Even more hilarious, if somewhat annoying, was the drunk ratty fellow headbanging like an idiot who occasionally ruined everyone's hour by choosing to stand near them before buggering off for another pint. Poor Innes got the worst of the lashings, as the hair spun round the guy's head like a mace. Mitch and I quickly learnt to adopt the steady elbow technique to allow the nutter to injure himself if he got too close. Unfortunately his girlfriend hadn't figured that one out yet and got a nasty clock on the head half way through the third band.
Anyway...
Thankfully we managed to get a people buffer in time for the real deal. Innes did point out that the drum kit wasn't big enough for it to be Mike's... and he was right. This huge curtain was dropped after the building classical music and they were revealed in their full awesomeness. It felt like the intro to "Kung Fu Panda" - I was blinded by pure awesomeness. I can't remember which song they started with. But it was from their new album. The one that goes "Den dundun den dun dun den dun dun duen dun." Stragengerai or something.
Petrucci played some PHace melters that's for sure.He sounded just like Santana during one with slow expressive notes. Beautiful playing. The guy's a chunk too, I've never noticed before. Jordan Rudess was equally mind blowing with his wizardry on the iphone continuum and wizard hat/realtime midi controlled animation. Mike's stuff was lazily perfect and rhythmic to the extent that I wanted to dance round a fire shouting out like a tribesman. Bass-man was ripping it to shreads. At one point he pulled this note that left the whole place vibrating at some resonance frequency, my chest nearly disintegrated. I loved it. But hang on...
LaBrei (singer) gets loads of hassle from fans (including me in a gust documentary a few years ago) about how he isn't as good as the rest of em. Okay so he's not the best singer in the world. However, on hearing live I am proud to say with full confidence that I think he is bloody amazing! His stage presence just grabs you by the throat. i never thought I'd say this but... He's a freakin genius. He sang incredibly well, and didn't even seem awkward during the instrumentals, he just snuck off until his next section came in. How he can follow the timing I don't know. He is incredibly rock and incredibly metal, and it totally completes the band.
Dream Theater are, without a single doubt, the best progrock band there will ever be. I may not ever see a better set of musicians in my life.
If you have never listened to Dream Theater before, please please do so. Right now, they're on Spotify (free). Listen long enough to look past the metal image, the often silly lyrics, and their age (their average age is about 45 now but who cares!?) and you will see them for what they really are. A group of talented musicians that have come together to form the greatest band of all time.
You have been learned.
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