So wound up meeting Derek tonight

[JayOctavarium]

So my buddy and I went to the Black Label Society Unblackened show in LA tonight. We wound up both wearing DT shirts (neither of us own BLS shirts anymore). While we were walking up to the line for the doors, some dude comes up to us, points at our shirts, and tells us we are wearing the wrong colors. My buddy asks him if he was a DT fan and his response was "I was into them back in the day but not much anymore". (BTW the guy looked strangely familar...) After confessing that we are hardcore fans, the dude says he actually played with them in the 90's... I look at him dumbstruck. "DEREK?" Well turns out Derek was playing keys with Zakk.

We chatted for a moment or two, caught a pic with him, and headed inside. Then in the bar area of the venue we sat and chatted with a friend of his. Twas a  pretty bad ass experience.


Oh and the show was 







Fucker grew a beard for the show

[Zydar]

Holy shit, that's awesome!

He kind of looks like Petrucci with that beard.

[MoraWintersoul]

  amazing.

[?]

I wouldn't have recognized him either!

[perfey]

Awesome! Yeah, he looks really cool in that beard and fun how he played along at first .

[wasteland]

Derek sighting, amazing as always 

[MoraWintersoul]

Two more things:
1) not to brag but *I* would have recognized him on the spot
2) "not into them anymore"
*sharpens knife*

Just kidding. Derek gets a pass for everything he says because he's Derek

[?]

2) "not into them anymore"
*sharpens knife*

But maybe one day he stopped caring?

[MoraWintersoul]

2) "not into them anymore"
*sharpens knife*

But maybe one day he stopped caring?

On a side note, Jay, that outfit of yours is fucking perfect

[Mladen]

I wouldn't have recognized him either!

[Another_Won]

I barely recognize him now.  Great story!  I like the "I was into them back in the day . . ." response.

[Cedar redaC]

That's so awesome!

[MetropolisWatches]

Hilarious story- wouldn't have recognized him immediately.

[Pols Voice]

Cool story, man!

[TAC]

Holy shit, that's awesome!

[Orbert]

While we were walking up to the line for the doors, some dude comes up to us, points at our shirts...

That's pretty cool, really.  He saw your shirts and made it a point to mess with you a little bit.  Cool story!

[Madman Shepherd]

Thats awesome.  He always seemed like a cool guy.  The real question is:

Did he have lava lamps all around the stage?  Shag carpet?

Was Nicky Lemons there too?

[JayOctavarium]

[jonnybaxy]

Absolutely awesome, wouldnt have recognised him, but its cool how he came up to you

[MoraWintersoul]

Morale of the story - kids, always wear your DT shirts, there's a slight chance an ex-Dream Theater member will approach you and tease you for still liking that darn lame band

[wasteland]

Morale of the story - kids, always wear your DT shirts, there's a slight chance an ex-Dream Theater member will approach you and tease you for still liking that darn lame band

I will follow this advice the next time I cross the street to purchase stamps.

[goo-goo]

I would love to meet Derek sometime. Not because of his work with DT, but because of his solo albums. I just love every single one of them. Would love to have a chat with him about that. 

[bout to crash]

 , awesome.

[The Stray Seed]

Amazing story!!

[mike099]

Jay, where did your friend get his tshirt?  That has to be one large shirt.  I noticed a lot of band tshirts only go up to XL and most XL's are not large enough.

[Mebert78]

Cool story, but I wonder why he's not into DT anymore? 

[JayOctavarium]

Merbert... I think he was joking. You shoulfa seen my buddys face light up when he said he knew who DT was.




Mike... Custom made. It's a 5 or 6XL

[robwebster]

So my buddy and I went to the Black Label Society Unblackened show in LA tonight. We wound up both wearing DT shirts (neither of us own BLS shirts anymore). While we were walking up to the line for the doors, some dude comes up to us, points at our shirts, and tells us we are wearing the wrong colors. My buddy asks him if he was a DT fan and his response was "I was into them back in the day but not much anymore".

"Is that Dream Theater?"
"Yes. Yes, it is."

[Orbert]

Hee hee.

That's one of my favorite moments from that video.  JP's face is priceless.

[DebraKadabra]

Thats awesome.  He always seemed like a cool guy.  The real question is:

Did he have lava lamps all around the stage?  Shag carpet?

Was Nicky Lemons there too?

[Infinite Cactus]

I met Derek once when I was 17 and he was playing for Yngwie Malmsteen. I walked up to him after the show and said "I really like all of your work, and your one of my biggest influences. I'd buy you a drink but I'm 17 so do you want a Diet Coke or something?" He then gave me his autograph and a picture. He's a cool dude.

[DebraKadabra]

 

[Rattlehead]

That's awesome man 

[bout to crash]

The best part is that this is now Derek's Facebook photo 

[lonestar]

I saw that, fucking priceless.