Wow! Just got back into Tucson from Phoenix for Dream Theater's gig tonight. What a great show this evening.I know there are a few Dream Theater fans on the board, so I figured I would share my experience. My ears are still ringing; for the record, this may be the loudest concert I've been to. The two opening bands weren't nearly as loud as Dream Theater. The set list consisted of:

Constant Motion
Panic Attack
Blind Faith
Surrounded
The Dark Eternal Night
Lines in the Sand
Another Day
The Spirit Carries On
In The Presence of Enemies

Encore:
Medley of Trial of Tears, Finally Free, Learning to Live, In the Name of God, and Octavarium to close.

I had awesome tickets, 10th row. Lots of BFR action from Mr. Petrucci (BFR is his new premium line of guitars), and I then noticed that Myung was using a 6 string bongo or some EB bass. AWESOME! Seeing the BFRs in action in Petrucci's hands makes me want one that much more. Jordan using the keytar was class, pure and simple. He used it so well. He more or less put to shame the album version of Lines in the Sand. Everyone was dead on in the performances tonight. James sounded great! The animation they added to The Dark Eternal Night was great, more DT cartoons! Playing In the Presence of Enemies as one song was fucking awesome as well.

Here's a few pictures of the show. I didn't really know how to use my camera well in the dark, plus security was being lame about cameras. Check 'em out!

 

Awesome, those guys are crazy talented. The vocals and the keyboard shit aren't always for me, but no denying they're a great band. I'd love to see em live

 

I lost interest in them after Falling into Infinity came out (Scenes was cool)...that and their ticket prices and "vip" packages... bleh. I'd rather see Symphony X any day

 

I saw Dream Theater a few years ago in a really small venue. By small I mean less than 500 people could fit into the theater. It was really cool, and a lot of fun. I was never actually a big fan of them, but they put on a damn fine concert.

 

I didn't even know they were still together.

 

Congrats! I can't stand Dream Theater, but I love seeing someone so passionate about music able to have that experience! 

 

Two of my buds took lessons from John Petrucci when we were in high school. (91?) I had to wait outside for one of them alot in my crappy car with no A/C, so I didn't like John's band much, but their second album was cool. Though Kevin was funny in a wierd way. I think he left the band a while back though. But I'm rambling.

Cool that they're still playing. Glad you had fun!

 

My brother went to a Dream Theater/Queensreich concert a year or so ago. He said it was pretty awesome. At the end, he said they both played together!

 

I was a massive Q-fan for years.

The problem with seeing Queensryche lately is that with each year that passes there is more crappy music they've written and are forcing you to have to listen to before they get to the classics.

I last saw em in '97. That 'hear in the now frontier' crap killed it for me and then Geoff's solo album, Q2k, tribe...now, they're pulling out the Mindcrime title to salvage things with their last album. I wish they'd retire gracefully, but soon they'll be on one of those 90-bands-of-the-eighties tours trying to playing only Silent Lucidity between Ratt's Round and Round and Winger's Seventeen.  

I guess if you missed all that, its like a bit of history, but its a run down version of what it was.

 

I saw Those guys (Symphony X) open for Blind Guardian back in '02 in NYC. Pretty sure it was them. Never heard them before that, but they were pretty great.

 

You might want to check out their new release "Systematic Chaos." Lots of dark fantasy lyrics. Kind of reminds me a bit of "Images and Words."

And to let you know, I only paid 42 bucks for my tickets, and I had awesome fucking seats! 25 ft from the stage. My ears are still ringing from last night. The VIP package has its perks. In the first five rows guaranteed, and you get to meet the band after and get a bunch of autographed schwag and actually talk to them? I wanted to do that this time but my friends didn't have the money. 300 bucks is a lot, but for a rabid Dream Theater fanboy like me, it's entirely worth it. Some people may contest the price, and Mike Portnoy's response is that they are essentially only selling around 20 or so of these packages a show, and that the money goes right back into the production of the show.

And Symphony X is awesome. They opened for Dream Theater this tour in Europe. I would have loved to see them open for DT here in the States, Into Eternity and Redemption were mediocre in my opinion for openers.

 

I'm afraid to try the new one... I heard a few clips online (granted sound clips of metal songs are never a good way to judge a song)... I didn't like the boop boop boop keyboard slowness, or, whatever I'm trying to say. I like my metal more violent  

$300 just seems out of the question to me, even $150. I'm used to seeing three bands play for $15 and meeting all of them after the show, without having to pay for an extra package... just seems kinda greedy to me.

I agree, mediocre is a good word for Redemption   they're just missing something

 

Never heard of em...

 

I've never spent 15 bucks to see 3 bands, unless it was something local. And the Tucson metal scene sucks balls.

Check out the song "In the Presence of Enemies" pts 1 and 2 on the new album. It's their new epic, they played both parts back to back for a 25 minute epic. The new album is good, my brother is a fan but not nearly as rabid as I am, and he thinks it's the best they've done since Scenes from a Memory. I agree.

 

Nice! I was thinking of catching them when they play in Wisconsin next.