Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Photos: Aleš Podbrežnik
Location: Zagreb / KC Dražen Petrovič / Croatia
Concert date: 03.02.2014
Attendance: 2500
Dream Theater really don’t need a lengthy introduction, except maybe for anyone who has spent the last twenty-five years frozen under the ice of the ninth circle of Dante’s Hell and is only now slowly getting used to life on the surface. They’re the most revered band in their genre, one that even in Slovenia regularly lands on the charts whenever a new studio album drops. Since 1989 the American progressive metal institution has earned itself hordes of fans who swear above all by the enviable technical know-how and virtuoso skills of the individual members, who can play pretty much anything their hearts desire, even though first and foremost they’re diligent composers of more or less complex pieces that often go beyond the traditional prog metal frame and have a lot more sensitivity to them than you might think at first glance.
After some less inspired studio efforts in a period of rather wobbly quality between 2002 and 2009, and the (un)expected departure of founding drummer Mike Portnoy (Transatlantic, Winery Dogs and Neal Morse), Dream Theater bounced back lightning-fast and came out of that minor ‘crisis’ even stronger. Portnoy’s successor Mike Mangini didn’t just prove to be the best possible replacement for the cult drumming ‘know-it-all’; by the band’s own admission, with him in the lineup Dream Theater can now play certain ideas that they couldn’t get down on record with their rather autocratic founding member. With Mangini they’ve made two very good studio albums, »A Dramatic Turn of Events« (2011) and the current effort »Dream Theater« (2013), which they promoted heavily on the current tour, one stop of which brought them to our southern neighbors in Zagreb.
The atmosphere in the Dražen Petrovič hall, home of the Zagreb basketball club Cibona, where the jerseys of retired Yugoslav/Croatian basketball legends like Dražen Petrović, Mikovil Nakić, Krešimir Ćosić, Nikola Plećaš and Andro Knego hang from the rafters, was full of excited anticipation among the crowd of prog metal champions’ devotees half an hour before the band took the stage. The floor was almost completely packed by showtime, while some seats in the stands stayed empty, though thanks to the fired-up fans, mostly of the intellectual-looking variety, you barely noticed. Plenty of ‘music doctors’, bespectacled swots and black-clad metalheads were there, as expected; in fact they were the majority, but there were also quite a few representatives of the fairer sex, not necessarily there as someone’s plus-one. Which prompts a cheeky observation: the presence of so many swooning ladies at a gig by one of the least ‘cocky’ bands in the world, one that couldn’t care less about trends, is yet more proof that Canadian singer James LaBrie hasn’t lost his charm over the years, even if he no longer hides his gray streaks.
Dream Theater decided that the current tour, which incidentally also coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of their debut »When Dream And Day Unite« (1989), would be dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the album »Awake« (1994) and the fifteenth anniversary of the concept masterpiece »Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory« (1999). The setlist was tailored accordingly, full of surprises and spanning both newer and older material, with the nineties favorites from those two albums saving their turn for the second half of the three-hour show. On the screen in the background, fantastic video projections ran between songs the whole time, hugely boosting the already outstanding atmosphere in the hall.
The opening animation was a hit already, showing animated covers of all the Dream Theater albums so far, and together with the taped »False Aweakening Suite« it made for a highly entertaining overture to the band walking on stage. Legendary Rush, who are among the main role models of these American prog metal masters, did something similar with their album covers years ago. Dream Theater are probably one of the last rock bands in the world you could accuse of having a predictable setlist, so there was no way to guess which songs they’d play that night. The fun surprise was leaving their one and only hit »Pull Me Under« off the list, and most people barely missed it, since we heard so many better and far more interesting compositions, including some Dream Theater hadn’t played in years. Some Iron Maiden could learn a lot from this example about how to put together an interesting live setlist without the same old worn-out ‘staples’.
The band opened the show with a long instrumental intro to a new song, the punchy »Enemy Inside«, one of their better creations in recent years, with ‘head and tail’ and a strong pacifist message, reinforced by a video about a traumatized ex-soldier who can’t get over the horrors of war. Even before LaBrie appeared on stage, the quartet of virtuoso maniacs ‘blew the heads off’ everyone who doesn’t often get to see them up close and had maybe slightly forgotten just how enviable their instrumental abilities are. Guitar maestro and original member John Petrucci was once again in ‘his own universe’ while improvising, and in the old manner he swapped between six-string and seven-string guitars throughout the set. His partner in crime and fellow original member, proverbially serious bassist John Myung, didn’t hold back with his seasoned finesse when it comes to the art of laying down complex, challenging bass lines.
Jordan Rudess, adorned with a gray goatee and, along with Petrucci, without a doubt the most ‘unplugged-from-reality’ member of the band, proved in the opening minutes that he’s not just a phenomenal keyboardist with a ‘supersonic’ approach to working the keys but also a first-rate entertainer, whose burlesque grimaces, especially for the camera, got quite a few belly laughs. During »Enemy Inside« his keyboards, which included two rotating synthesizers and a portable keytar-style synth shaped like some kind of seashell, were tuned slightly higher than on the studio version, which you noticed right away. Mike Mangini’s futuristic drum setup left nothing to the imagination and looked like a silver kiosk where you buy tickets, while his Spartan approach to the drums meant that very few people in the audience gave a thought to his famous predecessor. LaBrie, even though he’s no longer in the bloom of youth, is still an excellent singer, and it’s usually his singing that ‘grounds’ the band a bit after longer instrumental flights and breathes soul into it.
