When something starts with a nine minute overture, then you know you’re deep, deep down in prog territory. In that case, welcome to Morsefest, baby.
And that’s where we find ourselves in 2022 as Transatlantic play. This is night 2. Elsewhere there’s a mammoth 5cd box of this thing.
That opening, simply called “Overture” (and that’s the only simple thing about it) sees each member of the band get their chance to shine across the piece but the reason Transatlantic are rather good is the focus on the songs as well as the labyrinthine wizardry. “Reaching For The Sky” proves it early – and of course there’s a Spock’s Beard thing going on, as you’d expect.
The bass anchors this down, although “Darkness In The Light” changes the vibe brilliantly with its lush strings and “Take Now My Soul” adds acoustics to the dynamic before “Bully” explodes, short and sweet, it and “High In A Rainbow Sky” provide more contrast in a set full of them.
The guitar work on “The World We Used To Know” is exceptional, but they can’t resist blurring the edges over its epic tinges. And “epic tinges” are what “The Sun Comes Up Today” has too. Like a soundtrack to an imaginary film.
“Owl Howl” is a beauty, full of synth and going where it goes, and given that they were on stage for over two hours there’s plenty to the journey. “Lonesome Rebel” and “Can You Feel It” are full of harmony and warmth.
And those harmonies are all over “The Greatest Story Never Ends” and in many ways “Love Made A Way” ties up all the loose ends.
It appears that one might close the set, but the atmospheric beauty of “Bridge Across Forever” is a fine encore. Slow building and gorgeous, its also sparse. Which you can never accuse the closing medley of being. To paraphrase AC/DC, you want bombast? You got it.
Its half an hour of fun. For the band, but you can also imagine this being stunning for the audience too, and there’s a singalong on “Stranger In Your Soul” to prove it.
Live albums are weird. There’s no substitute for being there, but this is absolutely gorgeous.
Supergroups are weird. Like, does it matter who’s in Transatlantic if the music is this good, but then of course, the bass player is in one of my favourite bands on the planet and anyway would the music be this good if Neal Morse, Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt & Pete Trewavas weren’t playing it?
I still hate reviewing prog because those guys know too much and make me look stupid. All I know is that Transatlantic are stunning.
Rating 9.5/10
