Transatlantic (Philadelphia, April 24 2010)

I'll start out by posting the setlist (which was fantastic):

Set 1: 
The Whirlwind in its entirety 

[intermission] 

Set 2: 
All of the Above 
We All Need Some Light (Neal and Roine switched vocal parts) 
Duel With the Devil 

Encore 
Bridge Across Forever 
Stranger in Your Soul

They did a really great job playing all of the 3-hour setlist, and it was obvious that all 5 members (Neal Morse, Pete Trewavas, Mike Portnoy, Roine Stolt, and Daniel Gildenlow) really had a great time. During Stranger In Your Soul, Neal went and played Mike's drum kit for a while, as Mike crowd surfed. All of TA showed a high level of enthusiasm and emotion, and it was really great to see a band like that.

Of course, when you add on the fact that Mike Portnoy has some of the hardest drum parts in all of prog, Pete had some really tough basslines (especially in The Whirlwind), Roine had some great guitar solos, and Neal had to handle keyboard and vocal duties, it's really amazing that they played everything with such perfection. There were hardly any mistakes throughout the entire concert, which really amazed me. Portnoy was a technical monster as always, and I stood right next to him for most of the show. It's really amazing what a talented drummer he is.

So my rating for this concert is 5 stars, easily. It's probably the best live act I've ever seen, and I would see them again anytime.

If you live in Europe, Transatlantic is coming there next, so I highly recommend that you get yourself a ticket. This was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime thing for me, and it was well worth it.

-Jeff