Bridge Across Forever

originally posted by Neal Morse on Transatlantic's official Facebook page in 2010.

For the original notes click here

18 April 2010

Last night in Downey was a VERY GOOD fist gig. As you have probably heard by now we played the entire WHIRLWIND album

as well as ALL OF THE ABOVE, DUEL, STRANGER, WE ALL NEED SOME LIGHT AND BRIDGE. What a challenge! After programming and practicing for well over a month on my own, and then a week of practic...ing with the guys here in LA, it was very satisfying to actually do the gig. I didn't make any serious mistakes and my voice held up all the way through so I had a great night. Things are still getting tighter but it was a good first run for sure. I got really blessed during "Rose Colored Glasses" and Roine's solo in DUEL was awesome! The audience was killer and really into it and it was great meeting all the people afterward.

OK, on to SF!

Blessings.

18 April 2010

Hi all, We're on the way to the airport now. The crew left early so they can set up and in Collin's absence I am the substitute tour manager. Uh oh. BTW, Collin is doing a great job as tour manager. Everything smooth so far. I'm getting spoiled fo sure!

Ruben (our merch guy) and Yen our lighting guy are in Europe and unable to get here so we have Pam from Cal Prog on lights and Todd on merch. We are praying that the situation changes and flights will resume soon. Otherwise we won't be able to get over there. Wouldn't that be bizarre? Talk about a Whirlwind!!

More to come...

PS: We met this morning in the hotel lobby at 11:15 am. It was the earliest in the day I have EVER seen MP! Seriously. :)

22 April 2010

Hi, well we made it to Montreal and we have many tales to tell. Mike did what amounted to a TA interview with Canadian customs.

CO: "So, you're American, the other guys are Swedish and English...how did that happen?"

MP: "Well, I had this idea to put a group together with different people from all over the world..."

CO: "Doesn't that make it hard to rehearse?"

MP: "You have no idea..."

So we are in the van now headed fo sound check. We left the hotel at 8:15 this morning. Everyone is in good spirits in spite of the lack of sleep. Chicago was amazing! Not a bad gig in the bunch. Not yet anyway.

Time to sound check. 

26 April 2010

Hello,

I'm now at the airport in Philadelphia PA waiting for my flight home with my family and friends. It was really nice for me that my wife, kids and some friends came to the last two TA concerts and we have been traveling around together.

I can't believe it! My voice held out for the whole time!!! There wasn't one night where I was just struggling and never broke through. The only night where I really had any kind of problems was the first part of the Whirlwind in Montreal. Other than that, I've felt very free and good and have been able to sing most of the bits strong. What a miracle!! Never in my life have I faced this long of a gig with this much singing at the top of my range and been able to pull it off! This proves there is a God! Hahaha...(if you didn't know already!) ...haha

Last two nights Mike has done some stage diving when I went to play drums in STRANGER. Last night we didn't start til 9:00 and it was really good that he did that 'cause it really woke people up! It was so late you could feel the crowd getting a little sleepy. What a great version of WHIRLWIND last night! Wow. I was really feeling the ending! The funny thing was...after playing most of the difficult parts without mistakes, I blew the very ending string lines! hahaha...It was so great though it didn't bother me. The Lord can work without perfect notes.

Anyway, it was an amazing week! Full of adventures and challenges and glory and humor and beauty and all of it! Thanks to all who came and made it happen for us! God bless you all and see you in Germany!!!!

11 May 2010

Hey everyone!

Last night in Stuttgart was amazing! I couldn't believe I could still sing after doing six 3 1/2 hour concerts in a row. The audience was killer and, although we had a few issues, like my headset mic breaking and my keyboard computer freezing, it was a real good one I thought. I played the Whirlwind difficult parts better than I ever have I think. We played "Smoke on the Water" in the middle of the crazy bit in "Stranger". Mike is going to surprise us every night with some new crazy thing he wants to do in that section. I never know what he is going to pull out.

The gig in Koln (Cologne) was good. Full house and everybody else had a great night. For me, it was a bit difficult because I was having problems with my gear. And all kinds of other funny stuff, like, my shoe laces were untied and I almost tripped on them, then I stepped back and somehow my reading glasses were on the floor and I stepped on them...all kinds of crazy stuff. But, we had a good gig...Roine and Mike liked it the best of the whole week!! So, it depends on where you are I guess. I'm sure the people were blessed and that's all that matters really.

OK, gotta go. We are going to try and get a stronger mac to run my sounds but they are all European and I have to buy it....anybody out there got a super high powered new macbook pro laptop they want to rent to me for a few weeks??? :)

Be blessed.

17 May 2010

Hello everyone!

We have just had an awesome day off in Milan. Nice weather. Nice hotel. I've never had it so good on tour. It has been excellent in many different ways.

I haven't had any struggles at the concerts since Cologne. Wow! Every gig...Luxembourg, Madrid, Barcelona, Lyon...all good. My voice has been better than ever. I don't know quite what is going on...that was what I was most concerned about and it has been a breeze. No problems with my gear. Just smooth sailing. Unbelievable. In fact, I think I am singing better now than in Downey. I can't figure it out...but I am thanking God for it.

Every night during Stranger Mike does some crazy thing while I am playing the drums. In Lyon Mike brought Daniel out in a cart and wheeled him around while he was playing guitar. It was hilarious looking.

Everywhere we go for a day off the team wins in soccer and the whole town goes insane. That's been funny too.

Well, only six more gigs now! Keep up the prayers. It's working!

Thank you all and God bless you.

18 May 2010

Hello everyone!

Last night in Milan was great! I made several unusual mistakes...but who cares? It was a great sold out audience, singing along with every melody, and we all had a great time! I really felt the Lord during The Dance and the end of Stranger (my wife would say "imagine that?"). Mike crowd surfed last night but the people were having trouble with the concept of passing him around so he had to try a few times. Then they tried to sing a Dio song but they were having some trouble. The only one who could hit the high notes was Daniel and he didn't know the words. It was fun though.

We are in Switzerland now and it is a beautiful day. I went for a walk down by the river and had some good prayer time. Slept fine on the bus.

Only 5 concerts left. Wow! I can almost smell home!!! I hope we can fly out of Manchester. Oh well, God is in control.

Take care and God bless.