Steven Wilson’s “The Overview” Tour Kickoff - a tale of two cities!
We'll chat SW nostalgia, vibes of his updated live band, nerd out on Steven's gear, and rejoice in our collective excitement with the prog icon's return to the road!
There will be no song-specific spoilers in this write-up.
On March 12th, 2020 Steven Wilson released ”Personal Shopper”, his first single from his then upcoming album "the Future bites". The 10-minute track was a marked departure from Wilson's normative prog-rock roots. The pop-leaning song featured Elton John and spoke to excessive consumerism in the 21st century.
The title “the Future Bites” hit too close to reality in 2020
Steven Wilson’s sixth studio record released mid-pandemic
As fate would have it, ten days later the COVID-19 pandemic stopping civilization in its tracks and, well, the shopping malls Steven referenced on his single became inaccessible. The irony is we actually spent more globally in 2020, so I guess the theme was on point, just not shopping malls!
Fast-forward to 2025, and it's a brave new world. Porcupine Tree came back to life with a new record in 2022 and an extensive two-year tour! In the Wilson-adjacent world, Opeth released "The Last Will and Testament" last year, a phenomenal record and dare I say one of their best! Earlier this year, Pink Floyd's revered Live in Pompei film got a new lease in life with Wilson on mixing duties! And of course Steven's had three albums released since then, and he's back on tour in support of his latest space-themed record titled "The Overview".
I have been fortunate to witness the Porcupine Tree resurgence, and I was not going to miss the start of Steven's solo tour for anything. Two nights after seeing Meshuggah in New York City, I jumped on a plane to Stockholm, Sweden leading up to Steven's first full-band show in seven years. I decided I would also catch his second show in Oslo, Norway, a 7 hour train ride away!
Steven’s updated lineup
Let's talk about the lineup! Steven is joined by his usual band of merry men - Craig Blundell on drums, Nick Beggs on bass, and Adam Holtzman on keys.
Nick Beggs performing with Steven Wilson | Stockholm, Sweden | 2025
Pictured here with his Wal bass guitar.
Craig Blundell's drum setup for Steven Wilson's "The Overview" tour
Adam Hotlzman’s live setup for Steven Wilson’s “the Overview” tour
The wildcard for this tour is of course guitarist extrodinaire Randy McStine, who also featured on Porcupine Tree's comeback tour.
I remember being in awe of Randy's musical prowess before he toured with Porcupine Tree. I first saw him open for Flying Colors in 2019 and later for The Pineapple Thief. It’s always tricky bringing in a new musician to a familiar sonic territory, but Randy rose to the occasion. In his time touring with Porcupine Tree for their Closure/Continuation record, he truly elevated the band’s sound as evident in their rivetting live DVD release.!
In fact, one of my favorite live moments ever was his extended guitar slide solo on "I Drive The Hearse" from Porcupine Tree's apperance at ArtMania festival in Sibiu, Romania in 2023. More recently, I was ecstatic to hear that Randy felt the same and admitted that the guitar solo in Sibiu was his personal best after Amsterdam (thanks for answering my DMs, Randy!)
Randy McStine, Richard Barbieri and Steven Wilson performing as Porcupine Tree | Sibiu, Romania | 2023
Photographed By Anand Gupta
The show(s)
The first two opening nights were starkly different in both setting and arrangement. Stockholm's Cirkus venue had a standing area in front of the stage, which I know Steven prefers from past interviews. Meanwhile the Oslo Konserthus was completely seated, like most venues on this EU/UK tour.
The Swedes were polite but energetic, and the standing space lent itself to some high energy head-banging, particularly on - oops, caught myself - no spoilers! :) It was a great start to their tour, and Steven even commented on how interesting it was to see the audience react to the material - new and old.
In Oslo, Steven joked that he's keeping tabs on the Norwegian audience's feet to know if they're having a good time! (yes, plenty of feet-tapping was had!)
Steven Wilson joined by his live band for the Overview tour | Oslo, Norway | 2025
Both Stockholm and Oslo sets featured the Overview in its entirety with Stockholm featuring the 40+ minute piece in the second half, and Oslo greeted to it in the first. The remainder of the set delved into Steven's solo catalog with a quite a few live debuts from the more recent albums that had yet to see a live audience.
Yes there was ONE Porcupine Tree song, an oldie that jived incredibly well with the rest of the set. Personally, I love the idea of Steven and band starting each night with the Overview, followed by the mixed set!
As you would expect, the visuals were spectacular with Steven taking the helm in the center of the stage right underneath the projections.
On one end of the stage Craig Blundell did an incredible job keeping time, while on the other end Adam Holtzman continued to lean in with his signature synth sounds. Nick Beggs was clearly having the most fun on stage, likely due to his black Wal bass guitar that he recently was reunited with. And finally, Randy shined throughout the set, with his solos, synth-like passages, slide-guitar, and more adding a refreshing change of pace to some of Steven’s songs we’ve heard before!
While their first show seemed incredibly tight to my ears, Steven seemed to have a higher bar and jokingly thanked the audience for enduring all the “f—- ups” ! He did seem more relaxed in Oslo, and admitted that they were “much better” on day two, but honestly I couldn’t tell the difference!
Gear talk!
Steven Wilson is now using a compact pedalboard with the Neural DSP Quad Cortex
For the guitar nerds, this tour marks a stark change in Steven's choice of live-gear. Gone is the extensive pedalboard designed by Daniel Steinhardt of the Gig Rig / That Pedal Show. Also missing from the stage is that monstrous Bad Cat Lynx amp! Instead, Steven has opted for a digital modeler, the mighty Quad Cortex from Helsinki's Neural DSP. The brand is renowned for their plugins, including partnerships with bands like Gojira, and modern guitar virtuosos like Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders), Rabea Massad, Tim Henson (Polyphia), and Mateus Asato.
Steven continues to use the Bad Cat guitar cabinet, pictured here alongside his dual L/R keyboard setup
The Quad Cortex does all of the heavy lifting for Steven's guitar sounds, including distortion, modulation, delays, and lush ambient reverbs. But of course you can trust Steven to use modelers BETTER than anyone else. In this case, he opted to continue to use Bad Cat cabinets on stage for his live sound. Presumably he had the Quad Cortex run into a power amplifier (I'm guessing the Seymour Duncan power stage?).
This helped bring the familiar thump and low-end you expect from a real amp on stage. This is something that I personally always miss when I go see bands that use modelers, even behemoths like Meshuggah.
Were there some gear hiccups? Sure. Steven mentioned something about getting to the right preset, and in one song had to fiddle a little, but it all worked out. The practicality of using a condensed rig cannot be overlooked, I'm just glad Steven sounded every bit like himself!
Steven's guitar work
Steven Wilson with his iconic Paul Reed Smith Custom 22 in Emerald Green | Stockholm, Sweden | 2025
During this past PT tour, we missed seeing Steven's beautiful green PRS. Instead his gold PRS Singelcut Trem had been on drop-D duties and his relic'd telecaster acquired after recording "To the Bone" being his primary standard-tuning guitar.
Now Steven's back to using his goldtop for standard tuning, and the sexy green for drop D. His telecaster does make an appearance in the encore, but I imagine it's mostly for vibes!
I have to say, Steven plays a lot of guitar on this tour and I was all smiles. He played a ton of guitar solos, with his style and demeanor reminiscent of his energy from past performances of Porcupine Tree’s Hatesong, such as from the “Arriving Somewhere” live DVD .
In summary...
Well it's been less than 24 hours (at the time of writing this article) since Steven Wilson's second show in Oslo, and I am mentally still there! :) If you've ever been a fan of Steven or Porcupine Tree, do yourself a favor and don't miss seeing him on this tour! If you've had misgivings about the Overview, I guarantee seeing it live will give you a new perspective. It truly is a very cohesive piece and it all adds up perfectly with his marvelous live band.
Thank you Steven, and yes, catch you in two weeks in London! ;-)
Steven Wilson performing with Porcupine Tree | Sibiu, Romania | 2023
Photographed by Anand Gupta