Rocker (feedbot)
Gold Member
The definition of cognitive dissonance, Dream Theater are simultaneously known as one of the most influential prog bands of all time who’ve amassed Grammy wins and a vast fan base, while also accumulating a reputation with some for being cringey, cheesy and a bit boring. However, that split in opinion is unlikely to continue. Tonight’s the kickoff date of an eight month world tour celebrating their fortieth anniversary and their upcoming sixteenth album. This is also drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy’s first show since he rejoined the band a year ago. Most of their set is comprised of songs that haven’t been heard live in a decade. “This will never happen again. This is history, right here,” vocalist James LaBrie calls halfway through their nearly three hours onstage, and he’s absolutely correct. It’s the night that proves just how awesome Dream Theater are.
“Cerebral”, as an adjective, doesn’t begin to cover Dream Theater live. It’s an odd experience, to put it mildly. They play music which engages your mind rather than your heart, flinging out songs which last ten minutes each and fire a different set of neurones with each key change, each one a puzzle box daring to be unlocked. You find yourself absorbed, sucked into their world in which the rules of what constitutes a song or a show are rewritten in real time. The menacing shred of ‘The Mirror’ doesn’t feel like it’s thirty years old, and you can sense how the roots of their sound have spread undetected until they poke through the musical soil to influence another band. In any other space, a key-tar solo would be laughable, but not from Dream Theater. It all feels plausible in their world, presided over by a blue lit John Petrucci on guitar, the man who plays guitar like he’s in an orchestra. ‘Barstool Warrior’ smacks with retro-futuristic rock opera melodrama, all moonlit piano solos on spinning keyboards in long contemplative instrumentals. Sure, they do sometimes drift into power ballad territory on songs like ‘Hollow Years’, but the moments which are designed to make us, according to LaBrie “a little fuckin’ emotional,” are what inspire the crowd’s phone lights to blossom unbidden. There’s a roar of recognition as a helmet burns onscreen, signalling the start of ‘As I Am’, a song that could inspire many to march into Mordor, bursting with character and entire narratives compressed and reworked into new and intricate forms.
The interval takes everyone by surprise, but, then again, when every song seems to have an overture, it’s on brand for this show to be treated like a dramatic production. The second half opens with ‘Night Terror’, the first single from upcoming album ‘Parasomnia’, and it’s a fireball of an entrance. It’s got a load-bearing heaviness live, a focus despite their lengthy instrumentals, and it’s a necessary step on their continuing Dream Theater journey. “Each and every day, we wonder what’s going on… the message in this song is own every inch of who you are, and you will be successful,” says LaBrie sagely, as a hush falls for ‘This Is The Life’, a softer interlude before the monumental space-rock of ‘Under A Glass Moon’. Each songs chugs with its own internal logic, from guitar tuned to recreate both cello and violin tones to Wurlitzer circus organ moments, and it is utterly hypnotic.
To play a twenty-five minute song as a closer at a show is definitely a risk. ‘Octavarium’ hasn’t featured on a setlist in full in nearly two decades, but when it’s clear that the band want to provide something more than just a standard retrospective, an experience like this not entirely out of the blue. Misty keyboard slips into a shining guitar intro, a sly grin spreading across Petrucci’s bearded face, as the song melds worship music in a brutalist church to mountainous Led Zeppelin fantasy. The downward spiralling melody captures a bitter inflection as each section drifts between genres and spaces. There’s a sudden awareness that LaBrie’s lyrics and vocals are just one component in a greater whole, one facet to a pleasant infinity. Our energy flows fits and starts but our concentration never waivers as we decipher their musical magic eye illusions. “Let’s do it again, alright?” LaBrie casually wanders offstage with a remark that sounds like we’re all out at a local bar.
Of course, despite being onstage for two hours, there’s a thirty minute encore still to come. ‘Act II: Scene Six: Home’ features very tight, volcanic shredding in a mini showcase of what gave Dream Theater their reputation for being one of the “Big Three” of prog, reaching above and below with each bar. All Petrucci needs to do is stand still and point to gain rapturous attention. From masterful swan song ‘Act II: Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On’, we’re left with the gritty, uplifting stomp of ‘Pull Me Under’, all dungeon echoes and rusted steel plates of bass and guitar interplaying. For a split second, LaBrie is static, holding out the mic stand, his posture like a general, a martial air in the rhythm. “Thank you London, that is our show,” he states sensibly as the house lights rise again.
