Flying Colors - Shepherds Bush Empire 21-9-12
Ever since I put the promo
copy of Flying Colors cd in my player and it totally blew me away I’ve been
eagerly awaiting their first and only UK show.
First up were the Swedish progressive rock band Beardfish who
over the course of 45 minutes and only 5 songs gave as good a warm up as I’ve
seen in a long time.
Starting with the 15 minute
epic “And The Stone Said “If I Could Speak””which had everything bar the
kitchen sink in it.
Led on keys (for this song)
and vocals by Rikard Sjoblom and ably backed up by David Zackrisson on guitar, Magnus
Ostren on drums and Robert Hansen on bass they went through every progressive
trait from heavy to quiet, time changes and long instrumental pieces but kept
everyone enthralled.
They appeared to change the
set list to a fan request and the song “South Of The Border” had a moment which
went from country music to a Maidenesque riff and solo in about 30 seconds!!
Ending with a track from
their latest cd they received a very large crowd response and I for one have
already checked out some of their music!!
So the moment finally came
and believe me the term supergroup is banded around too much but for once super
isn’t enough. This was only their 13th show but not unlucky for us.
With Mike Portnoy on drums, Steve
Morse on guitar, Neal Morse on keys and vocals, Dave LaRue on bass and Casey
Mcpherson on vocals and guitar it could only be super!!
With only one cd of which
they played it all and they added to it with one song from each of their
careers.
Here is the set list:
Blue Ocean
Shoulda Coulda Woulda
Love Is What I'm Waiting For
Can't Find a Way (Endochine
cover)
The Storm
Odyssey (Dixie Dregs cover)
Forever in a Daze
Hallelujah (Leonard Cohen
cover) (Casey McPherson alone on stage)
Better Than Walking Away
Kayla
Fool In My Heart (Mike
Portnoy on vocals)
Repentance (Dream Theater
cover) (Mike Portnoy on vocals)
June (Spock’s Beard cover)
All Falls Down
Everything Changes
Encore:
Infinite Fire
This really was a joyous
occasion with more smiles from the band than I think I’ve ever seen on a stage.
Having so much fun and just enjoying playing together.
With simple stage lighting
and an excellent sound 100 minutes flew
by.
The opening salvo of “Blue
Ocean” and “Coulda Shoulda Woulda” had it all. Great vocals and back up vocals
from Neal and Mike, huge drums, thunderous bass, great keys and such a guitar
tone from Steve.
“Coulda” was as great as I
hoped with its huge guitar and keys riff and Mike’s drum solo amongst the end
of the song was just incredible!
In fact it was strange to see
Mike playing a relatively small one bass drum kit in comparison to when I saw
him recently with Adrenaline Mob when his kit took up half the
backdrop!!Wonderful player!!
“The Storm” had an extended
middle and end to it giving Steve a chance to spread his wings. So nice to see
someone playing only one guitar all night and he was just fantastic!!
“Hallelujah” gave Casey a
chance to go solo and show us what an incredible voice he has.
Mike was on vocals for “Fool
In My Heart” and then the DT cover “Repentance” before we had Neal come down to
centre stage on vocals for “June” and he was joined by Casey and Mike for a
vocal trade off with so much fun being had.
“Kayla” showed off everything
great about the band and again Mike’s many drum pattern ending was simply
phenomenal.
If there was one song to show
someone what Flying Colors is all about was played as the encore.
”Infinite Fire” is an epic 10
minute plus song with light and shade, wonderful vocals 3 guitar solos, huge
drums, keys and bass and just encapsulates the talent in the band
to a tee.
It was a fitting end to a
quite marvellous show and they said they will be back and we can only hope and
pray we get cd 2 and another tour.
All photos copyrighted to Stephen Fourie (with thanks)
