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Venue: The Garage, Glasgow Date: 18 October 2000
Set List: Metropolis Pt1, Overture 1928, Strange Déjà Vu, Through My Words, The Mirror, Another Day, John Petrucci solo, Home, Jordan Rudess solo, Erotomania, Voices, The Spirit Carries On, Learning to Live.
Encore: A Change of Season
Having waited 5 years to see these guys live, the omens were not good: a last-minute change of venue meant a scaled down production, with no room on stage for support act Porcupine Tree, who understandably pulled
out. So it was with mixed feelings that I awaited Dream Theater's arrival on stage, but I really should have had more faith - quite simply, they were magnificent.
Given that the venue couldn't accommodate the full stage show, the band decided to go for a more intimate approach, with the packed house giving them a real Glaswegian welcome. I had hoped to hear the 'Scenes'
album in its entirety, but instead the band only played selected chunks of it, interspersed with earlier material ... and it all sounded great.
DT seemed to have drawn criticism from the last tour for being too distant and aloof, but on this night they were anything but.
Vocalist LaBrie cracked jokes between songs, and the 'mustachioed madman' behind the drums kept the audience constantly amused with his antics. At one point john Petrucci's guitar went on the blink, so Portnoy started up the beat to Sabbath's War Pigs, inviting some bloke in the crowd to jump on stage and sing the lyrics! Needless to say, the whole house joined in as the band added their instrumental backing.
Yet amid all the frolics the band never slouched in performing the songs. They were tighter than the proverbial duck's arse, and in spite of the complexity of the songs they made it look so easy.
Older stuff like Erotomania sounded fresh and vital, while the cuts from the latest album took on added power and presence in a live setting.
Again, the band drew criticism on the last tour for being too loud, but on this night the sound was spot on.
You could hear every note squeezed out of Petrucci's guitar, every tinkle for Jordan Rudess' ivories, and all of John Myung's unique basslines.
After a solid two and a half hours of playing (they played the whole of 'A Change of Seasons' as the encore) the band must have been knackered - I know I was - but they had overcome the odds, in having to dispense
with the stage show and rearrange the set, and proved that at the end of the day it's the ability to play the music that counts.
As the lights went up, the bloke next to me said "There's still some life in rock yet" ... a fitting tribute to a great show by one of contemporary rock's best bands.
John Stout
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Venue; The Apollo, Hammersmith Date: 17 January 2004
Set 1: As I Am; Beyond This Life (+ Petrucci & Rudess solo spots); Endless Sacrifice; Caught In A Web; Mike Portnoy drum solo; This Dying Soul; The Great Debate; Finally Free
Set 2: Jordan Rudess solo; Death On Two Legs; Honor Thy Father; Another Day; Only A Matter Of Time; Erotomania; Voices; Silent Man; In The Name Of God
Encores: Trial Of Tears; Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle & The Sleeper
Dream Theater rolled into London on the back of a new album, Train Of Thought, which seems to have divided their fans. A dark and heavy release, many seem to dislike it, particularly for the (relative)
straightforward nature of the material and for the (admittedly somewhat excessive) extended solo spots. However, this didn't seem to have prevented the hordes from descending on Hammersmith Apollo on this rainy
January evening; the 5000-capacity venue was all but full, and not just of the 'usual' prog rock crowd; I saw plenty of younger fans in Korn and Tool T-Shirts; signs that the band's slight modernisation of their
sound is paying dividends, and this will hopefully open the door for other bands in the progressive rock genre to start reaching a wider audience.
With no support act, proceedings kicked off at about 7.45 with a video and sound montage giving a brief run through the band's career from 1986 to date; a good way to heighten anticipation, and to allow time for
everyone to flood through from the bar area. A huge roar erupted as the band appeared, wasting little time in getting stuck in to opener 'As I Am'. A simple, direct track from the new album that effectively
showcases their new sound, this is a good way to get the show started. It's immediately obvious that the sound is top-notch, the musicians on good form and James La Brie in typically impressive voice. The band
perform in front of three screens; a giant central one which alternated shots of the band playing and other visual imagery to support individual tracks, plus two smaller screens which usually stuck to close-ups of
the band. These were effective, but I did notice throughout that La Brie hardly ever appeared on the screens, even when singing, which seemed odd.
Rather than simply play the new album from start to finish (as they did in Manchester the previous evening), the band intermingle the new tracks with ones from their back catalogue – a better option in my opinion, as
it creates a bit of light and shade; the new album's great but the unrelenting heaviness gets a bit overpowering! The first half of the set contained a further two Train Of Thought songs (the powerful,
Metallica-esque 'Endless Sacrifice', plus 'This Dying Soul', a track I'm not keen on on the album but works much better live), and some surprising (but welcome) choices from their back catalogue. 'Caught In A Web'
(from 94's Awake) got a huge roar, but for me it's the fantastic take on 'The Great Debate' (from Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence) which was the highlight of this half of the show. With its battery of sampled voices
and many switches of mood and atmosphere, this cannot be an easy song to pull off (even for masters like Dream Theater!) but is done stylishly and impeccably, and benefited from some suitably complementary images
being projected. 'Beyond This Life', meanwhile, provides an opportunity for the musicians to cut loose and improvise a bit, resulting in some great duelling solo's between keyboardist Jordan Rudess and guitarist
John Petrucci.
The first set concluded with the Scenes From A Memory track 'Finally Free', after which there was a break of about 15 minutes. Jordan Rudess then appeared for an extended solo spot, playing a classically-inspired
piece that, for all I know, might have been purely improvised… you never know with these guys. It segued into a strangely familiar wall of symphonic sound, and the cover of Queen's A Night At The Opera appeared on
screen. Now, Dream Theater have, in recent years, taken to playing a whole album by a band they've been influenced by in the second half of their set; recently it was 'Number Of The Beast' by Iron Maiden. However
this policy was only implemented if they were playing two nights consecutively in one city; the covers would be played on the second night. As the band motored into ANATO's opening track 'Death On Two Legs' I
thought that maybe this policy had been changed; however we just got this cut from the album tonight (performed expertly as you'd expect). I hope (and imagine) that the album will be played in full at a later date,
as it will be fascinating to see how they handle the more, er, ambituous tracks, not to mention Bohemian Rhapsody!
Anyhow, the rest of the set continued as before; 'Honor Thy Father' (from TOT) gets an airing, and sounds much improved again from the album; the 'nu-metal' style vocal that La Brie adopts for some of the song had me
cringing when I heard the album version, but seems to work quite well live. Elsewhere, DT went way back into their back catalogue (to the debut 'When Dream And Day Unite') for 'Only A Matter Of Time'. This is a good
song, although La Brie didn't sound too comfortable singing it (he joined the band later) and hardly anyone in the audience seemed to know what it was! No such problems with 'Another Day', which the crowd sung along
to word for word.
The 'Awake' segment 'A Mind Beside Itself' (consisting of 'Erotomania', 'Voices' (here in abridged form) and 'The Silent Man') was expertly performed and went down a storm, but for me the highlight of the show proper
was the final song 'In The Name Of God'. This Train Of Thought track is the one on that album which best mixes their new heavier approach with the more progressive, symphonic style the band have become synonymous
with, and works extraordinarily well live. In particular, the skill with which the band handled the atmospheric middle section, where the song slows to a crawl then builds momentum again to a rousing finale, had to
be heard to be believed. Not surprisingly the band got a standing ovation for this track, the applause carrying on for what seemed like an aeon from when they left the stage to re-appearing for the encores.
Tonight, we got not one epic but two to finish off the night. 'Trial Of Tears' (from 97's 'Falling To Infinity') was another less obvious choice, and is a much softer, more melodic affair than much of the material
aired tonight – in hindsight, a clever decision, although I felt it didn't quite seem to 'fit' with the rest of the show at the time. No such problems with the final encore, a brilliant run through the classic
'Metropolis Part 1' which had the crowd in near ecstacy.
At the end of the show Mike Portnoy announced that DT would be back later in the year, and I can't imagine there are many present at this show who won't be back with them. I've seen the band live a few times now, and
this was, I think, the best I've seen them – brilliant sound, performances and track selection, plus what seemed like a more focussed approach, meant this was thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end. The new
material works extremely well live as I suspected, and these tracks act as a lynchpin to the show, giving it more structure. OK, there were a few areas that could have been tightened up or improved upon, such as the
band's (rather minimal) stage presence and the level of communication with the audience (low), but to criticise too much would really be nitpicking in this case.
Overall then, great stuff, and roll on the next UK shows.
Tom January 2004
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