What Dream Theater offered to the fans tonight is all the extras, the director’s cut of their sound that couldn’t be contained on a recording. This is a show all about the music, with the men as only a conduit for a wider vision, and you’re left stunned by how they have mastered their craft. The band aimed for it to be a historic night, and for pretty much everyone there, it’s one for the record books.
KATE ALLVEY
“Cerebral”, as an adjective, doesn’t begin to cover Dream Theater live. It’s an odd experience, to put it mildly. They play music which engages your mind rather than your heart, flinging out songs which last ten minutes each and fire a different set of neurones with each key change, each one a puzzle box daring to be unlocked. You find yourself absorbed, sucked into their world in which the rules of what constitutes a song or a show are rewritten in real time. The menacing shred of ‘The Mirror’ doesn’t feel like it’s thirty years old, and you can sense how the roots of their sound have spread undetected until they poke through the musical soil to influence another band. In any other space, a key-tar solo would be laughable, but not from Dream Theater. It all feels plausible in their world, presided over by a blue lit John Petrucci on guitar, the man who plays guitar like he’s in an orchestra. ‘Barstool Warrior’ smacks with retro-futuristic rock opera melodrama, all moonlit piano solos on spinning keyboards in long contemplative instrumentals. Sure, they do sometimes drift into power ballad territory on songs like ‘Hollow Years’, but the moments which are designed to make us, according to LaBrie “a little fuckin’ emotional,” are what inspire the crowd’s phone lights to blossom unbidden. There’s a roar of recognition as a helmet burns onscreen, signalling the start of ‘As I Am’, a song that could inspire many to march into Mordor, bursting with character and entire narratives compressed and reworked into new and intricate forms.
The interval takes everyone by surprise, but, then again, when every song seems to have an overture, it’s on brand for this show to be treated like a dramatic production. The second half opens with ‘Night Terror’, the first single from upcoming album ‘Parasomnia’, and it’s a fireball of an entrance. It’s got a load-bearing heaviness live, a focus despite their lengthy instrumentals, and it’s a necessary step on their continuing Dream Theater journey. “Each and every day, we wonder what’s going on… the message in this song is own every inch of who you are, and you will be successful,” says LaBrie sagely, as a hush falls for ‘This Is The Life’, a softer interlude before the monumental space-rock of ‘Under A Glass Moon’. Each songs chugs with its own internal logic, from guitar tuned to recreate both cello and violin tones to Wurlitzer circus organ moments, and it is utterly hypnotic.
To play a twenty-five minute song as a closer at a show is definitely a risk. ‘Octavarium’ hasn’t featured on a setlist in full in nearly two decades, but when it’s clear that the band want to provide something more than just a standard retrospective, an experience like this not entirely out of the blue. Misty keyboard slips into a shining guitar intro, a sly grin spreading across Petrucci’s bearded face, as the song melds worship music in a brutalist church to mountainous Led Zeppelin fantasy. The downward spiralling melody captures a bitter inflection as each section drifts between genres and spaces. There’s a sudden awareness that LaBrie’s lyrics and vocals are just one component in a greater whole, one facet to a pleasant infinity. Our energy flows fits and starts but our concentration never waivers as we decipher their musical magic eye illusions. “Let’s do it again, alright?” LaBrie casually wanders offstage with a remark that sounds like we’re all out at a local bar.
Of course, despite being onstage for two hours, there’s a thirty minute encore still to come. ‘Act II: Scene Six: Home’ features very tight, volcanic shredding in a mini showcase of what gave Dream Theater their reputation for being one of the “Big Three” of prog, reaching above and below with each bar. All Petrucci needs to do is stand still and point to gain rapturous attention. From masterful swan song ‘Act II: Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On’, we’re left with the gritty, uplifting stomp of ‘Pull Me Under’, all dungeon echoes and rusted steel plates of bass and guitar interplaying. For a split second, LaBrie is static, holding out the mic stand, his posture like a general, a martial air in the rhythm. “Thank you London, that is our show,” he states sensibly as the house lights rise again.
What Dream Theater offered to the fans tonight is all the extras, the director’s cut of their sound that couldn’t be contained on a recording. This is a show all about the music, with the men as only a conduit for a wider vision, and you’re left stunned by how they have mastered their craft. The band aimed for it to be a historic night, and for pretty much everyone there, it’s one for the record books.
KATE ALLVEY