As I truly loved the debut album of super group
Flying Colors I was really looking
forward to this gig in 013 in Tilburg, one of the best venues in The Netherlands. Sadly I missed the Swedish band
Beardfish as I entered the venue too late due to car problems!
However, the concert of Flying Colors was really one of the best gigs I've seen
and heard in a long time. In the near future we can also enjoy this concert on
DVD as this night's performance was recorded on tape. The band consisting of
Neal Morse
(vocals, keyboards),
Steve Morse (lead guitar),
Casey McPherson (vocals, guitars),
Mike Portnoy
|
Flying Colors on stage |
(drums, backing vocals) and
Dave LaRue (bass guitar), have only made
one album so far, so they also played songs from bands that each member has
played in before. This meant, that many pieces were performed from distinguished bands like
Dream Theater,
Spock's Beard,
Endochin
and
Dixie Dregs.
Flying Colors kicked off with
Blue Ocean,
the first song from their debut album, followed by
Shoulda Coulda Woulda and
Love Is What I'm Waiting For. These
three pieces immediately showed that the musicians were in great shape; they
sounded even better on stage than on the album! All the eleven tracks from the
debut were played and my favourites this evening were
Kayla,
The Storm and
Infinite Fire,
the latter being the first encore of the evening. From the unexpected songs
Can't Find a Way
(Endochin),
Odyssey (Dixie Dregs),
June
(Spock's Beard),
Repentance (Dream Theater),
Hallelujah
(
Jeff Buckley) and
Space Truckin'
(
Deep Purple), which was the second encore, I liked
Repentance and
Odyssey the best. This was
mainly due to the brilliant guitar playing of Steve Morse. Then after the
amazing Deep Purple cover it was over and it seemed to me that this concert has
gone by very quickly, too quickly if you ask me... I'm really looking forward to
their next gig and to the second album of this outstanding group.
Martien Koolen (edited by Peter Willemsen)