Dream Theater touring their last album Distance over Time, with as added bonus a full version of Scenes from a Memory celebrating 20 years since release. This tour started 11 January in Holland, but as I had not too many friends going and I already knew I would be in Lisbon this day I picked this one. Also being Dutch the price difference of 75 against 40 Euro's made Portugal look more interesting. So we would get Metropolis PT 2 in full and that is where a part of the problem lays for me. Being their biggest album and breakthrough part 2 as well, it probably is my least favorite album amongst their first seven. So let me share my relation to Dream Theater first. In 1989 I still bought LP's and when their debut When Dream And Day Unite was released I was blown away. This was yet another great band from the USA mixing their Heavy Metal with progressive traces (Progmetal did not yet exist as genre at the time) This much like other US bands I loved those years: Heir Apparent, Watchtower, Savatage, Lethal and even Queensryche and Fates Warning were originally more Heavy Metal. I guess the album did not do much in Holland as a year or so later the CD could be bought for EUR 2,25 at Free Record Shop. Then it went quiet until Images and Words came out. This CD catapulted the band straight to major progmetal league and did hold their hit Pull Me Under. This was also the first time they came to Europe and we saw them in a sold out Vredenburg. Hereafter they released my favorite DT album Awake and a return to Utrecht followed together with Fates Warning. Around those days we also saw them at Bospop and headlining Aardschokdag with Warrioir Soul and Riverdogs. When Falling Into Infinity came out critics were they became commercial. I did like that album and to my luck they choose Brazil as warmup place for their tour when I lived there at the time. I recall they sold great caps that night with the DT logo and the Brazilian flag on it. As I still had hair those days I did not see the point of caps, which I became to regret some 10 years later. Then 1999 saw the release of Metropolis PT2: Scenes From a Memory. For many their favorite DT album, while I had some issues. OK in general it is a great album, but for the first time the balance with Dream Theater went a bit too much to instrumental masturbation and ballads. Also comparing this concept album with the other big progmetal bands it could not stand next to Operation Mindcrime or A Pleasant Shade of Gray. I guess some short headbangers were missing. Next albums Six Degrees, Train of Thought (the metal album) and Octavarium were all more to my liking. Hereafter I still bought all their albums, but stopped seeing all tours. I try to see them at times and on CD only The Astonishing did very little to me. Actually the best DT show I saw the last years was by Dream Thaken, where Mike Portmoy with Haken performed his AA suite in full. So after some six years it was hello again and bring it on.
But this was not a regular show, as it was in Lisbon. The venue chosen was Campo Pequeno. I did not realize it before as I am not into bulll fighting really, but this was the local bulll ring and one impressive building. If you realize that nowadays quite a few metalheads are vegetarian or vegan the choice for a bull ring gave the evening a cynical touch. I love it when travelling to a show means only four stops by metro and you are there. While leaving same metro I did run into a known Norwegian face from Progpower. Proves again it is a small world in metal. As he was sitting and I had arena tickets we split up at the entrance after taking some pictures of the building with huge banner announcing the show. While at an underground festival in Portugal I did meet some friendly prices for my beer, this major show was charging same as Holland would. During the show there would be mobile beer sellers walking around, which was interesting as there never was a queue at the easy accessible bars on either side. The arena was covered with plates with carpet on it, which seemed to be a bit above the ground. This made you walking floating around, good for a dreamy evening. Regarding the audience I noted that Dream Theater are no underground, so I saw only big band shirts around, being definitely the only one wearing a fashionable Redemption The Origins of Ruin Tee. So when the hall was filled up well the lights went off and we were treated on an evening with Dream Theater.
In the Post Portnoy years the complaint is that surprises left the setlist. So after reading some reviews of their Amsterdam show I already knew what was waiting for me. Actually they did change around a bit as the first part was built around Distance over Time. This evening their single Paralyzed was skipped and Fall Into Light made the set. From the start it all sounded great and with the big screen on the back of the stage we got some images to up the experience. With Dream Theater live it is a popular sport to moan about James Labrie. I was never in that camp as I like his voice and have no problems accepting he can't reach alll the notes any longer. Tonight his performance was OK and for those not liking him, half the time he runs off the stage anyway. After one hour Pale Blue Dot finished the first part and we had a twenty minute break. Lights going off meant Metroplis PT2. Well in spite of my comments above I must admit that live in one go this is one impressive album. The instrumental wankery is not so much annoying as more impressive. What I did notice is that with Dream Thetaer I nowadays tend to go in order to see John Petrucci on guitars (very much like seeing Marillion for Steve Rothery only) What mr Petrucci gave us from heavy riffing to Floydian dreamy solo's was sheer class again. In contrabalance the keytar solo's by Jordan Rudess with his strange pointy beard don't do much to me. At the start of the tour the sad news of the passing away of Neil Peart was remembered by a moment of silence in the full hall. By now Peart was included in the clip on the graveyard during Through Her Eyes. No mentioning any longer and Sean Reinert probably was not an influence to the band even being one of metal's greatest drummers of all time as well. So after some 75 minutes Nicholas got shot and the noise of the LP getting stuck meant the end. I could well do with the Glass Prison which starts with the same noise as an encore. Well that was not to be as the encore this tour is At Wit's End. A great song with a second cynical bit of the evening when after singing six tine Don't Leave Me Know, James Labrie left the stage for good. So all in all I had a fiine evening with Dream Theater and maybe started appreciating Metropolis PT2 a bit more.
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