Review

Band(s): Transatlantic

Date: 2010-04-24

Venue: Theater of Living Arts

City, State: Philadelphia, PA

Reviewer: Nick

The wait for this show started at around 3pm and would last over six hours, but of course the wait was worth it as shortly after 9pm the intro tape for “The Whirlwind” started to roll and moments later Transatlantic took the stage. During the instrumental “Overture” I was blown away with how good everything sounded. Normally from the front row the mix and overall quality won’t be perfect, but on this night it was! Very early on from across the stage Portnoy noticed me getting into the song and pointed at me with his drumstick. I responded by giving him a thumbs up to which he nodded in approval, and that started what would be an awesome and intimate evening.

As the band continued through “The Whirlwind” I was blown away by so much of it. If I looked slightly to me left I could occasionally catch Neal Morse looking down at me as I sang along to fantastic vocal melodies that he has such a gift for crafting, and if I looked slightly to my right I could absolutely feel Roine Stolt’s guitar solos. It’s a tough feeling to describe, but between being so close to him and Roine being such an expressive player I could swear I was onstage next to Roine during his solos feeling everything he felt as he played them. As one section of the song flowed into the next I was impressed constantly by the members of Transatlantic, but the unsung hero of the night was perhaps the hired helper for the tour, Daniel Gildenlow. I was constantly amazed with how many different instruments the man had, how often he changed them, and how many times he played two at once! Now having two different shaking instruments going at once may not be a huge feat, but having a drumstick in one hand and using that same hand to strum the guitar between hits all while singing is quite impressive. As the final notes of “The Whirlwind” rang out it was hard not to appreciate that some bands would be taking a short break and coming back for an encore; Transatlantic however would be coming back for another entire set!

After a 25 minute or so break the lights again went down and the intro to All of the Above began and once again the five amazing pieces behind Transatlantic’s live show took the stage. The entire song was excellent, and included some of the best singing along of the night, and it was really during the song I came to appreciate how error free the night had been thus far, both by the band and on the technical side of things, certainly a smoother ride than the previous night in NYC! After that Roine and Neal did a bit of guitar teasing back and forth before going into an altered version of “We All Need Some Light” in which Neal and Roine switched their vocal parts for the song. Although a very cool idea after seeing it twice I wish they had done it the original way as although Roine did a good job taking Neal’s vocals and singing them in his own style, he was reading the lyrics off a paper on the floor and ended up missing the first few words of the second verse, and overall he just didn’t seem to put the kind of emotion into the song that Neal does. Also, the part that Roine normally sings is probably my favorite part of the entire song, and although Neal did a good job of it I would have liked to hear Roine doing it. But it was an interesting idea and overall well done, and really those are my only major complaints about the entire performance.

Then came the highlight of the show for me, “Duel With the Devil”. It has always been my favorite Transatlantic song, but after seeing it from the front row, after nearly losing my voice to it, it might be my favorite song of all time. Each section was moving, exciting, and intense in one way or another. The end of the song made for a perfect set closer, and if I had died at that moment I’d have died a very happy man! Well, luckily I didn’t die, and Transatlantic wasn’t done for the night either. After a short break Neal and Roine came back to perform a very moving version of “Bridge Across Forever”. Then the rest of the band once again found their way to the stage and Portnoy banged out the very recognizable beginning to “Stranger in Your Soul” which probably got the best crowd reaction for the start of a song other than “The Whirlwind” which had a slight advantage starting the show off. “Stranger” had a live performance just as good as “Duel” and included some of the coolest parts of the entire evening. For starters some of the best vocal trade-offs could be found in that song, and then there was the incident that leg to Portnoy crowd surfing…

In the middle of the song Neal wandered over to Portnoy’s kit, picked up two sticks and slowly edged Mike off the drums. In his absence Pete came over and started playing keyboards while Daniel Gildenlow crept up behind him, reached around him and played Pete’s bass! While all that was happening Portnoy was struggling with an obviously prog crowd trying to instruct them what needed to happen for him to be able to crowd surf. Basically even though the TLA was either sold out or very close to it, people actually gave the people around them room to breathe, something missing from even poorly attended metal shows in which trying to rape the people around you almost seems to be the norm anymore. Anyway Portnoy got everyone to come together a little bit, and then he finally turned around and took the leap of faith back into the crowd which sent him back a little bit and then back towards the stage where I got to help throw him back up between Neal and Roine. Everyone then proceeded back to their normal areas and they finished the song with as much zest as they had closed the second set, bringing the night to an end that I will not likely soon forget.