's the 25th Anniversary of the Roseland NYC Live album and video. To celebrate there was a special viewing of the film at a cinema in Bristol. Along with this there was an introduction to the film given by Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley. When I heard about this it only took me minutes to start making plans to attend.

So I trekked Bristol one Friday and got there early enough to get a good seat.

And I got to hear Adrian tell us about the work that went into the remastering and re-release of the film and album.

And then we watched the concert film. It was just as amazing as I always remember it being. There were so many memories I had of the first time watching it. It's amazing.

And then the film was over. I was buzzing. It was so great to see it again and in this context was wonderful.

After the film everyone made their way out to the pub that's part of cinema. I went with the flow and hung out there for a while. Then on my way out I came across the man himself!

I got to thank him for his music and tell him how much of an influence his music had on me. It was amazing. I was so exited.

So if I never get to see Portishead live in concert I at least got to have this amazing experience.