2016-02-18 & 19 - Palladium, London UK

[BlobVanDam]

This is another example, in my opinion, of people being a little too hard on Dream Theater for problems that pretty much all other bands have. There aren't a lot of older vocalists out there who still kill it every night. James Hetfield has struggled for years, Geddy Lee stopped singing some songs entirely, and even the great Bruce Dickinson doesn't nail every note anymore. It's just the reality of being a 50+ year-old singer. Live shows are more about the atmosphere anyway. Maybe the band could compensate by down-tuning some of their songs? I dunno. All things considered, I still think James sounds pretty good.

The list of singers who can do what JLB does every night on that schedule with that level of consistency is a short list indeed. I think people are hard on him because he's managed to set such a high bar for himself in recent times, and it's easy to forget that he's 50+ now and still singing a lot of these songs from when he was in his 20s.

[Prog Snob]

This is another example, in my opinion, of people being a little too hard on Dream Theater for problems that pretty much all other bands have. There aren't a lot of older vocalists out there who still kill it every night. James Hetfield has struggled for years, Geddy Lee stopped singing some songs entirely, and even the great Bruce Dickinson doesn't nail every note anymore. It's just the reality of being a 50+ year-old singer. Live shows are more about the atmosphere anyway. Maybe the band could compensate by down-tuning some of their songs? I dunno. All things considered, I still think James sounds pretty good.

Nobody is being too hard on anybody. 

[ariich]

I don't think you should take the screen that seriously. I guess the person responsible for it just found it fitting, and the band wasn't diligent enough to realize.

Also.... Arent the trumpets on the album too? If so.... Then it had to be known by JP yeah?

The music on the album is very obviously symbolic - if it wasn't, then why would every character be SINGING every line of dialogue?

As I said before, the vids are seemed pretty clearly intended symbolically to me, though perhaps a bit less obviously so. Arguably a bit of an oversight there.

[The Curious Orange]

When and how did a thread about a great DT show turn into a thread about JLB-bashing?? Ah, I just love DTF...

[Billzo]

When and how did a thread about a great DT show turn into a thread about JLB-bashing?? Ah, I just love DTF...

This 

[Logain Ablar]

Just got back last night from my long weekend to London. The gig on the 18th was my first DT gig and it didn't disappoint. So great to see the guys doing their thing live.

It is a little intimidating going to a gig on your own, but a big shout out to the DTF-ers I met at the Argyll Arms (Billzo et al), albeit too briefly. It was nice to chat to like-minded strangers from the internet.  Seriously, though, everyone I met was very cool indeed.

In the venue, I sat beside a really nice 'northern' couple who had been following the band for over 20 years. They had bought tickets for the Friday night as well as the Meet and Greet. The girl was moved to tears at several times during the show, and had to be consoled by her other half. His contribution was to shout out "James LaBrie - F***ing awesome!!" in the break between a couple of the songs. Pretty funny.

On the other side was a cool guy called Jeff who was also on his own, as his mate had to travel with work at late notice. He said he'd only listened to the album a couple of times, and said he was definitely not into concept albums, or LOTR or anything like that, but he was very complimentary.

One thing that struck me was the variety of the crowd - there was a real mix of young and old, guys and girls, metalheads and just normal folks.

The lack of an encore didn't surprise me, as I wasn't expecting one, but there was a *lot* of cheering at the end which kinda fuelled a bit of hope that they might re-appear even to say a few words, but it wasn't to be. Didn't bother me, but the booing from a few eejits was disappointing.

All in all, a fantastic experience, and one that I'll remember for a long time. One other enduring memory is the image of a couple of folks a few rows in front sitting eating ice cream during 2285 Entr'acte. There's just something so hilariously anti "rock and roll" about that, but secretly I'm probably just jealous that I didn't have one! 

[Billzo]

One other enduring memory is the image of a couple of folks a few rows in front sitting eating ice cream during 2285 Entr'acte. There's just something so hilariously anti "rock and roll" about that, but secretly I'm probably just jealous that I didn't have one! 

My mate was sat next to me eating ice cream for that song too... I was sitting there thinking "This is an extremely bizarre situation...".

It was great to meet you mate! 

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

^^ I'm taking a musician friend with me who's DT interest is basically exstint these days but he thought the concept for this sounded intriguing so we'll see if he can stick through 2 hours of new music.

