Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread

[ytserush]

The Storm was just played as the first encore, followed by Mask Machine. Sounds like Cosmic Symphony closed the regular set.

My brother doesn't remember the order, but texted that Blue Ocean, Kayla, Forever in a Daze, Peaceful Harbor, A Place in Your World, Infinite Fire, The Fury of My Love and 3 new ones have all been played as well.

I sure wouldn't mind seeing a set like that next month.

[ytserush]

Yeah, that’s not surprise. What intrigues me it’s to know if it is a solo record or a “ collective work by a group of hard dedicated musicians giving their all leaving families behind to satisfy fans”

I'm going to guess solo followed by a solo tour.  Something similar to what Lifes and Times album and tour cycle was.   If it is. I'm in for that. Loved it the last time although it seemed to be physically and mentally exhausted the last time after leaving it all on stage.

[ProfessorPeart]

If that setlist holds up for the regular tour then I am happy. Cosmic Symphony is a must for me. Really hoping to get that in October.

Since Steve is booked solid with DP, I am guessing this could be the set as they won't have the normal time to rehearse.

[KevShmev]

Flying Colors last night was awesome. Peaceful Harbor and Cosmic Symphony with the string quartet and backup singers in particular were just ChefsKiss.gif I also grabbed Momentum, Cover to Cover, The Grand Experiment, Songs for November, and Testimony 2 Live in LA (3CD/2DVD) for a combined $8. Can't wait for TGA tonight

Nice haul! Glad you're having fun!! 

I guess you’re right. It never even occurred to me that he only did concept albums but I guess Lifeline and Momentum are the only albums with true standalone songs. I still think it’d be cool to do them just to hit the unplayed songs from the albums but with him doing So Many Roads and the title track already, over half the entire Lifeline album has already been done so it’d be redundant. I think a set of his non-prog albums would be awesome but I don’t think his fans would travel to see that unfortunately.

I think you are right. As well as he does the non-prog stuff at times, the full-on prog is what attracts the most fans.

[ytserush]

If that setlist holds up for the regular tour then I am happy. Cosmic Symphony is a must for me. Really hoping to get that in October.

Since Steve is booked solid with DP, I am guessing this could be the set as they won't have the normal time to rehearse.

Mask Machine wouldn't thrill me, but mostly those are the highlights from the first two albums. I'd love to hear more from the new one, but as you say rehearsal time is very limited.

[gzarruk]

If that setlist holds up for the regular tour then I am happy. Cosmic Symphony is a must for me. Really hoping to get that in October.

Since Steve is booked solid with DP, I am guessing this could be the set as they won't have the normal time to rehearse.

I don't think they'd only play 3 songs from the new album on tour, given that they're supposed to be supporting the album (I get why they only played 3 this time, because it hasn't been released yet). I'd expect a pretty similar set, but with a couple more new songs replacing some of the older ones.

[ProfessorPeart]

Maybe, who knows. I just looked at DP's tour schedule and they are playing a lot. It starts on Tuesday and doesn't let up. They play almost every day. Wow.

Kudos to Steve for doing what he's doing. For my show, DP plays Ohio the night before and then Chicago the day after. At their age, that's pretty admirable.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

[KevShmev]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

My brother actually said the Inner Circle concert yesterday was his favorite part of the weekend.  He said Neal played a bunch of new songs he has written recently, many about the changes in his life over the last year (both of his kids getting married, his mother-in-law passing away, etc.).  Makes me wonder if we are going to get another Life + Times-type CD.  He couldn't remember everything he played, but did say that All on a Sunday and Love Has Called My Name were both played.

[El Barto]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

Better crowd. Better music. No idea about the Inner Circle stuff.

[faizoff]

What was the setlist for the 2nd night? Just The Great Adventure with the medley outro they had on tour?

[axeman90210]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

The band wasn't quite as tight as when I saw them on The Great Adventour, which I guess is to be expected. The horn section, string quartet, and choir more than made up for it.

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

Better crowd. Better music. No idea about the Inner Circle stuff.

Ah man, thought I saw someone who looked like you a couple times over the weekend but didn't realize you were actually there.

What was the setlist for the 2nd night? Just The Great Adventure with the medley outro they had on tour?

Yeah, just The Great Adventure front to back and then the same medley.

