2011-10-25 - Verizon Wireless Theater - Houston, TX

[fitzchrisdt]

Hey all.  Long time lurker, finally signed up a couple of weeks ago.  I'm lucky enough to be going to all three Texas dates next week and I'm super excited.  Luckily I have a wife that is cool enough to give me the time away to have a little Dream Theater vacation.  We live in Dallas, so I'll be heading into Houston on Tuesday, then on to Houston and back home.  I have never really been to Houston and I'm not at all familair with the area.  Can anyone recommend a decent hotel close th the Houston venue, OR a hotel somewhere along the route I would take from the venue to head out towards Austin? Looking to spend around $100 bucks, maybe a bit more for lodging in Houston but just have no clue about what parts of town are good, etc.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!  Thanks.

[Resonate]

Hi, I'm not in Houston but something that I find useful for finding hotel accomodations close to any events that I'm attending is Citysearch.com

Entering the address for the Houston venue gives you this:
https://houston.citysearch.com/profile/9837380/houston_tx/verizon_wireless_theater.htm

On the right side of that page is a link to click for nearby hotels:
https://houston.citysearch.com/listings/houston/lodging/72016_4287?lng=-95.3674&lat=29.7626

And the first hotel listed, the Lancaster, is about a block or so away from the venue.  Although for some reason Citysearch is saying it's located on Texas St., when it's actually on Texas Ave., same as the venue.  Don't know about Houston, but the difference between St. and Ave. in Los Angeles means not ending up at the wrong place. 

The link for that hotel is:
https://www.thelancaster.com

Looks like they have some pricing deals going on. Just playing with it briefly, I got the price for a room of $143.  Maybe it can lowered even more.  But if nothing gets the price where you want it,  you can probably get a better deal through Priceline or something similar.  And if that particular hotel does not work for you, maybe one of the others Citysearch mentions might be ok.  Or maybe a Houston resident will have a better suggestion for you.  Good luck!

[El Barto]

I'll try to get you some better intel in the next day or two,  since I'll be doing the same trip.  What I can tell you is that the venue is off of I45,  and you'll likely take I-10 halfway to Austin.  You'll have countless Holiday Inn Epxresses to choose from on either Interstate,  and since you'll be outside of Houston proper,  they'll all be pretty decent.  Either head back up 45 towards Woodlands, which will be easier after the show I suspect,  or get started out I-10 Westbound and make the next day a (slightly) shorter trip.  Either way,  unless you want a really cool downtown hotel,  I'd skip Houston altogether and get an Interstate hotel 30 miles outside of the city.

You'll be approaching Austin from the South the next day.  Plan your route to go through Lockhart for some barbecue beforehand. 

[fitzchrisdt]

Thanks for the info!  I appreciate it.  I'm like a kid a week before Christmas.  So excited for these shows.  Thanks again.

[cyberdrummer]

So who's at the show tonight?

[Progmetty]

El Barto for sure but I don't think he'll be providing the setlist tonight.

[RaiseTheKnife]

If my calculations are correct, and I certainly hope they are, tonight's set wil be D, which means tomorrow night will be C for me in Austin (yeah!!!)

[Progmetty]

There's a D list now? I haven't been monitoring for a week or so.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Yeah, D is same as B, except Outrcy replaces The Great Debate.  The band has been playing Outcry at every consecutive show since Toronto I think.

[lordsoth]

The setlist was exactly the same as the one in Orlando (UAGM, Silent Man, etc.).

The concert was amazing. The new songs were absolutely phenomenal. I loved BAI and Outcry.

With regards to security, they were also walking around making sure nobody was taking pictures or recording video. They kicked one guy out because he was recording and didn't stop when security saw him.

[El Barto]

The setlist was exactly the same as the one in Orlando (UAGM, Silent Man, etc.).

The concert was amazing. The new songs were absolutely phenomenal. I loved BAI and Outcry.

With regards to security, they were also walking around making sure nobody was taking pictures or recording video. They kicked one guy out because he was recording and didn't stop when security saw him.

My buddy got bounced for taking pictures.  Fortunately it was right before the encore so he only missed UaGM.  Not sure what their problem is.  Fairly uncool security, IMO.  Houston is rapidly becoming my least favorite place to see a show.