| The
Review |
When I first heard the subtitle for this DVD, "20th Anniversary
World Tour", it sounded absurd. Could my favorite "new" band
really be going on twenty years now? It seems like it was
just yesterday when I first heard "Pull Me Under" on the radio,
courtesy of Baltimore's 98-Rock, and was completely blown
away. Then again it was 14 years ago. The song's parent album,
Images And Words, is one of those rare gems that only come
along a few times each decade and completely alters your musical
perspective. Dream Theater was everything I had been waiting
for in a band - the progressive grandeur of Yes, the power
and intensity of Metallica, the melodic charm of Boston, and
the instrumental virtuosity of Rush. They were my band, and
progressive metal was my new religion.
The core members of Dream Theater, John Petrucci, John
Myung, and Mike Portnoy, first came together while attending
Boston's Berklee College of Music in 1985. After recruiting
Petrucci's old high school bandmate, Kevin Moore, to play
keyboards, and then adding Chris Collins on lead vocals, they
formed the band Majesty and released a self-produced demo
tape in 1986. Fellow New Yorker Charlie Dominici eventually
replaced Collins on lead vocals, and the band was soon forced
to change their name after discovering that another Majesty
had already beaten them to it.
In 1988 they signed their first record deal and set out
to record their debut album as Dream Theater, titled When
Dream And Day Unite. After only a few live shows promoting
the new album, Dominici was abruptly fired from the band,
and the search for another new lead vocalist would begin again.
In 1991, after auditioning more than 200 people, the band
finally found a new lead singer in Canada's James LaBrie.
That same year they scored a new record deal with ATCO Records,
and finished up their landmark sophomore album, Images And
Words, which would finally put them on the map.
I have seen Dream Theater on nearly every tour, playing
all types of venues. As good as these guys are in the studio,
they are even better live. The insane level of complexity
to some of their songs, does not even phase these guys when
performing live. I doubt you will be seeing too many Dream
Theater tribute bands any time soon. The Images And Words
tour will always be my most memorable, since it was the first
time I saw them play live. It was a small, outdoor, concert
pavilion, and only a few hundred people were in attendance,
but the show was magical. They reached their peak on the Scenes
From A Memory tour and have not looked back since.
Score is Dream Theater's fifth concert video and, in
my opinion, is their most satisfying one overall. Sure, I
still have my complaints, mainly with the setlist (again),
but this is definitely one extraordinary DVD. The production
quality is on par with the Live At Budokan DVD, which means
it looks and sounds amazing. The performance was recorded
on April 1st, 2006 at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
Being that this was billed as their "20th Anniversary Tour",
I was disappointed that the setlist focused so much on their
newer material, which I am less a fan of, and ignored many
of their career highlights. I do give these guys credit for
not continually repeating themselves, like many other bands
do, and having enough confidence in their new material to
make it the focus of each tour.
The concert was divided into two main sets - the first
one featuring just the band, and lasting about an hour, and
the second one featuring an orchestra, and going on for an
additional one hour and forty minutes. That's what happens
when you have album length songs to play. The concert begins
with the plush red stage curtain being pulled back to reveal
two large screens which flash images of the band's various
albums covers. The pulsating keyboard riff and drum fills
that begin "The Root Of All Evil", all perfectly timed with
the stage lighting and strobes, made for a killer show opening.
Right away you could feel the electric vibe emanating from
the home town crowd, which immediately energizes the band
and leads to one of their most dynamic performances ever.
This is in stark contrast to the rather subdued atmosphere
of the Budokan show.
Check out John Petrucci's new look. He must be hanging
out with Zakk Wylde a little too much, because along with
his new long and scraggly goatee and slicked back hair, he
has packed on about 20 new pounds of solid muscle. Quite a
contrast from that gay looking DiMarzio ad he did for Guitar
World magazine recently. He looks like Bronson Pinchot. Have
you seen that thing?
They continue on with another song from the new Octavarium
album, the radio-friendly "I Walk Beside You". After that
is when things really get interesting. "Another One" takes
you all the way back to the Majesty demos, and it reminded
me of the melodic Images/Awake-era stuff. Great song. Continuing
up the musical timeline, they dust off "Afterlife" from 1989's
When Dream And Day Unite, and bring it to a dazzling climax
that is built around an incredible Petrucci guitar solo. One
of many.
Now four songs into the set, LaBrie finally addresses
the audience with an annoyingly over-enunciated, Rob Halford-like
frontman voice. It's OK, you can just be yourself James. I
insist. Eventually he sends the crowd into a frenzy with "Lets
continue that journey with Images And Words", as the band
launches into "Under A Glass Moon". Labrie's vocals have never
sounded better, and he really shines on "Under A Glass Moon".
He carried every note, even the impossibly high ones, with
apparent ease. Rudess couldn't help himself from throwing
in one of his little ragtime piano riffs, which will always
annoy me. Too bad they didn't get any of the former band members
to appear as special guests. It would have been great to see
Kevin Moore again on this classic.
The Awake album was only represented by "Innocence Faded",
and although it is not one of the album's best songs, they
breathed new life into it this night. I was hoping to hear
more of my favorites such as "Scarred", "6:00", or "Caught
In A Web", but, hell, they only played for three hours. On
of the absolute highlights, and surprises, from the first
set was the performance of the previously unreleased "Raise
The Knife", which was recorded during the Falling Into Infinity
sessions. Unlike most fans/critics, I like Falling Into Infinity
- certainly more than everything after Scenes From A Memory.
