WHIRLD TOUR 2010 - LIVE FROM SHEPHERD'S BUSH EMPIRE, LONDON

I got this 3 disc set in one of Neal Morse's radiant sales over a year ago, it was a mere $1.99 so I figured if I didn't like it, it wouldn't be a big deal. What's included here is a pretty exhaustive setlist covering a giant chunk of their discography over the course of a 3 hour concert. I gave it a few listens and while the performances seem perfectly dialed in and competent.... I just find the actual music here to be extremely aggravating to listen to. I consider myself a lover of music as a whole, and when I listen I'm always actively searching for something to like about whatever I'm currently playing, but this record was an extremely rare case where upon walking away from each listen, I just felt annoyed afterwards. It comes off as modern prog for people who don't like modern prog. The songs will have brief moments where it's actually pretty nice and pleasant, maybe a nice melody here or there, but the songs just tend to meander on and become very predictable. A lot of the stage banter and random detours they take during some of these tracks really take me out of it as well. I don't want to hear Highway Star inserted into the middle of a prog epic. There's something from each of these members that I love and besides Neal Morse, they all got 5 star albums to their names in my book. With that said, this conglomerate just doesn't work for me. Of the songs here the two I enjoy the most are actually the shortest, Bridge Across Forever is just genuinely a really lovely and intimate sounding song, and We All Need some Light is incredibly cheesy, but I still kinda dig it.

I'll add that I have heard the studio versions of all these songs, I've never been into All of the Above, but I remember thinking The Whirlwind, Stranger and Duel were decent in their studio forms. Perhaps my tastes have changed since, but these live versions don't do it for me at all. After a while of listening, the music just becomes one big blob on transatlantic-isms to my ears.

2 Stars, fans will probably dig this, I unfortunately did not.