[El Barto]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

The band wasn't quite as tight as when I saw them on The Great Adventour, which I guess is to be expected. The horn section, string quartet, and choir more than made up for it.

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

Better crowd. Better music. No idea about the Inner Circle stuff.

Ah man, thought I saw someone who looked like you a couple times over the weekend but didn't realize you were actually there.

What was the setlist for the 2nd night? Just The Great Adventure with the medley outro they had on tour?

Yeah, just The Great Adventure front to back and then the same medley.

Kept an eye out for you and anybody that looked distinctly Venezuelan but saw neither. We were late getting in both nights (despite getting there before 1830 the second night) so we were scrambling looking for a place to sit. Had to have walked by you once or twice.

I agree about the tightness, but the music's so good it didn't bug me much. The horns/strings/choir were unobtrusive enough (that was my concern going in) but I didn't hear them add a whole lot. They just embiggened the sound a little here and there.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

My brother actually said the Inner Circle concert yesterday was his favorite part of the weekend.  He said Neal played a bunch of new songs he has written recently, many about the changes in his life over the last year (both of his kids getting married, his mother-in-law passing away, etc.).  Makes me wonder if we are going to get another Life + Times-type CD.  He couldn't remember everything he played, but did say that All on a Sunday and Love Has Called My Name were both played.

Ah, that’s cool. I think you may be right about another L&T type album being the next release. He did the same thing for Morsefest 2017, where he played a bunch of new stuff that ended up being released the next year on Life & Times.

[gzarruk]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

My brother actually said the Inner Circle concert yesterday was his favorite part of the weekend.  He said Neal played a bunch of new songs he has written recently, many about the changes in his life over the last year (both of his kids getting married, his mother-in-law passing away, etc.).  Makes me wonder if we are going to get another Life + Times-type CD.  He couldn't remember everything he played, but did say that All on a Sunday and Love Has Called My Name were both played.

Ah, that’s cool. I think you may be right about another L&T type album being the next release. He did the same thing for Morsefest 2017, where he played a bunch of new stuff that ended up being released the next year on Life & Times.

And he just released two prog albums with NMB and as a solo artist this year, so a “proper” follow-up for either of these would be too soon.

[MinistroRaven]

Any thoughts on night two of Morsefest? Anyone go to the Inner Circle concert?

they opened with All On A Sunday and closed with Love Has Called My Name. Everything in between (probably 6 or 7 songs) are new and unreleased. Very much in a Life + Times kind of vein.

[axeman90210]

Some overall thoughts on the weekend:

- First and foremost, it was a really great weekend overall. I'd highly recommend it and I'll almost certainly be back again next year. There was no announcement of what Morsefest 2020 will be, but there must be some planning already going on because when Joey Pippin was talking about the raffle they were doing for Morsefest 2020 tickets he was hyping it up and said if there was one Morsefest to make sure you were going to be at, next year would be it.

- I mostly kept to myself for the weekend, but could tell what a nice community of people it was. Everybody seemed so nice and enthusiastic about the weekend. Even when there was a delay getting in on Saturday night (more on that later) there was very little in the way of negativity. Next year I'll probably do VIP for one of the days and maybe the Inner Circle concert.

- Randy McStine was enjoyable as the opener Friday night. Really nice voice and some cool guitar playing for singer/songwriter type songs. He did one song that had a looper and a bunch of weird noise effects on his guitar that I didn't care for, but other than that I was a fan. He also gave a talk for a few minutes about his father and grandfather having passed away and the effect they had on him as a musician and person.

- I *really* liked the Flying Colors set Friday night. The setlist almost felt like it was tailored for me in that it was most of my favorite songs from the both of the first two albums. I'm especially glad I got Cosmic Symphony as I missed the Second Nature tour and wasn't expecting them to play it for this round of touring. As far as the new songs go, More still felt pretty meh live (though the band did seem pretty into it), You Are Not Alone came across better than the studio version did, and Crawl seemed pretty great even not being familiar with it going in.

