Transatlantic concert
TransAtlantic, the supergroup project with Neal Morse (Spock's Beard), Mike Portnoy (Dream Theater), Pete Trewavas (Marillion) and Roine Stolt (The Flower Kings) toured in Europe in November. Our contributor Viktor Orbán was there to witness the event...
Unfortunately, I couldn`t take my camera in, which meant a painful loss. As we got in, after buying a beer, I had enough time to have a look around. The place itself was a middle-sized venue, almost full. The audience? Well, the typical, fanatical prog rockers with blazing fire in their eyes. After half an hour the lights went down and the concert started.
After two hours playing they went off the stage just to come back to give a little extra. I know this music is for a not too wide audience only. But anyone who likes valuable music and real concerts can regret missing it if they weren`t there.
|
I`ve been waiting for an event like this for ages where I can see the Kings of progressive rock on stage. The time`s come. It was relatively easy to find the venue and nobody could miss it, there was such a long, winding queue standing patiently in front of the closed doors.
We saw and heard everything we could. It wasn`t a piece of music in terms of average music. This was the essence of music. Hands and fingers running on the instruments with the speed of light showing talent and skill you can rarely see in the industry of entertainment. But it wasn`t only pure technique, they really enjoyed what they were doing. And this was true for the listeners as well, of course. We got every important track from their two albums, although I`m still not sure if I can simply call these 30-minute-long compositions tracks.
To make the sound more dense they had a second guitarist from another Swedish band, from the Pain of Salvation. Neal Morse played keyboards, guitar and even had energy to sing very well. Besides, he was responsible for having fun or, at least, it seemed so. Roine Stolt presented excellent solos and Portnoy`s playing was as usual. He can`t make a mistake. What can I say? The whole thing was superb.