This is surely a brilliant prog rock double package, featuring workaholic singer, composer, keyboarder Neal Morse (& The Resonance) and flower power rockers The Flower Kings.
 

The Flower Kings

Roine Stolt, Hasse Froberg, Michael Stolt, Mirko DeMaio and Lalle Larsson have just recently released their new seventeenth studio album called Love (see review) and of course tonight's setlist will contain many songs from that excellent album. At 19:30 sharp the first notes and chords from the opening track of the Love album called We Claim The Moon opens the Flower Kings gig and as far as I am concerned it is a wonderful opening indeed. The up tempo We Claim The Moon is followed by How Can You Leave Us Now?, which is a good song but not one I would have put on tonight's list, as Stolt and Co. have certainly far better songs to play than this one. Considerations, the second epic track of the Love album, is one of the highlights of tonight's gig, as especially Roine's guitar solos and melodies are absolutely immaculate and soaring indeed. The emotional vocals of Michael Stolt and Froberg and the killer keyboard solo

by Larsson add an awesome extra dimension to this wonderful prog rock song. The next mini epic called The Elder is next and here TFK display wonderful dreamlike piano passages, expressive, emotional guitar lines, tricky jazzy undertones, and finally emotional vocal harmonies galore, making this a very impressive track! Then we go back in time with the epic Last Minute On Earth from the Rainmaker album (2001).This one clocks in over eleven minutes and it is a real pleasure to hear this awesome song again as the Rainmaker album was the first Flower Kings album that received a more mixed (read: negative) response from the critics. Larsson's piano solo is something I could have done without, but the amazing Big Puzzle from their debut album makes it all good again, as this surely is still one of the best FK songs ever. Finally, after a way too short gig, The Flower Kings end with The Dream, a track from the Look At You Now album (2023, see review), featuring again a wonderful guitar solo by Roine, one of the most underrated guitar players ever...The Flower Kings once again proved that these guys belong to the top of progressive rock!
 

Neal Morse & The Resonance

After a short break Neal Morse, with a new band, returned to familiar ground and his "debut" album under the name of Neal Morse & The Resonance was the centrepiece of tonight's performance, as the setlist consisted of a full performance of the album No Hill For A Climber (2024, see review). Morse was assisted by five young musicians from Nashville and these guys really played their "asses" off, as vocalist Johnny Bisaha displayed his powerful voice and guitar picker Andre Madatian impressed the audience with his enthusiasm and soaring guitar solos. However, it was of course mister Neal Morse who "stole" the show with his emotional vocals and his omnipotent charisma. The wonderful set kicked off with the high energy packed All The Rage, followed by the dark and experimental Thief, the latter reminding me of King Crimson indeed.

The first highlight of Morse's set tonight is the epic Eternity In Your Eyes, a wonderful Morse composition, featuring those typical Morse musical twists and turns. The title track of Neal Morse & The Resonance's debut album was the emotional centrepiece of tonight's gig, the second epic, which comprises twenty-nine minutes is a 100% prog rock roller coaster, and this track really has it all. No Hill For A Climber was dominated by Madatian's guitar work, while the vocals of Morse and Bisaha were second to none indeed. After a short pause Neal Morse and band returned for two encores: the first being the well-known Transatlantic song Stranger In Your Soul from the Bridge Across Forever album (2001). Sadly, only section 1 (Sleeping Wide Awake) and section 6 (Stranger In Your Soul) were played, featuring a guest performance by, of course, Roine Stolt. Finally, this wonderful prog rock night ended with the Spock's Beard song Wind At My Back from the concept album Snow (2002), where the crowd sang along to very quietly.

What a night, listening to some of the best prog rock music ever recorded and as far as I was concerned these guys could have played a couple of hours more.....

Text and pictures by Martien Koolen (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen)