Dream Theater in Rio that is a long time ago. Last time I saw the band in Rio was 1998 when they had their Falling into Infinity warm-up shows in Brazil. Now I have seen them since several times, but stopped going every tour since the nineties already. Ocassionally I go and they are always good. But for me Dream Theater are among those bands whose first three albums are their best and never matched that level later (same for Metallica, Def Leppard or Leprous to name some varied bands). So when tonight people around me started singing along with lyrics of more recent albums I tend to only recognize the chorusses, without knowing which album it is coming from. Somewhere between Six Degrees and Train of Thought I stopped knowing albums through and through. Tonight's show would hold three parts, so a big part of the surprise was gone regarding the setlist. To give the evening a bit of an old-skool feel, outside you could buy bootleg Tees for 80 Reais, while inside same would cost 220. Unfortunately the nice dark red one with the brazilian tourdates on the back, did not come in my size.
Inside at 19:30 a tape told us the house rules and to be ready as the show would start soon. Strange enough we then got 30 minutes of ambient elevator music without much action. At 20:00 the show properly started and the first part tonight was a full performance of Parasomnia. The comeback album with Mike Portnoy and back to the old style. I still do buy all new DT albums, but often I play them a few times before archiving. Replaying this one recently it actually is a fine album and seeing it being performed live made it even better for me. One question with each DT show is, how is James LaBrie's voice tonight. When after an instrumental song and a long intro for Night Terror he came finally on, his voice could not be heard at all. Worried I was, but the soundman corrected it after some 30 seconds. Actually his voice was fine tonight and I was more confused by his constant disapperances (which is nothing new). I guess amongst all Dream Theater nerdy fans, there must be someone who actually timed his on stage time over a whole show. It is a bit like timing actual playing time at a Portuges Football match. But I am not in the anti-LaBrie camp and liked his performance tonight. Same can be said for the whole band really and Mike Portnoy is more of a natural leader watching over us form a height. Parasomnia was good, with to me most remarkale that the ballad was the highlight, since Bend the Clock closes with a beautifull guitar solo. At the same time the closing epic The Shadow Man Incident is least interesting to me, as it sounds like Dream Theater by numbers, with nothing really new.
After a 20 minute break with far too long queues at beerticket and bar service we got the last part of the 40th anniversary tour. The last part as this was the one but last show of their 19 month world tour. This is where I noticed a difference between my taste as one of the oldest in and the general younger public. Singing all the lyrics along of The Enemy Inside and Rites of Passage is no option for me as I don't know all the words. I came most interested during Under Peruvian Skies and Take the Time. Talking about the audiece a bit as I saw today on TV an artist telling that a live album was best shot in Brazil as all bands in the world consider it the best crowd. Ok the singing along and the hey hey hey shouts were loud, but there is a serious problem. Brazil has a mobile phone issue at shows. Not at underground shows I attended, but teh bigger ones. The number of phones going up filming full songs was absurd. And not standing at the side, but centre stage and spreading like a disease. When Mike Portnoy than also asked twice for people to light their cellphones the chaos was complete. A guy before me was at times making selfies of him siinging along with the music. Being a dwarfsize I bombed many of his videos with a bored face above him. Anyway the overview held surprises and Scenes From a Memoryis still not my favourite DT album.
The last part was bringing me back to Bospop in the mid nineties as A Change of Seasons was played in full. This epic is so much better than the one closing Parasomnia so a worthy closer of the evening. The full EP playing was announced on the poster so no surprise, but what a nice way to end an evening with Dream Theater. A three hour set including 20 minute break showing again why Dream Theater are the biggest Progmetal band. I loved the full night, but also realized it shall never be as good as the Images and Words or Awake tour passing Vredenburg in the nineties. or staying in Rio neither as great as the Falling Into Infinity warm-up show of 1998. My next DT show shall probably be around 2030 and I shall like it again.
