For those interested, here are my thoughts on each night:
Friday
-NDV and Stan Ausmus, as mentioned above, did a great job with their 5-song acoustic set to open the night.
-The first set was awesome. Even though I am not wild about Lifeline, I was happy to get the title track and So Many Roads, the two clear standouts from it. The "Eyes of the Saviour" section of So Many Roads, with the live choir singing along, was incredible. I had major goosebumps.
-Supernatural was done acoustic with Eric on live vocals for the whole song, except the second verse, which Bill did.
-Neal joked about how he sometimes kicks himself for writing a piano intro like the one to Seeds of Gold, but he was like, "I will try it and see how this goes." He mostly nailed it. Fantastic performance one of Neal's best written songs of this decade, and he even played about the first half of Steve Morse's solo before Eric took over and brought it to the climax.
-At one point, Neal said how calling it Morsefest wasn't his idea, but once it got going, it just sort of snowballed and here we are. The joke was made that they should have called it RandyFest (or the nickname of Randy they use + fest). That got a playful double fist pump from Randy George, and the crowd ate it up.
-Jayda. One of the highlights of the weekend. This was one of those live moments I will look back on years from now and be happy I got see it in person. If you know the story of the song, you know what a personal song it is to Neal for obvious reasons. Regardless of what you believe, it's an emotionally devastating song for Neal to sing. The second it ended, his daughter, Jayda, ran out and hugged Neal. No clue if it was preplanned or spontaneous on her part, but you could see tears running down his face on the big video, and the whole crowd sprung to their feet and gave an applause that was nothing short of inspiring. What a moment.
-I remember saying at the time that T2 was Neal bringing the fun back to his music on a regular basis, and Nighttime Collectors, Time Has Come Today and Road Dog Blues were all great reminders of that.
-The Truth Will Set You Free was just stupid good. I mean, I knew that song would slay live, but it was like being paralyzed for eight minutes to where all you could do was watch and listen in awe. Hands down, one of the best individual song live performances I have ever seen. And it featured Neal's two dancers (his daughter Jayda and another young lady whose name I cannot recall). They came out for a handful of songs each night.
-Crossing Over/Mercy Street Reprise was as awesome live as I thought it would be. Words cannot do justice how powerful the end of the song was live, especially since it was the end of the night of 3+ hours of music.
I left that night, thinking I had just seen one of the best 4-5 best shows I have ever seen, and thought, can they top this tomorrow?
Saturday
-NDV and his ukelele band did a fantastic job with playing five classic covers. Their cover of Yes' Roundabout had the whole crowd clapping along. I cannot wait to get my hands on a copy of their CD (which was sold out too quickly at the merch stand. but Nick said more copies are being manufactured for sale).
-What can I say about The Similitude of a Dream that hasn't been said already. It's just a fantastic piece of music, from start to finish. There are no lags, no weak spots. It is stellar from start to finish, and the performance of it last night more than did it justice.
-City of Destruction had the crowd going bonkers. The crowd Friday night was great, but the crowd Saturday night was like someone had given the already-energetic Friday night crowd an adrenaline shot. Twice. The front two rows of the center section were completely bonkers the whole night, bouncing up and down every time the music picked up, and City of Destruction was a good example.
-Eric's soloing both nights was nothing short of phenomenal, and the one in The Slough is just absurd. The same can be said for the one in Breath of Angels, where he walked down the center aisle to be in the middle of the crowd and delivered one of the finest solos you will ever hear. What a talent that guy is.
-Speaking of talent, Bill Hubauer!! The talent this guy possesses is inspiring. He can sing his ass off, his keyboard playing is tremendous, and comes off like a very genuine guy. He looked like a kid in a candy store, just thrilled to be up there playing such great music with a great band. His extended piano intro to The Mask...incredible.
-The back to back of The Ways of a Fool and So Far Gone still might be the best 12 consecutive minutes on the CD, a bold statement for sure, but seeing it live again just affirmed my position on that.
-Shortcut to Salvation is just a fun and joyous little number. If that song doesn't put a smile on your face, there is something wrong with you.
-The Man in the Iron Cage. Neal only has two lines per verse, but I was amazed at how big and powerful his voice delivering each one, especially since he was starting to get a little hoarse.
-I'm Running. This, for me, was the highlight of Saturday night. Neal was out of his mind (in a good way!) in this song, running all over the stage, up and down the aisles, and bouncing with the guys in the front row at one point, while still delivering a passionate and furious vocal performance. This should be a song Neal always play live now. It brought the house down, and Randy George coming over to those guys in the front row and bouncing with them for a good 10-15 seconds was one of those "I can't believe how awesome this is" moments.
-The Mask and Confrontation remains one of my favorite sequences from the record as well, and once again, words cannot do justice to how amazing they were. It will be a bummer if this band never performs this album in full again; it is too good to not pull out again at some point. A 5-star record in every way!
-The encores of Author of Confusion and The Call were fantastic, and while I like Agenda, I am not sure it was the best choice. The crowd was a little subdued for it, but I guess after all of the greatness we had already endured, getting a song that is merely "good" to let us come down a bit in preparation for the finale of The Call was possibly needed. Still, I was expecting something a little more special last night at the end, instead of just the same encores they had played for the whole tour, but that is splitting hairs. Still a magnificent second night.
Overall, even though I think I enjoyed Night 1 a touch more than Night 2 (Friday had a better and more satisfying conclusion, and we had better seats on Friday).
But I can honestly say that Friday would go down as probably the 3rd or 4th best concert I have ever seen, and Saturday night would be top 10 as well. Not bad considering how many shows I've seen over the years. What a weekend, and rest assured that I will not missing another Morsefest. As long as Neal keeps doing them, I am there. Without hesitation. I would recommend any and every Neal fans to find a way to do the same in the future. Friday night felt like a once in a lifetime concert, and then I got another one of them the next night. Wow. Just, wow.
Topic: Official Neal Morse Appreciation Thread (Read 547446 times)
