Jany

Translated by Jennifer summer

I’m sad to say that, due to unforeseen circumstances, I had missed out on seeing Neal Morse live during his ‘Testimony’ tour. Cursed, I said, and cursed again! However, I felt consoled knowing that the performance in Tilburg, Holland on November 17, 2003 would be available on DVD. And I’d be able to see it all right from the comfort of my lazy-boy recliner. Now that I’ve seen ‘Testimony Live’ DVD, I can conclude that it was a fantastic concert and I regret having missed it in person.

It’s no surprise (especially for those who attended the concert) that Morse and his seven member band gave the concert of their lives. For most of the music I can just refer you to my review of the ‘Testimony’ album because the whole thing is recorded live on DVD 1. And as a bonus, two Transatlantic songs and one Spock’s Beard song were played (on DVD 2), but I’ll come back to that later.

Even though he seems nervous, Neal Morse is amused as he and his band push their way through the musical obstacles. What’s really nice about this performance is that attention is given to real instruments. The violin, cello and saxophone are actually played and not substituted by a synthesizer.

It is proven again that Portnoy can take his place beside Morse. It’s not just with Dream Theater, but his drumming shines here even more so.

Even though there are some singing mistakes, which includes Morse being off key, his typical harmonious, choir-type singing is still a delight. You can forgive him for his mistakes because he is a true master composer and musician who can also play a super solo guitar.

The encore songs stay quite true to their original versions, with only a little bit of diversion. The guitar solo from “We All Need Some Light” was replaced by a beautiful violin solo and the intro from “Stranger in Your Soul” seems like a cello and violin concerto. These are nice touches but the original versions actually sound better.

The only negative point is that the play back is only available in stereo (dolby 2.0) and not in dolby 5.1 surround sound as expected!

This ‘Testimony Live’ DVD is a very beautiful live recording of a unique concert. There were just 6 of these concerts performed in Europe. The purchase of this DVD by a fan of Morse or by any music lover in general won’t be a waste, especially if you know that ‘Testimony’ was an important phase in the life of these very talented musicians. I’m curious to know what goodies we can expect from Neal Morse in the near future…