The Flower Kings: Meet The Flower Kings

Meet The Flower Kings (2003)

Like the album, the tour promoting Unfold The Future was a highly ambitious affair. The band elected to build the set around three monumentally long tracks: “The Truth Will Set You Free”, “Garden of Dreams” and “Stardust We Are”, each played (almost) in their entirety. Those three alone provide nearly two hours of material, but the band would also play additional songs each night that would switch around from show to show.

As making DVDs was all the rage in the early 2000's, Roine got the band together to play a completely go-for-broke, maxxed-out show in their home town of Uppsala to be filmed and recorded by a professional crew. Both Daniel Gildenlöw and Hasse Bruniusson, who were “guests” on the Unfold the Future album, were present for the event. The concert contained not only the three aforementioned mega-epics, but some other long 'uns as well.

Far more than a mere concert registration, however, this DVD is a statement. That title isn't a coincidence; this is meant to be a way for The Flower Kings to definitively present themselves, in the most impressive way they can, as the most badass, hardcore progheads in the world. If this film was meant to attract new fans, as seems to be the case, it wasn't those casual rock fans who needed to be eased into the longer, more complex stuff. If anything, this film was meant for the Transatlantic crowd: people who just couldn't get enough of the epicness and were wondering what that tall Swedish guy in Mike Portnoy's supergroup was getting up to.

Hasse F and Roine S

As a concert movie, it's kind of a strange document. For such a big concert with a big band and big songs, there's only a small crowd, seated, and seemingly there out of politeness more than because they're huge fans. Most of the applause is cut anyway; in between the songs, we get some amateur footage of the band on tour, which breaks up the concert experience. The footage from the stage is occasionally intercut with weird footage of people dancing, some landscapes or some abstract art. It's a weird choice, but not half as irritating on this DVD as it is on this band's other ones! As expected, the sound quality is utterly impeccable, but I suspect Roine cheated a little bit. There's definitely some overdubbing going on: There's several occasions when you can clearly hear Gildenlöw's voice in the mix while the man is obviously nowhere near his microphone.

All this means watching the concert is a slightly cold, oddly alienating experience. In a concert movie, what makes you feel like you're really “there” is the interaction with the crowd, the banter in between songs, the little errors and imperfections, everything that makes a band human. All that is missing. The only imperfection I found is Roine messing up a lyric in “Stardust” (which I only notice because Hasse F is singing the harmony to the right lyric).

What we are left with is, well, a lot actually. This is the first time we really get to see official footage of the band in action, and it's a joy to watch. Like I said before, The Flower Kings aren't the world's most vibrant live act, but seeing these people play those magnificent songs is fascinating to behold all by itself. This was The Flower King's best lineup: every person on stage is a treasure. Hasse Fröberg is a very likeable frontman, watching Tomas Bodin and Jonas Reingold play is awesome, Zoltán Csörsz is your consummate laid-back drummer who nonetheless plays his socks off, and Roine Stolt holds it all together with the steady hand of a confident conductor. Roine himself looks quite, quite ridiculous in his sparkly blue number, especially since his typically meek manner doesn't match his flamboyant wardrobe at all. Compared to resident clown Hasse Bruniusson, he still looks underdressed.

You're not fooling anyone, Daniel

Oh yeah, Daniel Gildenlöw is there too. He's looking pretty geeky. Hiding behind a huge percussion rig and thick-rimmed glasses, he's a long shot from the beefy-armed, exuberant metal god who fronts Pain of Salvation. But he's not a frontman here; he's an extra pair of hands and vocal chords, a coulouring agent casting his little shadow from the corner of the stage. One might say his considerable talents are a little underused – though it's not as egregious as with Transatlantic (see the Whirlwind DVD, where Neal Morse is squeaking his way through an old Genesis song while the guy who should sing it is standing at the back playing tambourine). Still, he adds a lot to the sound. His vocal harmony with Stolt and Fröberg is majestic.

That all sounds like this DVD is a bit of a mixed bag, but what really saves it is the music. Holy crap, does this sound awesome! As a matter of fact, The Flower Kings probably never sounded as good as they do on this very document.

As always, the opening is fantastic. The live version of “The Truth Will Set You Free” might even surpass the original, if such a thing is even possible. I don't know what else to say. This song is so perfect, it's boring to talk about. Just listen...

We follow up the band's second-longest song with their very longest: the mighty “Garden of Dreams”, cut into two parts rather than eighteen. Compared to “The Truth”, it's an entirely different beast. Unlike “The Truth”, which is played quite close to the original (it was a new song and all), “Garden of Dreams” has been changed quite a bit. Some sections are stretched out, some are shortened. Some sections omit the lyrics and are played as instrumentals. Some are missing altogether: The band go from “Love Is The Word” directly into “Gardens Revisited”, which was probably a wise move; something like “Mean Machine” or “Dungeon of the Deep” just wouldn't work live. All in all, this version is about fifteen minutes shorter than the original, but it's still longer than anything else they've ever made.

I honestly can't tell you which version of “Garden of Dreams” I prefer. On the surface, the studio version might have the edge: after all, the live version is the incomplete version. For one thing, it doesn't contain the great “Sunny Lane”, which is a loss. But the live version shines especially in the parts where they allow themselves some freedom to stretch out. “Simple Song” is given its own nice intro, with na-na's and an acoustic strum, “Did I Tell You” cuts the vocals and has been turned into a great, stirring guitar solo, “Attack of the Monster Briefcase” sounds more manic than ever and everything from “Gardens Revisited” on is beautifully preformed. The spot of jamming in “Business Vamp”, the modulation in “Love Is The Word” and the extra reprise of “Don't Let The Devil In”, all these touches make this version feel like “Garden of Dreams” is truly alive. It had been the centerpiece of the band's live set for some years (although this tour was the last time they played it) and it must have evolved considerably. “Garden of Dreams” is still a delight, and the live version has one thing over the original: it really feels like a “song” now.

Jonas Reingold and Hasse Bruniusson

Surprisingly, “Humanizzimo” is up next, the epic from The Flower King and an ancient relic by now. I might not rate this song as highly as the other epics on this set, it's still a fine piece of work. Again, this is my favoured version of this song, with even a bit of lead sung by Daniel Gildenlöw, which is always nice (although the camera sadly doesn't catch him doing it). It's also good to have Gildenlöw around for that one really high note at the end, 'cause there's no way Roine is attempting that live!

After all this epic epic-ing of epicness, we get two relatively shorter songs (both still well over ten minutes). “Circus Brimstone” is a misleading title. Instead, it's a good seven minutes of jamming, followed by maybe three or four minutes of “Circus Brimstone”. That's a grave disappointment, especially since “Circus Brimstone” is my favourite TFK instrumental and I would have really liked a full live version of it (I'd get my wish later). As you'll know by now, I can really do without the jazz noodling. The nicest thing I can say about this is that it's mostly listenable, and you still get some actual “Circus Brimstone” at the end. Still, I mostly skip it. “Silent Inferno” is there to bring the prog back, and it's another thrilling rendition of this great song.

Tomas Bodin has more keyboards than you

Then, after two hours of music, it's time to put the crowd to bed, and what better song to do the honours but the evergreen “Stardust We Are”. The band usually play only the finale (except during their final tour, when they played everything but the finale), so finally hearing the thing in full is a treat. The band integrate the “new”, slower version of the finale into the whole song, while Gildenlöw adds another layer of vocals to Hasse Fröberg's legendary preformance. It's a wonderful journey, and what else can Roine say at the end but a simple “Thank You”? It's the only thing we hear him say onstage during the entire film.

And that's Meet The Flower Kings, the band's first DVD release. It's an odd duck. Like the previous live album, it doesn't really feel like a concert experience, but more like a fragmentary recital. Also like the previous live album, it sounds fantastic, the songs are every bit as good live as they are on the albums but different enough to be interesting. The visual concert footage is good enough, the extra footage is extraneous and should have been made an extra feature, rather than interspaced throughout the DVD. The real “live” atmosphere is missing. All this means this DVD is not the best possible version of itself, but it's still highly reccommended; like I said, The Flower Kings never sounded better. To be honest, you'd probably be fine just getting the audio CD version.

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