Neal Morse and Friends @ Midsummer Prog Festival 2025 – Day 1 (May 23)

Neal Morse & Friends @ Midsummer Progfestival 2025 – Day 1: An All-Star Finale Full of Improvisation and Inspiration

As the closing act of the first  day at the Midsummer Prog Festival in Maastricht, Neal Morse delivered a performance that began as an intimate singer-songwriter session and ended as a dazzling display of prog-rock chemistry. 

The first four songs featured Morse solo—accompanied only by his acoustic guitar and later by violinist Francis Norman. His characteristic warm voice set the tone with the new and unreleased “Songs of Freedom”: an introspective ballad that immediately established a personal, sincere and melodic atmosphere. This was followed by the emotionally charged “Shine” (Transatlantic), the subtle “Manchester by the Sea” from his Life & Times album and “The Storm” (Flying Colors), which concluded with a reprise of “The Whirlwind.” Even on his own, Morse demonstrated his strength as both storyteller and composer.

That said, the opening came as a surprise to many in the audience. The soft acoustic start followed by shorter  more pop-oriented singalongs wasn’t what everyone expected—especially given the all-star lineup that had been announced. After the acoustic set, the all-star lineup took the stage one by one. First came guitarist Eric Gillette, bassist Jonas Reingold, vocalist Ross Jennings and drummer Collin Leijenaar. A few songs later, Roine Stolt joined the ensemble. Morse switched effortlessly between guitar and keyboards, leading his “friends” with boundless energy.

From the live debut of the catchy “Leavin’ California,” the show began more to sizzle. “Julia” from the DMJ project  was delivered with poignant beauty and powerful vocal harmonies between Morse and Jennings. “On Broadway” provided a funky interlude, driven by Gillette’s crisp licks and Reingold’s grooving bass.  But a soul cover like “On Broadway”  felt slightly out of place for most proglovers. 

The sing-along “Carpet Crawlers” (Genesis) wasn’t exactly the song many were hoping for—especially considering the wealth of high-quality original material this select group of musicians could have drawn from. The vocal harmonies in “Wind at My Back” (Spock’s Beard) delivered  goosebumps while “We All Need Some Light” (Transatlantic) revealed Morse’s spiritual core most clearly: an intimate, hopeful song that swelled into a collective cathartic climax.

The set closed with a shortened but powerful version of “Stranger in Your Soul”—a final burst of complexity, emotion, interplay and grandeur that helped redeem any earlier doubts and brought the crowd to a rousing conclusion.

The addition of violinist Francis Norman proved to be a golden move—his playing added warmth and melodic richness to the arrangements. And with heavyweights like Stolt, Reingold, Gillette and Jennings on stage this performance felt as legendary as the billing suggested. 

Of course, this was a one-off ensemble—a spontaneous gathering of musical titans with limited rehearsal time and little opportunity to develop deeper interplay. No one expected the polish of Transatlantic. But with such a select ensemble on stage, many had hoped to hear a few epics that define Morse’s progressive legacy.  Instead, the set turned out to be considerably softer.  But as already suggested, these musicians could truly shine even more in a different context. There was clearly much more they were capable of showcasing.

But It was a pleasure to watch this group perform, even if the setlist leaned more toward accessibility than ambition. Still, as a festival finale, it was a joyful star-studded celebration—and I’m already looking forward to seeing Neal Morse bringing  his music to life with The Resonance next month in Tilburg.