Porcupine Tree rocked the house from 8:00 until 11:00, and even though I missed the first 45 minutes or so, it was an awesome concert. I think one of the best things was being around nearly 6000 other fans. Porcupine Tree isn't exactly a band you hear on the radio, so whenever I tell someone about the band, I feel somewhat obligated to give a slight explanation of who they are. This crowd didn't need the explanation. Everybody in the place was moving to the beat in some way, or singing along, or otherwise expressing their appreciation and/or familiarity. The setlist included a good mix of older and newer stuff, which was a pleasant surprise. Since it was my first show, I was thankful to see them do some older material live... though I would have been just as happy if they'd done "The Incident" and a few filler pieces.
Anyway, in a nutshell (and because I'm starting to sound like a fanboy): Fantastic show. We headed straight back to the hotel after it was over because we were tired and it had been a long day.
On Saturday we explored the city. We toured NBC Studios, we visited Times
Square, we went to Washington Square Park and watched a Scrabble game, we went
to the New York Public Library, we rode the subway, we ate falafel from a
street vendor's cart. It may not sound like much, but the city is really a
huge place and we simply didn't have time to do everything.
The infrastructure of the city is astounding. Even though there were cars everywhere, it's completely feasible to live there and never own a car. There were quite a few people on bicycles (and of course that got my attention), taxis on every street, and subway stations every few blocks. People were walking around everywhere, and the sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate lots of walkers. The efficiency of it all was most impressive. I honestly think there's enough on each city block that you really don't have to go far to get most things accomplished with ease. Let me add that New Yorkers really know how to make a good cup of coffee. Damn.
Transportation and infrastructure were already on my mind quite a bit after the airline fiasco, but moving about with ease in a city with no vehicle made me think about them even more. So many places just aren't friendly to pedestrians or bikers or people who don't want (or can't afford) a car. We're such a spread-out country, a land of mostly wide open spaces with pockets of civilization in between, and we've made it pretty hard to get from point A to point B without a motor pushing you along. We can't all live in a place where you can get everything you need within a few city blocks. That seems like a strange way to design things, but I'll say it's no great wonder the nation's collective waistline keeps expanding.
The air seemed filled with energy and vitality... I don't know how else to
explain it. It's as if the energy of the concert-goers decided to linger on
the streets and stay for the weekend. Even ordinary buildings seemed to give
off an almost living vibe. Places with lots of people have that effect on me
sometimes, and I sometimes feel like a radio tuning in faraway stations... like
everyone is broadcasting their thoughts and feelings and I'm picking up faint
traces of them.
Apparently this energy in the air was more than just my perception. My phone started rebooting every five minutes while we were in Times Square, and Martha's (the same provider) was acting weird too. I had no idea what was going on. But by the time we were halfway home, our phones were completely dead... and that would be when we really needed them.