Transatlantic – “The Absolute Universe” Tour
April 21, 2022
Arcada Theater, St Charles, Illinois

For those unfamiliar with the group Transatlantic, they are what some consider a progressive rock “super group”. The band consists of Neal Morse (Neal Morse Band, Flying Colors, etc.) on keyboard/vocals/guitars, Mike Portnoy (Sons of Apollo, Flying Colors, Neal Morse Band, etc.) on drums/vocals, Pete Trewavas (Marillion, etc) on bass/vocals, and Roine Stolt (Flower Kings, etc.) on guitars/vocals – and supporting musician Ted Leonard ( Spock’s Beard, etc.) on guitars/keyboards/vocals. Basically, they all have their own bands which are known for writing long complex music which isn’t for dancing. Some will call the style “music for musicians”, and that is true – but there is more to the music of Transatlantic. Their music is long and complex, but also has a sensitivity to pop melodics and vocals, which makes their brand of progressive rock more accessible to the casual listener – kind of like the music of the band Kansas. Transatlantic has been around for over 20 years now, first releasing music in 2000, and they have occasionally been able to tour – which can be tough to get schedules aligned.

Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, all touring was stopped in 2020. This lent itself to all Transatlantic members having time on their hands, and the band figured out how to write new music remotely. The end result was the 2021 release of “The Absolute Universe”. The band has often written enough music for 2 discs, and they had as much music for the new project. However, others in the band also wanted to edit this material down to a single disc. They decided to release 2 versions: “The Absolute Universe – Forevermore” as the 2-CD version, and “The Absolute Universe – The Breath of Life” in a single CD version. The 2 versions are significantly different, not only with the 2-CD version having more music, but also with both versions having different versions of shared songs. Both versions are good, but I like the 2-CD version best.

Once COVID travel and concert restrictions were lifted in late 2021, talk of 2022 tour dates began. Initially, Transatlantic was only going to play a couple dates, however schedules allowed for another 6 (or so) dates to be added. The Arcada Theater in St. Charles, Illinois is a favorite stop for Neal and Mike, so when the April 21 date was announced, I determined a road trip was in order. I had previous seen Transatlantic in 2010 in Chicago’s Park Theater on the “Whirlwind” tour, and the best memory of that show was getting to meet the band afterward. This time, I was much closer to the stage and felt the concert was actually a more entertaining performance, while not technically perfect.

Me and my friend Jim rolled into town around 6pm, and show was scheduled to start at 7:30pm. After finding a quick dinner, we entered the small theater (seating of about 900). We were towards the Neal side of the stage, but still had a good overall view. One complaint is that guitarist Roine had a music stand in front of him, and we were at just the wrong angle for this – the music stand was often blocking view of Roine’s playing. But, he did often step back a bit to give all of us a better view of his performance – so not a total disappointment.

For this tour, the band was playing the entire “Forevermore” version of “The Absolute Universe” – to my pleasure. They only had a few dates before Chicago, so the band still had some glitches but overall it was great. The managed to not only recreate the instrumentation but also the vocal harmonies on some of my favorite tracks such as “Heart Like A Whirlwind”, “Higher Than The Morning”, “Rainbow Sky” and “The Sun Comes Up Today”. The entire 90+ minute performance was full of amazing moments, and sounded great. After a brief intermission, the band came back with a medley of tracks from “The Whirlwind” release, which is one of my personal favorites. This featured the track “Rose Colored Glasses”, which I considered one of the best Neal Morse compositions. After “Whirlwind” selections, they went back further to their signature track “We All Need Some Light” featuring Neal on 12-string guitar, which Neal dedicated to people of Ukraine. They finished up the evening with 4 tracks from the first 2 releases: “Duel With The Devil”, “My New World”, “All Of The Above”, and “Stranger In Your Soul”. While there were the occasional lyric or instrument flub, nothing was significant. And getting a chance to watch all 5 of these extremely talented musicians performing together is always a treat. Even if you aren’t a fan of progressive rock, any music fan would enjoy this performance.

The merchandise table had a few Transatlantic releases on vinyl, some DVDs, Mike Portnoy signed drum sticks, and some T-Shirts. They had a nice purple shirt, but it was sold out in the larger sizes, so I ended up with the black shirt shown above.

Here is video I shot of the song “We All Need Some Light” – Enjoy

Transatlantic Setlist: