The Flower Kings, Neal Morse & The Resonance – Academy 2, Manchester: Live!

By Mike Ainscoe on 6th June 2025 • ( Leave a comment )

The Flower Kings, Neal Morse & The Resonance – Academy 2, Manchester – Thursday 5th June 2025

A double bill of like minded Prog rocking souls. Prog Rock Royalty was the billing behind their 2013 tour when eve Steve Hackett joined the pairing or Morse and Stolt (plus Mike Portnoy from the Morse band) for a big Transatlantic finish. With Pete Trewavas joining the fun at the previous days’ London show, would Manchester get lucky?

THE FLOWER KINGS

The Flower Kings are on a roll with their Love and Look At You Now albums appearing over the last eighteen months. With no Transatlantic and his collaboration with Jon Anderson on hold, Roine Stolt can pour his energies into the main line of work.

Along with Hasse Froberg, he’s still the focal point of The Flower Kings. Brother Michael is on bass, which at times is very Squire-esque it has to be said. He gets a lead vocal too while Lalle Larson too is afforded a little spotlight on his keyboards (or more appropriately these days, travelling light with keyboard – singular – and software).

That’s all after Hasse kicks us off with the most unusual of instruments from the ercussion stand he turns to when there’s no tow guitar requirement. Joined by Roine on a drum (still with the price tag attached??) it leads into the riffy rush of the opening track from Love, We Claim The Moon. The new album features heavily in the opening half of the set. How Can You Leave Us Now is one of those chilled out and relaxing Flower Kings songs that’s shaken by a trip head back for a Last Minute On Earth from The Rainmaker. There’s a satisfying visual symmetry with the right/left handed guitar pairing as Stolt and Froberg make for a Sabbath styled heavy din and a reminder that The flower Kings can, as Roine admits on one of the intros, can do “a bit of a rocker.“

curveball

From a healthy catalogue, they throw in a curveball, dipping back into the nineties and their first album. The classy playing epitomised by Stolt who emerges from some cool lounge jazziness with the sort of solo that earns a spontaneous round of applause. The result being he simply knocks out another one and demonstrates why he’s a guitarist who belongs in Prog’s premier league.

“Are you up for it?” asks Hasse before a finale that sees Roine sorting the sheets on his music stand before finally locating the key piece and heading into a stirring march into battle that showcases more nifty work on the keys. The hour is all too soon up and it’s a shame we don’t get another tune or two. Maybe too much of a good thing leaves one wanting less.

NEAL MORSE & THE RESONANCE

Fresh from a box ticking solo acoustic gig at The Cavern a few days ago, Morse returns to the place where his own solo career launched with Testimony back in 2003. The story of his journey to salvation isn’t too far from his recent work with his latest outfit The Resonance. Their excellent No Hill For A Climber album combines the usual epic prog and more accessible songwriting hooks that Morse has in spades.

It feels a bit strange watching Neal without Mike Portnoy, Eric Gillette or Randy George but his new recruits, known collectively as The Resonance are what Scott Doonican would call “shit hot.” The quintet that currently back him are more than that. Each mirrors their leader’s enthusiasm with no shortage of ability to play their parts with an ease that belies the complexity of the arrangements.

enviable and absurd energy

The keyboard rig malfunction means we get a restart to Eternity In Your Eyes. Neal’s cool about it, he wants a proper job and has the skill to chat easily with the Mancunians as the issue is resolved. With a brief interlude for the more off the wall Thief, it’s the first of two No Hill… epics that dominate the set. The band displays both an enviable and absurb energy as well as talent and their frontman is clearly in his element with a vibrant young gang who are right at home with his expended Prog workouts.

The album’s title track gets the benefit of the two guitars making for a particularly heavy opening and Neal mugs it up, revelling as they play the songs themes in the opening overture. As they hit the first of several peaks, the bass pedals – always the proggiest of staples – have the first floor structure vibrating. The acoustic part after ten minutes has us feeling Neal is about to launch into Mood for A Day. Instead we get the thunderous “it won’t quit” passage where the challenge seems to be in how fast they can play it. Maybe trying to do the thirty minutes in twenty five!? One crescendo after another and Neal possibly having a moment as the lyrical content matches the majesty of the music.

Even as the final vocal finishes, there’s still a space for a grand ending. With no time for the ovation it deserves, without further ado, Morse straps on the acoustic and heads straight into Wind At My Back. Manchester picks up the first couple of lines of the chorus but a little hesitant on the “jewel in my hand, rain on dry land” line but Neal offers some reassurance that he too forgets sometimes.

crossing the bridge

For the encore, there’s much wrestling with equipment as Roine Stolt reappears, all to no avail, as Neal begins, and then finished Bridge Across Forever without him. The almost comedic scene of assorted musicians trying to get a guitar to behave contrasts with the massive emotional clout of the evening highlight. Nothing can detract from one of the Transatlantic signatures for a solo Morse performance that’s worth the ticket price alone.

He’s not bothered, looking ever so slightly bemused as he looks around to find he’s alone, yet he’s not going to be derailed by a malfunctioning plug and orders the drum roll that leads into a truncated Stranger In Your Soul. One that’s nailed by The Resonance. London may have got 75% of Transatlantic, but the 25% we got in Manchester did itself justice. Like the song says, let’s hope the journey’s not over.