- Saturday night was the big draw for me, as well as the friend that I had gone with, so we decided to line up early. Friday we had gotten to the venue right as doors were set to open (6:30), so we decided to get there about 4:30, figuring two hours would be early enough to get us good seats. Meanwhile, Neal had added a second VIP session for Saturday from 3-5 because the first one had sold out so fast. This had two knock on effects, first the soundcheck ran an hour late which meant that our two hour wait in the heat became a three hour wait, and secondly because there were so many VIPs with priority for seating there was nothing really in the way of seating in the center sections for GA people. So our seats Saturday night were only very marginally better than they were Friday, despite getting there two hours earlier. Definitely started Saturday's concert on a very frustrating note.

- That said, the Steve Morse Band played a great opening set, I'll definitely be grabbing one or two albums to check out. Then, the last performance of The Great Adventure certainly delivered. I absolutely love that album (a little more than TSoaD I think), and while, as I already mentioned, the band wasn't *quite* as tight as when I saw them touring behind the album, the overall experience (the crowd, the supporting musicians) was fantastic.

[KevShmev]

Cool to read some reviews from the weekend!  Still a little bummed I missed it, but glad those who went had a blast.

If next year is even bigger than this year, I wonder how they will manage it with the overcrowding.  Moving it to a normal venue I am guessing is not an option since that would eat big time into Neal's profits, but if it really does end up being Transatlantic, that would likely sell a ton of tickets, which could mean having to put a cap on how many tickets they sell and turning people away.  Heck, they ought to make it three nights next year instead of two!

[The Letter M]

Attention Neal Morse Fans!

I just wrapped up my 4th Spock's Beard Survivor over in the Polls/Survivors subforum here, and it was fun running it! I've done them every 3 years now since 2010, so I probably won't do one again until 2022, or closer to whenever their next album comes out (which might very well be 2021 or 2022 anyway).

Now that I am done with that, I was thinking of doing the third Flying Colors Survivor, after having done them for the first two albums back in 2012 and 2014. It'll begin in early November, some time after the 3rd or 4th, and will likely run through New Years.

After that, I will start up my 4th Neal Morse Survivor, covering his solo prog albums from Testimony up through Momentum, and the currently released three albums by The Neal Morse Band. I haven't run it since TGE came out in 2015, so there are two behemoth double albums getting their first shot at a Survivor here, so that'll be fun!

And by the time that both the FC and NM Survivors are done, it might be time to bring back the Transatlantic Survivor, not run since 2014 and the release of Kaleidoscope. With their fifth album coming out next year, it'll definitely be on my radar to revive!

Just wanted to see if any other NM fans here would be willing to take part in my upcoming Survivors! I had about 9 others voting in my SB Survivor for most of its run, so it'd be great to get that many voting in my next couple of Survivors! Hope to see you there!

-Marc.

[bosk1]

Sure, why not?  I'll do a NM survivor.  TA as well.  The thing is, most people don't check that forum much (if at all) anymore, so you may want to post reminders over here. 

The difficulty, for me, in doing a NM survivor is that he is SO prolific (i.e., there is so much material) and he has so many concept albums that individual songs often get lost for me, even though he is one of my favorite artists ever.  I'll see a song title and go, "wait, which song is that again?  How does it go?"  So that makes it a challenge.  But it is a fun challenge, so I'm in.

[gmillerdrake]

Attention Neal Morse Fans!

I just wrapped up my 4th Spock's Beard Survivor over in the Polls/Survivors subforum here, and it was fun running it! I've done them every 3 years now since 2010, so I probably won't do one again until 2022, or closer to whenever their next album comes out (which might very well be 2021 or 2022 anyway).

Now that I am done with that, I was thinking of doing the third Flying Colors Survivor, after having done them for the first two albums back in 2012 and 2014. It'll begin in early November, some time after the 3rd or 4th, and will likely run through New Years.

After that, I will start up my 4th Neal Morse Survivor, covering his solo prog albums from Testimony up through Momentum, and the currently released three albums by The Neal Morse Band. I haven't run it since TGE came out in 2015, so there are two behemoth double albums getting their first shot at a Survivor here, so that'll be fun!

And by the time that both the FC and NM Survivors are done, it might be time to bring back the Transatlantic Survivor, not run since 2014 and the release of Kaleidoscope. With their fifth album coming out next year, it'll definitely be on my radar to revive!

Just wanted to see if any other NM fans here would be willing to take part in my upcoming Survivors! I had about 9 others voting in my SB Survivor for most of its run, so it'd be great to get that many voting in my next couple of Survivors! Hope to see you there!

-Marc.

have you ever seen that Chris Pratt meme from Parks and Rec......where it's his image and it says " I don't know what _______ is, and at this point I'm afraid to ask"

That's me with these 'survivor' threads. I have zero clue as to how it works

[bosk1]

It's not hard.  Each round, you pick your least favorite song out of the ones listed.  At the end of the round, the song with the most votes is eliminated.  Then we start a new round with that song "out," and repeat the process until only one is left standing.

[Max Kuehnau]

One thing I appreciate about The Similitude and The Great Adventure (I'm not familiar with anything else by Neal outside of Transatlantic) is the cover art by Paul Whitehead. I recognised that immediately since I've been a Genesis fan for most of my life. Good idea bringing him in IMHO.

[gmillerdrake]

It's not hard.  Each round, you pick your least favorite song out of the ones listed.  At the end of the round, the song with the most votes is eliminated.  Then we start a new round with that song "out," and repeat the process until only one is left standing.

 

[gzarruk]

have you ever seen that Chris Pratt meme from Parks and Rec......where it's his image and it says " I don't know what _______ is, and at this point I'm afraid to ask"

That's me with these 'survivor' threads. I have zero clue as to how it works

Same here
Glad Bosk explained it, now I think it'd be fun to play.

[The Letter M]

It's not hard.  Each round, you pick your least favorite song out of the ones listed.  At the end of the round, the song with the most votes is eliminated.  Then we start a new round with that song "out," and repeat the process until only one is left standing.

Thanks for the explanation bosk! I hope to see more people participating in the Neal Morse Survivor when I get around to it, though that won't be until at least early January. In the mean time, my Flying Colors Survivor will take place, so that'll be a good warm-up for anyone joining the Survivors subforum for the first time!

-Marc.

[bosk1]

No thanks. 

[Fritzinger]

have you ever seen that Chris Pratt meme from Parks and Rec......where it's his image and it says " I don't know what _______ is, and at this point I'm afraid to ask"

That's me with these 'survivor' threads. I have zero clue as to how it works

Same here
Glad Bosk explained it, now I think it'd be fun to play.

Thanks guys 

I'd love to join in

[KevShmev]

FYI, Neal released a double album on the Inner Circle last week, all of them being demos of songs he has written the last few months or so.  They actually don't sound like demos since every song is just Neal's voice and either an acoustic guitar or a piano.  Definitely some throwaways in there, but a number of good ones, and a few major gems for sure.  There is a song called Sanctuary that has to be one of the most gorgeous things he's ever written.

[MinistroRaven]

FYI, Neal released a double album on the Inner Circle last week, all of them being demos of songs he has written the last few months or so.  They actually don't sound like demos since every song is just Neal's voice and either an acoustic guitar or a piano.  Definitely some throwaways in there, but a number of good ones, and a few major gems for sure.  There is a song called Sanctuary that has to be one of the most gorgeous things he's ever written.

I quit the Inner Circle but thank you!

[DTA]

Another Life & Times type album would be excellent to hear, but it sounds like he used those songs up on his IC release. Dude is one productive mf

[axeman90210]

Another big sale in the Radiant store for Black Friday. I grabbed the Momentum Live 5 disc CD/DVD combo for $1.99 and the Morsefest 2017 Blu Ray for $4.99.

[KevShmev]

Another big sale in the Radiant store for Black Friday. I grabbed the Momentum Live 5 disc CD/DVD combo for $1.99 and the Morsefest 2017 Blu Ray for $4.99.

Nice!

You should get them in time for Christmas 2020!

[Stadler]

Another big sale in the Radiant store for Black Friday. I grabbed the Momentum Live 5 disc CD/DVD combo for $1.99 and the Morsefest 2017 Blu Ray for $4.99.

I bought both of those as well. 

[DTA]

Another big sale in the Radiant store for Black Friday. I grabbed the Momentum Live 5 disc CD/DVD combo for $1.99 and the Morsefest 2017 Blu Ray for $4.99.

Nice!

You should get them in time for Christmas 2020!

  Christmas 2020 is a little optimistic even.

I remember being excited to get all these cheap live DVDs and cds last year and the shipping was so astronomically huge that I said fuck it and just bought one cd. My Radiant days are over besides mp3s