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Old 05-27-2011, 11:27 AM
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Diff_Drummer Diff_Drummer is offline
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Neal Morse Concert review

Hi all, my Moonfriends!

I had the extreme pleasure to see Neal Morse live in Denver on Wednesday May 25. It was at a small club called the Soiled Dove, a great venue for shows as it is very intimate. (Same place I saw the Carl Palmer Band last year.) The place was sold out.

Neal had an 8 piece band with him that was a very tight squeeze on the small stage, but they managed. I can't tell you the names of everyone in the band, but he had his regular rhythm section of Randy George on bass and the amazing Mike Portnoy on drums. The rest of the band consisted of a father and son team, Dad played elec. guitar, elec. violin and flute - son played elec. and acoustic guitar, elec. cello and sang. Then there were two keyboard players, one who also played elec. guitar and sang, and a guy on sax and percussion. Neal played keys, guitars and of course lead vocals.

There was a guest vocalist who joined in for a few songs, Matthiew Ward. If you know Christian artists you probably know who he is. If you are just into prog, then you probably don't, but he was a good addition.

I know some people get turned off by Neals Christian message, but say what you like, the guy is an incredible prog musician. The show was 3 1/4 hours long with a short intermission. The 1st half was material from a variety of earlier albums. The 2nd half was his new CD, Testimony 2 in it's entirety.

I would estimate that more than half the show was instrumental sections highlighting everyone in the band. Portnoy is just fantastic and looks like he is having so much fun playing. The band is incredibly tight, making transitions to new tempos, time signatures as if it were an 8-headed single entity.

At one point in the 2nd half, there was a loud low hum in the PA system. Neal stopped the music and the sound man tracked down the problem as being one of the keyboard players rigs. While it was fixed, they were joking around with the audience and Portnoy grabbed one of his overhead cymbal mics and joined in with some very funny comments. Once the hum was gone, they jumped right in where they left off perfectly.

All in all, an incredible night of great music and musicianship that I will remember for a long time.
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Old 05-27-2011, 11:35 AM
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Ted Ted is offline
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Re: Neal Morse Concert review

DD,

Thanks so much for the review - WOW - sounds like a wonderful show. I have heard of Matthew Ward (wasn't he originally in a group called "2nd Chapter of Acts" with two ladies?).

I appreciate your sharing your thoughts with us. Did you go alone or with family or friends?

Thanks for posting the pics when you get them loaded.

Great review.

Regards from Texas,
Ted
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Old 05-27-2011, 11:54 AM
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Magic Mountain Magic Mountain is offline
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Re: Neal Morse Concert review

Great review! Thanks for sharing.

I have only saw Neal Morse with Transatlantic last year, and that show was just STUNNING! I wish I could have seen his solo show this year, but I attended RoSfest instead.

I would consider myself an agnostic, but his overtly Christian lyrics do not bother me. I find nothing wrong with the uplifting message that he is trying to convey. Actually, I think its great

Karl
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