At about nine o’clock the band got on stage. Roine Stolt, mastermind of the band, opened the concert saying that The Flower Kings would rock more than ever. Just like on their new album, the band started off with the half-hour epic “The Truth Will Set You Free”.

Some years ago The Flower Kings started their concerts with the forty-five minute “Garden Of Dreams”. This made an overwhelming impression at the time, lasting throughout the concert. Sadly though, the band wasn’t able to attain a similar effect for “The Truth…”. “Garden Of Dreams” goes from one climax to another, whereas “The Truth…” is significantly flatter.

Although the mix of drum (Zoltan Csorsz) and bass (Jonas Reingold) got better as the concert progressed, the strong rhythm section hardly stands out live, which is a shame because this is exactly what forms the driving force on Unfold The Future.

Next up was “Monkey Business” and “Road To Sanctuary”. Both being real live rock songs, these tracks would have been better opening songs for getting the public in the right mood. Especially “Road To Sanctuary”, with its harmony and recognizable structures, again proved to be the true power on the album The Rainmaker.

Generally, the new album is lacking exactly these two qualities, leaving it more complex and all over the place. Although the songs on Unfold The Future might for a longer period of time uphold their strength on CD, the tracks lose some of their power on stage.

With “Vox Humana”, a tranquil track with beautiful vocals, the tempo was slowed down again. The final song of the first set was “Humanizzimo”, a track from the album The Flower Kings I was not familiar with. Nonetheless, this track made a great impression on me. Fine structure, brilliant vocal harmonies with a special part for Daniel Gildenlow (Pain of Salvation), whose singing talent brought the audience to ecstasy.

The second set of the night was remarkably rockier with tracks such as “Rolling The Dice”, “Genie In A Bottle” and “Chicken Farmer Song”.

It’s a major shame though that the leading prog band lacked a decent performance on stage. During the concert you constantly get the impression you’re watching a band that is worn out by having been on the road for two weeks in a row.

Keyboard player Thomas Bodin even asked Roine Stolt whether he was tired! Stolt’s podium presentation is usually as interesting as watching paint dry, but tonight he would have been better off in a seat off-stage. Even bass player Reingold wasn’t the cheerful, swinging guy I remember him to be a year earlier.

The only expressive Flower King was Hasse Froberg. He got full attention not only for his vocal qualities, but especially because of his presentation; he was able to transfer the prog emotion to the audience by other means than his instrument.

“Black And White” and “Silent Inferno” were played before the highlight of the evening; “I Am The Sun”. This track is the culmination of sympho and prog. The band came back for one encore; “In the Eyes of the World” / “Circus Brimstone”. After more than three hours of music, the 2002 Unfold The Future Tour came to an end.

In conclusion, I have no doubt that The Flower Kings made a great impression on people that had not seen the band playing live before. The fact that The Flower Kings made a worn-out impression doesn’t alter the band’s musical performance, which was of good quality. Next time we will hopefully see some more ‘Flower’ and ‘Power’ from the Kings.

(Review: Geert Oldenmenger
Pics: Nico Vink)