I said to him that it would be a good idea to listen to atleast some songs given that's the only thing they play on this tour and I also gave him some song suggestions and his response:

"Yea, sure"

Not the most convincing answere but I warned him atleast. 

[Logain Ablar]

^^ I'm taking a musician friend with me who's DT interest is basically exstint these days but he thought the concept for this sounded intriguing so we'll see if he can stick through 2 hours of new music.

I said to him that it would be a good idea to listen to atleast some songs given that's the only thing they play on this tour and I also gave him some song suggestions and his response:

"Yea, sure"

Not the most convincing answere but I warned him atleast. 

Does he like ice cream?? 

TBH the bloke beside me seemed to be more of a casual fan, and maybe he wasn't into the concept or familiar with the songs, but he was at least very complimentary on the musicianship on display. I think there are a fair number of folks out there that will go to the shows, but won't be as obsessed about the whole thing as we are on here.. 

[TheOutlawXanadu]

This is another example, in my opinion, of people being a little too hard on Dream Theater for problems that pretty much all other bands have. There aren't a lot of older vocalists out there who still kill it every night. James Hetfield has struggled for years, Geddy Lee stopped singing some songs entirely, and even the great Bruce Dickinson doesn't nail every note anymore. It's just the reality of being a 50+ year-old singer. Live shows are more about the atmosphere anyway. Maybe the band could compensate by down-tuning some of their songs? I dunno. All things considered, I still think James sounds pretty good.

Nobody is being too hard on anybody. 

I would respectfully disagree. Some of your posts the last few pages came across as a little harsh. Perhaps I misunderstood, but that's the way I interpreted it. Judging by the amount of push back you got from other people, I don't feel like I'm alone in thinking that.

[CrimsonSunrise]

The music on the album is very obviously symbolic - if it wasn't, then why would every character be SINGING every line of dialogue?

As I said before, the vids are seemed pretty clearly intended symbolically to me, though perhaps a bit less obviously so. Arguably a bit of an oversight there.

I agree with the symbolism aspect. With regards to my comment, I think we just love to Monday morning quarterback things here at DTF    With that realization in mind....  I'd say it would have been cool using a bizarre NOMAC type fanfare    But hey... bottom line is my opinion counts for zilch.  JP has more talent in one of his finger nails than I have in my whole body 

[SebastianPratesi]

The music on the album is very obviously symbolic - if it wasn't, then why would every character be SINGING every line of dialogue?

As I said before, the vids are seemed pretty clearly intended symbolically to me, though perhaps a bit less obviously so. Arguably a bit of an oversight there.

Yeah, I thought the same thing about the album - the trumpets don't seem out of place to me. I had my doubt about the video, though.

I'd say it would have been cool using a bizarre NOMAC type fanfare   

I agree. That would have been a very creative idea!

[Prog Snob]

This is another example, in my opinion, of people being a little too hard on Dream Theater for problems that pretty much all other bands have. There aren't a lot of older vocalists out there who still kill it every night. James Hetfield has struggled for years, Geddy Lee stopped singing some songs entirely, and even the great Bruce Dickinson doesn't nail every note anymore. It's just the reality of being a 50+ year-old singer. Live shows are more about the atmosphere anyway. Maybe the band could compensate by down-tuning some of their songs? I dunno. All things considered, I still think James sounds pretty good.

Nobody is being too hard on anybody. 

I would respectfully disagree. Some of your posts the last few pages came across as a little harsh. Perhaps I misunderstood, but that's the way I interpreted it. Judging by the amount of push back you got from other people, I don't feel like I'm alone in thinking that.

I wasn't attempting to be harsh. I was being realistic. It has nothing to do with James' age since he's had these pitch problems for years now. Like I said earlier, I think James is a great singer and just because he can't hit the notes he was able to hit in the early 90s doesn't make him a bad singer. I just don't think it sounds good when he attempts to sing things his voice can't handle anymore. He tries to improvise with those notes sometimes and it doesn't sound good.

[genome]

You can see the dodgy photoshopped Faythe-in-bed that a few of us have mentioned in this video at 1:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV0d5UwJwq8

It's still making me laugh out loud. 

[ariich]

You can see the dodgy photoshopped Faythe-in-bed that a few of us have mentioned in this video at 1:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV0d5UwJwq8

It's still making me laugh out loud. 

YES!

The funniest thing was that it kept reappearing at different angles. Such art.

