The Flower Kings / Neal Morse & The Resonance
Islington Assembly Hall – June, 4th 2025
Both coming off the back of new albums, Neal Morse & The Resonance and The Flower Kings have headed out on a joint European tour, the first joint Morse / Stolt tour since 2004.
Things kicked off in London in the grand setting of Islington Assembly Hall whose high stage means that all of the onstage action is visible – the hall was comfortably filled for the arrival of the Swedish prog legends. The Love album is the first full album with the current line up with Roine Stolt, Hasse Fröberg and Mirko De Maio being joined by Roine’s brother Michael and, for his first full album with the band, Lalle Larsson, who is very much a member of TFK’s wider family circle on account of being a member of Karmakanic and Agents of Mercy.
A common theme for both bands, and a great characteristic of prog bands and their fan base, was the abundance of new material presented, when as more seasoned members of the prog community (and ultimately Morse and Stolt are founding figures in this particular part of the genre) you might just rely on older material… but not so!
With The Flower Kings on stage first, “We Claim The Moon” began the show as it does the new album ‘Love’. Equally applicable, both bands have 3 strong singers, in this case the Stolts and Froberg. The pounding, almost Motown rhythm, that begins the song blended with the classic prog keyboard sounds, and excellent harmonies, with Froberg’s soaring lead vocal. The slower ballad, and single, “How Can You Leave Us Now” is classic Roine Stolt, highlighting his strength at combining compelling melodies with atmospheric, deep music. The song closed with a fantastic guitar solo, with his improvisational style bringing new depth and feeling. This led to the third of four songs from the Love album, this time the album closing Considerations – a first, I believe, for The Flower Kings in that it is a Michael Stolt written and sung composition. Sitting where it does in the track listing, it could be a track you missed on the album, but in concert this carries the weight of a fully formed anthem with incredible playing from Roine and Lalle – and the audience welcomed it with rapturous applause. “The Elder” shifted the tempos and mood, with Hasse Froberg’s emotive vocals driving this lighter track, with the band shifting into a jazzier feel.
40 minutes in, the band took the first look into their enormous back catalogue, with the Rainmaker album’s opening track, “Last Minute On Earth”. Rainmaker was the first Flower Kings album that I bought so I’m delighted to see it return to the set list. It’s a track that cemented by love of the band, and the current line up made this track their own! Bouncing from that 2001 anthem, the band landed back in the first proper Flower Kings album, Back In The World of Adventures’s closing epic, “Big Puzzle,” a track rarely performed until recent years. Lalle Larsson set the scene with a piano solo, and once again the players pulled off a fantastic version.
Ending the set with something a bit shorter, the loop of “The Dream” started this 2023 track off. The combination of Roine’s mellower tones and the soaring vocals of Hasse Froberg meant this track ended the show on a high. I spotted many arms in the air in the Assembly Hall – the closing guitar/ keyboard syncopation and an uplifting keyboard solo from Larsson is part of what prompted the person beside me to turn round at the end of the set and just say: “that was the best Flower Kings show I’ve ever seen”. While I know I haven’t seen the band as many times as that person, I completely agreed!
Next up was Neal Morse & The Resonance … I say “next up” as the gap was longer than expected as some opening night technical issues meant some sound check procedures had to be redone in the change over. Morse entertained, and rewarded, the crowd’s patience with a short sing along of “We All Need Some Light” plus, with no microphone and only an acoustic guitar, paid tribute to English fan, Paul Hanlon, with a version of Transatlantic’s “Shine.” After a relatively short time… everything was restored and it was time for The Resonance to get going. In terms of the line up, the touring version of the band features Neal, vocalist and guitarist Johnny Bisaha and lead guitar player Andre Madatian, who appear on the record, plus bass player, CJ Fiandra, keyboard player Nathan Girrard and drummer Andrew Delph, filling in for Philip Martin who is on tour with Dream Theater in his other role as Jordan Rudess’s keyboard tech.
“All The Rage,” the band’s first single, is the perfect opener: “the stage is set, you’re going on – the world has come to see your show tonight”. Sharing the lead vocals with Bisaha, Morse is keeping pace with the younger band members from the first note! For a band playing their third live show ever, this is the sound of a tight and confident unit who, most of all, look like they’re having a lot of fun!
The stylist shift from the opening rocker into the jazzier, funkier, proggier “Thief” shows the band’s prowess as Morse leads this cool song that goes in unexpected places – and the crowd are loving it. The rhythm section are tight and confident and Madatian is an accomplished soloist. Many of the band members’ regular gigs are with country artists in the Nashville scene where they are all located – but it’s a C&W free zone here, as the third track, the album opening, “Eternity In Your Eyes” intro runs, an orchestra / marimba pieces composers by Andre. This 20 minute epic has many classic Morse features with the new musicians giving it their own twists and flavours. One of the show’s highlights is the wah guitar solo which brings Morse to the front of the stage to construct this growing, building solo before your very eyes – and it was well deserving of the appreciation it received from the London crowd.
The earlier delays meant that, to preserve what was coming next, the part-acoustic “Ever Interceding” was skipped to get to the epic title track “No Hill For A Climber.” Moving through many sections, it has all the makings of a vinyl side long classic. Bisaha’s alto vocals place him in the Jon Anderson vibe for many of these sections – but unlike the Yes man, he can seamlessly shift to a rock out/ Robert Plant pose striking rock god when needed! The Bisaha/ Morse/ Madatian front line of this band really grab the audiences attention. Another highlight is the Burn It Down section of this epic which is sung live by CJ Fiandra in an attention grabbing moment – definitely one of many high points. The song’s finale with Morse and Bisaha trading lines, as Delph powers the track to its conclusion with Girrard providing the ability to match the song’s spectacular mellotron / orchestral ending.
After more than an hour of music, this, let’s face it, brand new band gets rapturous audience feedback from the crowd. And … it’s a very quick shift to the promised Morse / Stolt Transatlantic encore but … hang on… another more local Transatlantic member is welcome on stage and we have Pete Trewawas with the Resonance as Andrew Delph kicks off a confident interpretation of the opening drum rhythms of “Stranger In Your Soul.” When it hits “Once, not so long ago…” the crowd are in full voice! After the Final Flight live album, everyone had wondered was this the end of Transatlantic? No definitive statement was made, but with Mike Portnoy on the road with Dream Theater, this “three out of four” line up, gave the crowd what they had hoped for – Pete’s plaintive “But I can hear it now…” vocal, Roine’s signature, angular wah-guitar, and Morse, with arm raised, bringing this abridged version, with a quick dash of Bridge Across Forever, to the song’s glorious finale! If ever there was a “follow that” moment, this song’s ending is just that.. and that’s where it indeed ended.
It’s testament to the power of these two bands that they can play a full live show which is probably more than 60% made up of music that has only been released in the last 9 months, and have an audience enthralled and delighted by the show! With only 11 shows in Europe, if you still have a chance, you should get out there and experience these brilliant musicians and the incredible prog music that they are still producing.
The Flower Kings set list:
1. We Claim the Moon
2. How Can You Leave Us Now!?
3. Considerations
4. The Elder
5. Last Minute on Earth
6. Piano Solo (Lalle Larsson)
7. Big Puzzle
8. The Dream
Neal Morse & The Resonance set list:
Shine (Transatlantic cover – Neal solo, without amplification)
All the Rage
Thief
Eternity in Your Eyes
No Hill for a Climber
Encore (with Roine Stolt & Pete Trewavas)
1. Stranger in Your Soul (Parts I & VI, includes “Bridge Across Forever” snippet
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