I have posted previously about my appreciation of the music of Steven Wilson. I saw his old band Porcupine Tree when a friend of a friend got us on the guest list and I have followed his progress since then. He is not often heard on mainstream radio, but he can sell out big venues and his fans lap up the extravagant special editions of his albums. He recently published an autobiographical book and is on a signing tour around the UK. I heard from @slobberchops that one of the venues was near me, so I had to go along.
If you do not know his music it tends to be dark and epic.
The signing was at Revolution Records in Stevenage. They mainly sell vinyl, but had a lot of used CDs too. I had not been in there before as I am not that into vinyl, although I have bought some recently via Hive. When I arrived there was no queue outside, but the shop was fairly full. I found out that the deal was that you buy the book and get allocated a number. He was not out at that point so I waited outside for a while with some others. We had a bit of a chat about bands. Once couple were going to two gigs by the reformed Porcupine Tree in the USA. I mentioned a Terry Pratchett event I went to years ago where some people brought all their books to be signed. I think that is a bit much. I had taken a CD with me to get signed as well as the book.
I did not have to wait too long for my turn. I had a few seconds with him as he signed items. I just mentioned how I had seem his back with Porcupine Tree. I could not think of much else to say and would he really be that interested? I heard someone ahead say that they had met him before. He used to live fairly near here, but recently got married and may have moved to London. He had his kids with him.
When I put this picture on Twitter someone commented that if you did not know him it might be hard to guess who was the star and who was the fan :) We are a similar age. I wore one of my Fierce and the Dead shirts for the occasion. I did not get a chance to ask if he had heard them. I have only seen him up on stage before and he was shorter than I expected. He is a musical giant though.
The shop is pretty small, so it was crowded in there. I hope nobody was contagious. It looked like people were buying other stuff whilst they were there, so it should be good for business. Mr Wilson mentioned in the Facebook event that he might be doing some shopping. I wonder if he went to the guitar shop across the alley. I have heard that he has been there before.
I also picked up his live Blu-ray that was a reasonable price. I have spent a fair bit on his releases over the years, but did not get around to buying his last album which was not one of my favourites.
The shop is in the old part of Stevenage that has some nice shops. I also popped into the Oxfam charity bookshop and picked up a bargain comic book. Someone had 'yarn bombed' a postbox near there with an Easter theme.
I enjoyed my trip out. I took the train there, but then it is the same journey I take to work. I do not go to a lot of events like this, but there are people you just want to meet, even if they will instantly forget you. I will keep the memory and life is about experiences.
Rock on!