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 20 years old 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 comes 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 is, in my opinion, their most satisfying one overall. Sure, I have my complaints, mainly with the setlist, 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 1, 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 focuses 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.
Article comments
1 - Lee
Nice review, it's an 18 string not a 12 string though!
2 - Tony
The most technically proficient band to grace the planet earth, of course the new dvd was amazing.
3 - Nicholas
"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."
Give yourself a hand, that is poetry.
4 - greenblob
ok..
call me stupid.. call me naive.. but i had never listened to Dream Theater before..
im a big fan (and player) of tech metal like Cynic, Death, Athiest..
bought this dvd.. and damn...
what a show.. not the kind of vocals im used to, but damn that guy can sing.. as for the rest of the band.. wow...
i agree, the PCM 2 chan mix is great.. much better than many many others i have heard on main stream dvd releases..
awesome review man.. it pretty much sums up the dvd.. guessing i'll be a late comer to join the dream theater bandwagon. will have to buy "images and words" in the coming days..
sorry.. a long post... but i'm just damn impressed by this..
blob..
5 - Paul Roy
Welcome to the club greenblob. Dream Theater has always enjoyed good crossover appeal, which is why they can more than hold their own with the likes of Megadeth and Fear Factory on a mostly thrash metal tour like Gigantour, while at the same time not being entirely out of place opening for Yes.
6 - Nicolas Salas
Hi..... Jordan Rudess has the best style from dream theater....... derek sherinian its the worst thing that ever hapened to dream theater
7 - mascha
yup, derek sherinian its the worst
8 - Tumpal
I have no problem whatsoever concerning this album, the set list is simply acceptable. And thats what Dream Theater is all about: Simply the best band one the surface of the world up to the stratosphere.
9 - davo
Kevin moore is better than rudess, he does wonders in Images and words. Although rudess is awesome, they should get all the guys back together for a jam sesh. Any ideas as to why they fired Dominici in the early stages?