OT: Flying Colours with Steve Morse

[paranoid70]

I'm going to see some EBMM in action tonight. Steve Morse and Dave LaRue are playing in Flying Colours tonight in Torrance, CA. If you haven't heard them yet, you should check them out. A bit of a prog supergroup, but they really focus more on good, melodic songwriting than musical gymnastics. Their first album is really good and the new one just came out this week. Looking forward to the show.

Actually, I also saw King Crimson in Los Angeles last night - Tony Levin played a couple of Stingrays in addition to his electric standup bass and Chapman stick. That was one INTENSE concert!

 

[cionian]

I'm going to see some EBMM in action tonight. Steve Morse and Dave LaRue are playing in Flying Colours tonight in Torrance, CA. If you haven't heard them yet, you should check them out. A bit of a prog supergroup, but they really focus more on good, melodic songwriting than musical gymnastics. Their first album is really good and the new one just came out this week. Looking forward to the show.

Actually, I also saw King Crimson in Los Angeles last night - Tony Levin played a couple of Stingrays in addition to his electric standup bass and Chapman stick. That was one INTENSE concert!

I'm not a fan of supergroups, more about egos than music but Flying Colors is great. Wish I could see them live.. SM is killer as usual, I'm amazed at his musical breadth and virtuosity-level still. The guy is an enigma, seriously! I'm approaching 40 and already feel my body slowing down

P.S. King Crimson, you've good taste in music.

 

[DrKev]

Tony Levin played a couple of Stingrays in addition to his electric standup bass and Chapman stick. That was one INTENSE concert!

Oh yeah, Levin has been onboard the EBMM train for years.

 

[kestrou]

paranoid70 - be sure to post up a show review tomorrow morning because I'm FRONT ROW for their Friday night in Chicago.

Want to talk about a grueling tour schedule - three shows in three days (Torrance, Chicago, Philadelphia), a couple days off, then seven shows in eight days across Europe. Morse just hit age 60, but looks to be in great shape (would love to see him arm wrestle Petrucci as both of their biceps is the size of my thighs! )

My King Crimson (actually Crimson ProjeKCt) story: in summer of 2013 wifey surprised me with tickets to see Dream Theater in Cleveland, Ohio - which is SEVEN HOURS each way, but worth it. Got there and THEN found out that the opening band was Crimson ProjeKCt. Holy cow!!! Does it get any better than this?!!!!! Was an outdoor venue and we were third row, right in front of Levin. When they started their set the place was nearly empty (maybe 10% of seats filled) and nobody was paying attention except for CRAZY ME - standing on my chair, pumping my fist, and singing along to every song. Levin has an online blog he's been doing for almost 20 years - he posted a pic of me from that show and said at least they had ONE rabid fan in Cleveland, so it was worth it.

Oh yeah, Dream Theater were pretty good too.

Kevin

 

[Tollywood]

Have fun at the show, Eric!

 

[Razzle]

MAN am I jealous! I don’t even have their new record yet.

They’re only playing a few dates in the U.S., and you got one. I used to live in Torrance! I lived a couple of blocks from there on Anza. Never been to that venue, it looks like it has great acoustics.

Good for you, enjoy the show, and if they don’t mug you try to take some videos!

 

[fbecir]

I have my ticket for the show in Paris. The new album is great. Steve is amazing but Dave is also astounding.

 

[paranoid70]

paranoid70 - be sure to post up a show review tomorrow morning because I'm FRONT ROW for their Friday night in Chicago.

Want to talk about a grueling tour schedule - three shows in three days (Torrance, Chicago, Philadelphia), a couple days off, then seven shows in eight days across Europe. Morse just hit age 60, but looks to be in great shape (would love to see him arm wrestle Petrucci as both of their biceps is the size of my thighs! )

My King Crimson (actually Crimson ProjeKCt) story: in summer of 2013 wifey surprised me with tickets to see Dream Theater in Cleveland, Ohio - which is SEVEN HOURS each way, but worth it. Got there and THEN found out that the opening band was Crimson ProjeKCt. Holy cow!!! Does it get any better than this?!!!!! Was an outdoor venue and we were third row, right in front of Levin. When they started their set the place was nearly empty (maybe 10% of seats filled) and nobody was paying attention except for CRAZY ME - standing on my chair, pumping my fist, and singing along to every song. Levin has an online blog he's been doing for almost 20 years - he posted a pic of me from that show and said at least they had ONE rabid fan in Cleveland, so it was worth it.

Oh yeah, Dream Theater were pretty good too.

