NEAL MORSE
VENUE Boston MUsic RooM, london
DATE 22/06/2018
For a Friday night at the Boston Music Room in Tufnell Park, tonight’s gig feels an awful lot like the Sunday service at an evangelical church. Relocated at the last minute from the larger space of The Dome, the venue is filled with rows of chairs for the seated faithful to give their fullest attention to Neal Morse on this solo acoustic tour.
It’s a significantly smaller crowd than the ones that turn out for the full Neal Morse Band – perhaps that’s due to the absence of Mike Portnoy, who always brings out his own legion of air-drumming fans.
Following an introduction from tour manager Todd Morrell, who exhorts the locals to be loud like “crazy Americans”, Morse kicks off with a new tune, Songs Of Freedom, which is essentially his answer to Bryan Adams’ Summer Of ’69, all about the joys of picking up a guitar and getting into rock music.
One of the surprises in the set is a cover of Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill, and he throws a little of Neil Young’s Southern Man into
Livin’ Lightly, but the bulk of the music is drawn from the Life & Times album and the Transatlantic vaults, with a heavy emphasis on overtly religious compositions. With Bridge Across Forever, The Temple Of The Living God, We All Need Some Light and Stranger In Your Soul, it’s clear that Morse isn’t shy about proclaiming his faith loud and clear. Proselytising and rock music aren’t the most comfortable of bedfellows, though: the devil has always had the best music, from the blues to Black Sabbath.
The singer may be flying alone, but he’s got a loop pedal that allows him to accompany himself, and which he uses to impressively demonstrate the art of harmonising with a snippet of Spock’s Beard’s Thoughts parts one and two. The Life & Times material sees Morse very much in singer-songwriter mode, with straightforward guitar playing and music that’s a far cry from his proggier works. Tracks such as Good Love Is On The Way, Selfie In The Square and JoAnna would fit right in at the open mic night at your local pub or on a Radio 2 playlist. They’re perfectly pleasant, if a little bland.
He Died At Home is more potent, even if Morse has a tendency towards the trite in his lyrics. After that, he lightens the mood with the bouncy catchiness of Manchester. The fans devour every note, calling for two encores, and Morse finishes with Sing It High.
There’s absolutely no doubting Neal Morse’s sincerity, but if you’re not in the choir, you might not want to hear a musical sermon on a Friday night.