Transatlantic – The Final Flight: Live at L’Olympia (InsideOut Music, 2023)
Multinational progressive rock superband Transatlantic will be releasing a fantastic live triple album on February 17th, 2023. “The Final Flight: Live at L’Olympia” is an enthralling album by a beloved act that features some of the finest progrock musicians from Europe and the USA.
“The Final Flight: Live at L’Olympia” contains three hours of music that will delight symphonic progressive rock fans. “Ever since the start of this band, we have played for three hours, so that’s something we’re all used to,” stated drummer Mike Portnoy.
Roine Stolt added: “It was a great tour, but when you include our spot at Morsefest I felt the challenge of learning, or re-learning, three-and-a-half hours of music before leaving Sweden. Now that I am getting slightly older, I was a little worried about playing for that long – it requires a lot of concentration: ‘Is this one in 7/8 or 9/8? Maybe we’ll play it in 13/8 and in a different key?’ But of course, once we got out there onto the stage, those thoughts went straight out of the window.”
Throughout the album, guitarist Roine Stolt gives a masterclass on how to play the electric guitar with class, skill, creativity and intensity. Meanwhile, American keyboardist and vocalist Neal Morse delivers an outstanding show, contributing fiery keyboard solos and majestic soundscapes as well as his American-style flavored vocals. Although I’m not a fan of his recent solo work, he is a great musician, and I’d love to hear more of his progressive rock-oriented work.
The live album features captivating, altered versions of the songs from their most recent studio album. Neal Morse revealed: “We started playing songs slightly differently to the way you’ve heard them on ‘The Ultimate Edition” so what you get with this live album is similar, but essentially it’s a fourth version [of the record]. When you play live, from night to night, it helps to keep things fresh by jamming a bit and changing things up as you go. There are a few examples of that, for instance, the beginning of the last section that starts with ‘Belong’ is quite different than the record – partly because we couldn’t remember it! So we made up a new structure.”
“We’re always as well-prepared as we can be but in a way Transatlantic is kind of a show band” pointed out bassist Pete Trewavas. “Playing alongside Mike, who is a powerhouse on the drums, there is this raw power. If he wants to raise the energy, that’s what we do. We’re all taking solos here and there, though we get the songs across, we’re all showing off as much as we can”.
In addition to the instrumental virtuosity and epic progressions, the band also played sing-along crowd pleasers. Trewavas said: “Possibly my favorite moment of the show was when the audience sang ‘We All Need Some Light’, it was so loud. And besides their voice, they sang with their hearts. I stood there and thought: ‘Wow, this is amazing’.”
The four musicians are not retiring, although there is uncertainty whether they will get back together to record and/or tour.
The album is available in various formats, a 3CD+Blu-ray Digipak; Gatefold 180g 4LP + LP-Booklet; and the digital version.
The lineup includes Neal Morse on keyboards, acoustic guitar and vocals; Mike Portnoy on drums and vocals; Roine Stolt on guitar and vocals; Pete Trewavas on bass and vocals; and guest musician
Ted Leonard on guitar, keyboards, percussion and vocals.