It's amazing that this awesome song didn't make the cut, but
at nearly 12-minutes, they would have needed another double
album. The first set ends magnificently with one of the best
versions of "The Spirit Carries On" that you may ever hear.
Although I'm sure the band probably took a short intermission
after the first set, the DVD jumps directly to the orchestra
who has taken the stage for the second set. They launch right
into the intro to the evening's magnum opus, "Six Degrees
Of Inner Turbulence", which you get in its entirety. All eight
parts. All forty-something minutes. Now I was never the biggest
fan of this album, it would have made an excellent single-CD
with the right editing, but this orchestra-backed performance
was mind-blowing. The opening "Overture" section was a little
long-winded, since they extended it a few extra minutes, but
the song really takes off once the full band joins in. Petrucci
even straps on a new double-neck guitar for "Solitary Shell",
which allows him to play the rhythm parts on 12-string.
They slow things down next with a few orchestra appropriate
ballads, beginning with Train Of Thought's "Vacant", which
has always bored me to tears, followed by "The Answer Lies
Within", the Octavarium ballad that is propelled by the beautiful
orchestration and Labrie's superb vocals. Up next was my favorite
song from Octavarium, "Sacrificed Sons". Here we have a song
performed in New York City, by a New York band, that is essentially
about 9/11, and LaBrie hasn't a single introductory word to
say about this powerful song he wrote? I guess he wanted to
let the lyrics and disturbing video images speak for themselves.
Petrucci and Myung faced off with each other several times,
trying to out riff one another, and the climactic ending to
the song was most powerful. Clapton is God? I say Petrucci
is God after this one - well, Thor at least.
Closing out the set is Dream Theater's latest opus, the
27-minute, tribute to progressive rock, and title track to
their latest album, "Octavarium". The song borrows from several
prog pioneers, most notably during Jordan Rudess' long keyboard
intro, which "pays tribute", to put it kindly, to Pink Floyd's
"Shine On You Crazy Diamond". I was surprised to see Rudess
play the lap steel portion of the song, which he performed
brilliantly. I have never been a fan of his keyboard style,
I think both Moore and Sherinian were much better fits for
Dream Theater, but he was a frigging wonder to behold on this
song. Rudess has ditched the single keyboard approach, in
favor of the keyboard barricade look, a la Emerson and Wakeman.
I like my keyboard wizards surrounded by a mountain of keyboards
playing a different one with each hand dammit. His incredible
performance on the Haken Continuum Fingerboard was fascinating
to watch, as it was the first time I had ever seen one of
these instruments.
When the band returns for an encore, there is tons of
excitement and anticipation in the air. The crowd cheers wildly
in the darkened hall, as only traces of light register from
the orchestra. Finally, Portnoy opens with a hi-hat pattern,
and the string section executes the opening chords to "Metropolis".
When Petrucci fires of the first chugging guitar chords of
the song, the strobe lights synch perfectly to his riff. The
performance was, of course, killer, but as they stood together
taking their bow after the show, I was left thinking, "Where
was "Take The Time", "Pull Me Under", "Learning To Live"?
Maybe an "old medley" like Rush did on their 35th Anniversary
Tour, and what they sort of did with "Instrumedley" on the
Budokan DVD, would have been appropriate here.
Dream Theater has certainly "scored" again with the production
quality of this DVD. The widescreen picture is simply stunning,
capturing the performance with vivid detail, color, and depth.
The camera production was first-rate, presenting every possible
angle you could ask for, while making you forget you are only
watching a video. There are plenty of great close-ups of each
musician working their magic on their instruments, but I would
have enjoyed a few more longer shots of the entire stage to
balance things out. Split screen shots were also used on a
few occasions to great effect.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound audio track is very
sharp and spacious, and provides an excellent mix of band
and orchestra. A slightly weak bass mix is my only minor complaint.
I found the drum and bass mix on the Budokan DVD slightly
better overall, but this is still one of the better sounding
DD 5.1 tracks you are likely to hear this year. The potent
PCM stereo track has no such problems, and is easily one of
the best I have heard in a while.
The Bonus Material is also impressive. "The Score So
Far..." is a fascinating 56-minute documentary which takes
you back to the birth of the band and progresses up through
their entire career, as described by current and former members
of the band. Charlie Dominici and Derek Sherinian took part
in the interviews, but it was a shame that Kevin Moore wasn't
involved. Much of the interviews took place at the Berklee
College of Music, as Petrucci, Portnoy, and Myung reminisced
about the good old days.
One of the best segments was when Petrucci described
how he had to tell his parents he was dropping out, so that
he could focus more on the band. "To convince my parents that
I wanted to go to music college was one step, but to convince
them I wanted to drop out of music college, was a nightmare".
I can only imagine.
The rest of the bonus material included three other live
performances; "Another Day" (Tokyo, 1993), "The Great Debate"
(Bucharest, 2002), and "Honor Thy Father" (Chicago, 2005).
The audio quality was vastly inferior to the main show, but
these were still excellent additions. "Octavarium Animation"
was the hilarious animated feature that was shown on the video
screens during a portion of the "Octavarium" performance.
Unfortunately, there is no booklet included with the DVD package.
Unlike the Budokan DVD, I find myself wanting to watch
Score over and over again. Although the setlist wasn't the
most satisfying, the combined energy of the band, orchestra,
and audience made this one of the best Dream Theater shows
I have ever seen, and one no fan should miss.
Reviewed by Paul
M. Roy - September 2006
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