After the dramatic energy catalyst that is »Enemy Inside« came »The Shattered Fortress« from Portnoy’s last album, »Black Clouds And Silver Leanings«, with even more ‘supersonic’ improvisational flights from the masters of their instruments. The sound, which was best at the mixing desk, wasn’t optimal at the start of the show, but by the third song, »On The Backs of Angels« from »A Dramatic Turn of Events«, when the band was well warmed up, it quickly improved, so LaBrie’s vocals came through a lot more clearly for the rest of the set. With »The Looking Glass« they once again reminded us that they’ve got a new album ‘out there’ that couldn’t carry a more fitting title. The first big surprise was the epic suite »Trail of Tears«, from the often-overlooked album »Falling Into Infinity« (1997), which served as our first time-machine trip back to the nineties, when Dream Theater built their reputation as prog metal champions. The performance of »Enigma Machine«, another thrilling highlight from the current studio album, which we also enjoyed thanks to a brilliantly witty video-game-style animation starring the band members, featured a breathtaking Mangini drum solo that sent every young drummer who dreams of becoming the most technically polished in their craft straight to nirvana. Mangini (for now) doesn’t have Portnoy’s entertaining stage charisma, but on the other hand it’s good that with him the band has found the stability and conflict-free personality it needed.
With »Along For The Ride« and »Breaking All Illusions«, where Petrucci and Rudess got plenty of chances for improvisational duels, the first part of the show wrapped up, followed by a fifteen-minute break. During the intermission Dream Theater made sure nobody was bored: the whole hall had a ball watching satirical commercials starring the band members, who clearly have a decent sense of self-deprecating humor. The only one you could accuse of lacking a sense of humor is the eternally serious bassist Myung, who still managed more smiles during the show than people are usually used to seeing from him. We got satirical ads for special plastic dolls of Rudess and LaBrie, while Petrucci’s doll became the new member of the Transformers robots. Petrucci also poked fun at old friend Joe Satriani, who, in a sonically manipulated verbal showdown, ‘squealed’ in an Italian accent during a guitar shred-off while John, like some character from Mortal Kombat, threatened to rip his heart out. Of course the clip was staged for laughs, since Satriani and all the Dream Theater members are old friends.
According to LaBrie, the harshest criticism Dream Theater usually get from their detractors is that they have no soul, but that night, besides demonstrations of huge technical know-how on the individual instruments, we also got to enjoy plenty of gorgeous arrangements and parts with deep lyrical messages. That goes especially for the nineties material in the second half of the show, when they played five songs in a row from the cult »Awake«, which means we heard the entire second half of the album. Some of them were songs Dream Theater hadn’t played in quite a few years, including the classic »Lie«, so all the devotees were completely blown away by a heaping load of freshly ‘resurrected’ prog metal standards. For the finale of the second part, the prog metal heavyweights played the epic masterpiece »Illumination Theory«, from the current studio album.
Then came the third and final part of the show, dedicated to songs from the concept magnum opus »Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory«, for many even their greatest achievement ever, the one with which Dream Theater made history and stepped into the ranks of the most important names in modern progressive rock. A brief recap of the album’s complex concept about an individual’s memories of a past life came through performances of key pieces from it, in this case »Overture 1928«, »Strange Deja Vu«, »The Dance of Eternity« and »Finally Free«, all of which rank among the compositional peaks of their career.
Dream Theater once again confirmed their reputation as a first-class live attraction for every music gourmet who prizes top-tier technical chops, a refusal to chase current sonic trends and the richest arrangement variety possible, so during their ‘walk through time’ they left absolutely nobody in the hall indifferent. It was an extra treat to hear so much material from »Awake« and »Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory«, plus »Trail of Tears« from the perennially ‘forgotten’ album »Falling Into Infinity«, while there was also an abundance of positive moments from the newer material, especially the songs from the two studio albums with Mangini. Whenever Dream Theater play, it’s fun to see so many gobsmacked faces on the music doctors, who can’t stop marveling at the boundless technical know-how of four champions of their instruments. Meanwhile the rest of the crowd, who don’t care who will play a given improvisation faster in the academically charged jams, enjoyed themselves most during the songs with ‘head and tail’ and a concrete message, which luckily dominated that night and so won over even those who don’t count themselves among the prog metal fanatics.
Setlist
Act I
1. False Awakening Suite (intro)
2. The Enemy Inside
3. The Shattered Fortress
4. On the Backs of Angels
5. The Looking Glass
6. Trial of Tears
7. Enigma Machine (with drum solo by Mike Mangini)
8. Along for the Ride
9. Breaking All Illusions
Act II
10. The Mirror
11. Lie
12. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
13. Scarred
14. Space-Dye Vest
15. Illumination Theory
—encore—
16. Overture 1928
17. Strange Déjà Vu
18. The Dance of Eternity
19. Finally Free
20. Illumination Theory (outro)
Photo Gallery