Kevin

I went to the Dream Theater / Crimson ProjeKCt in Southern California a year or so ago as well. I am pretty sure Levin was at that one too... but Fripp was not. That was very good too - Belew is also a great musician.

But I don't know, the show last night was just unbelievable. They had 3 drummers and just played the most intense progressive music I have ever witnessed in one evening. (I've seen Dream Theater, YES, Rush, LTE, etc... many many times.)
The music was mostly their early stuff - heavy on Red and Larks Tongue, but alot of instrumentals from the later years as well. The singer (not Belew) did the Wetton/Lake stuff pretty well.

 

[bazxkr]

Seeing Flying Colors in London Oct 13th....saw them here last tour...superb musicianship

 

[guitarp77]

Lucky you living in the developed world...

Hope I can buy a dvd afterwards. This band is amazing!

 

[BrickGlass]

I'm not a fan of supergroups, more about egos than music

That is a blanket statement if I've ever read one.

 

[paranoid70]

Good show last night. If you haven't checked out the band yet, definitely do so. The newest album is a bit more proggy than the first - not sure if you feel that is a good or bad thing or not. The cool thing they did when the put this group together is get Casey for a lead vocalist. He does add a singer/songwriter sensibility to the group to keep it from going prog overload and still make it quite accessible.

As for the show the opener, Bend Sinister, was quite good. Flying colors played for about 2 hours. Great playing from Steve and Dave (as always), Neal Morse is a great musician - kind of weird seeing him as not the featured guy, and Mike is a simply a monster on the kit. They played a large number of tunes from the new album and about 5 from the first disc.

On a personal note, two of the musicians I have probably seen in concert more than any others - Steve Morse (Dregs, Trio, DP) and Mike Portnoy (DT, Transatlantic, LTE, Adrenaline Mob) were finally playing together. I attended a concert where Dream Theater opened for Deep Purple and another where the Dregs opened for DT, but never seen them play together. Definitely a very good fit!!!

By the way, if I am not mistaken it sure looked to me that Steve un-retired his #1 Morse guitar. I had fourth row seats, but was on the other side - but it still looked like the good old #1 to me. Can anyone confirm that? I know for sure he was playing a different guitar a few months back with Deep Purple.

 

[cionian]

That is a blanket statement if I've ever read one.

Yes on second thoughts it's not right as some of my fav bands were super groups; don't know why I said it.

 

[Geetarfreek82]

I saw them on their first tour. My wife and I had meet and greet passes for the NYC concert. Didn't get to see them this time because the same tickets were literally double the price! The new album is amazing though, it's what I wanted the first album to be. I think it's honestly my favorite Morse stuff, right up there with Dixie Dregs!

 

[Bravo Victor]

No 1

Steve has indeed un-retired No.1. It has a new neck and he mounted a new bridge. I spoke with him after the show which BTW was, of course, phenomenal.

And I agree, the new album is more proggy (probably not in the dictionary) but it is quite accessible and grows on you with each listen. The last two cuts, Peaceful Harbor and Cosmic Symphony are epic. It was great to hear the selection of songs from the first album as well.

It was interesting to compare with last tour. Then, the album had been out for several months and probably most of the crowd could sing the songs word for word. This time, the album was just released a few days earlier so there was no familiarity with the music. Didn't matter one bit. It was all loved.

One last thing that I noticed. As compared to most of the shows that I have seen in the past several years, there was almost no camera phone focus. The people were there to LISTEN to the music.

Good show last night. If you haven't checked out the band yet, definitely do so. The newest album is a bit more proggy than the first - not sure if you feel that is a good or bad thing or not. The cool thing they did when the put this group together is get Casey for a lead vocalist. He does add a singer/songwriter sensibility to the group to keep it from going prog overload and still make it quite accessible.

As for the show the opener, Bend Sinister, was quite good. Flying colors played for about 2 hours. Great playing from Steve and Dave (as always), Neal Morse is a great musician - kind of weird seeing him as not the featured guy, and Mike is a simply a monster on the kit. They played a large number of tunes from the new album and about 5 from the first disc.

On a personal note, two of the musicians I have probably seen in concert more than any others - Steve Morse (Dregs, Trio, DP) and Mike Portnoy (DT, Transatlantic, LTE, Adrenaline Mob) were finally playing together. I attended a concert where Dream Theater opened for Deep Purple and another where the Dregs opened for DT, but never seen them play together. Definitely a very good fit!!!

By the way, if I am not mistaken it sure looked to me that Steve un-retired his #1 Morse guitar. I had fourth row seats, but was on the other side - but it still looked like the good old #1 to me. Can anyone confirm that? I know for sure he was playing a different guitar a few months back with Deep Purple.