DESCRIPTION:
be sure to support these guys:

www.nealmorse.com
www.radiantrecords.com
www.mikeportnoy.com
www.randygeorgemusic.net
www.ericgillettemusic.com
http://www.markmikel.com/Pages/BillHubauer.aspx

my blog site is at www.robertibaxter.com

Neal Morse brought his band to Big D January of 2017.

I was introduced by a friend to Neal Morse's music in 2007, just in time for me to go through two battles in recent years with cancer. Neal and company have been such a positive outlet for me during this rough season in my life. Let me tell you what, as an inner circle member, I go back from time to time to watch all the making of stuff and feel I know these guys. They are such normal good people. Oh, they are freaking talented, also!

The tour is the Road Called Home Tour, his first time to go across North America. Neal normally plays in Europe only.

The venue was extremely small and the acoustics rather poor. Mike Portnoy shared during the second half that they really wanted to come to Dallas, but this was the only venue they could get that would work with their time table. They apologized for the size of the venue as they normally play to a bigger theater.

They were not able to have their video wall in use and the band was crammed tight on stage.

I suppose the negative was offset by the intimate setting. We were all very close. I apologize for the video and sound quality. Hey, what do you want for some guy with an iPhone who is dancing around yelling during one of his all time favorite concerts?

A few of my favorite highlights:
at 20 mins in, Neal is jamming to a great Styx-like synth solo. Gets the first half nailed perfectly. Then bungles the second half. I love his response, he's so humble. Just blew it off and had a great time.

21 mins: the audience yells "makes no sense to me" with him, that caught me off guard and puts a super cheesy grin on my face to this moment

At 42 minutes in, you'll hear Bill play an instrument, I think it was a sound effect on an iPad. I thought it was a guitar on the album, rather clever.

Neal comes on stage for Breath of Angels with a flashlight, wearing a white hoodie. At 48:45, a massive bass driven KAWUMPFFFfff (not sure what kind of bass *drum?* *sound effect?*) went through the theater. You can see the phone shake and hear our surprise. It shook our chests. Then it happened rhythmically thereafter. It was awesome.

"Sloth" at 1:20 Neal changes the lyrics to poke fun at Mike Portnoy, good fun!

1:24 Mike Portnoy speaks, shares about the concert arrangements and this particular date and why it is in such a tiny setting.

Feature with the band:
Neal Morse
Mike Portnoy
Randy George
Eric Gillette
Bill Hubauer

They performed the entire album Similitude of a Dream. The encore consisted of one song, The Call.

Excellent band, excellent album, a lot of fun to watch again and again.