[genome]

I remember you pointing out that she has her hood on, which makes it even better.

[ResultsMayVary]

You can see the dodgy photoshopped Faythe-in-bed that a few of us have mentioned in this video at 1:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV0d5UwJwq8

It's still making me laugh out loud. 

YES!

The funniest thing was that it kept reappearing at different angles. Such art.

It honestly doesn't look that bad at all from the above view (minus the hood of course  ), but I imagine it looked much worse from the different angles you're suggesting.

[ariich]

You can see the dodgy photoshopped Faythe-in-bed that a few of us have mentioned in this video at 1:14

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV0d5UwJwq8

It's still making me laugh out loud. 

YES!

The funniest thing was that it kept reappearing at different angles. Such art.

It honestly doesn't look that bad at all from the above view (minus the hood of course  ), but I imagine it looked much worse from the different angles you're suggesting.

It's kinda hard to explain. It doesn't look that bad - it's pretty similar to a lot of the other stuff. But the way it's the same cardboard cutout of Faythe, with the hood and all, just put into a bed in a really cheesy way, and the swirling motion and then the same thing from different angles - I just couldn't take it seriously. Like Simon, I'm still laughing about it now

[genome]

Yeah, it's not the way it's been cut in there, it's the fact they used the same album sleeve image of Faythe and just stuck her in a bed, hood and all.

[nightmare_cinema]

I remember you pointing out that she has her hood on, which makes it even better.

Haha!! So glad you mentioned this. I was sat all the way across the hall alone sniggering at that so bad and forgot to mention it to you guys afterwards! That was hilarious!

[genome]

The guy next to me wondered why I was laughing.

I forgot to mention there were two people in front of me who left at the interval. Either they hated it or thought that was the end of the gig...

[ariich]

I remember you pointing out that she has her hood on, which makes it even better.

Haha!! So glad you mentioned this. I was sat all the way across the hall alone sniggering at that so bad and forgot to mention it to you guys afterwards! That was hilarious!

The guy next to me wondered why I was laughing.

I find it immensely pleasing that the three of us were chuckling about this in our individual seats while everyone around us was like "what's so funny?".

[ErHaO]

Yes, that footage made me smile as well.

To my surprise, some of the hilarious stuff shown in the trailer wasn't nearly as awkwards in the actual show. In the trailer, Xander on the raven makes me crack up, but with that red filter over it and in the (symbolic) context of the actual song (not Our New World), it worked.

[Logain Ablar]

I don't remember seeing that image of Faythe in the bed, but I couldn't really see the main screens too well from my seat, so I wasn't paying too much attention to them anyway. Seems like there's been a bit of Reduce Reuse Recycle going on..

What was kind of annoying was the L-shaped screen at the front left of the stage (looked like a tetris piece), which was partially blocking my view.

[ariich]

They had those on either side, plus the screen on the drum riser. From a little further back it was great having those as it made the visuals very immersive. I can imagine if you were right behind one, though, that'd be pretty annoying.

[Logain Ablar]

This was the view from my seat. Couldn't really see Jordan at all behind the Tetris screen

https://imgur.com/a/92F56

Just unlucky I suppose. From other people's photos further back, the whole stage looked very cool.

[CharlesPL]

https://rockgig.blogspot.com/2016/02/dream-theater-london-palladium-19-02-16.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

[mike099]

Thanks for posting!  Those were some great pictures.

[Prog Snob]

Great photos, Charles!

[Logain Ablar]

https://rockgig.blogspot.com/2016/02/dream-theater-london-palladium-19-02-16.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

Great review and pics. Top marks to the guy with the Ravenskill flag!!

[metrojam]

Just got back last night from my long weekend to London. The gig on the 18th was my first DT gig and it didn't disappoint. So great to see the guys doing their thing live.

It is a little intimidating going to a gig on your own, but a big shout out to the DTF-ers I met at the Argyll Arms (Billzo et al), albeit too briefly. It was nice to chat to like-minded strangers from the internet.  Seriously, though, everyone I met was very cool indeed.

In the venue, I sat beside a really nice 'northern' couple who had been following the band for over 20 years. They had bought tickets for the Friday night as well as the Meet and Greet. The girl was moved to tears at several times during the show, and had to be consoled by her other half. His contribution was to shout out "James LaBrie - F***ing awesome!!" in the break between a couple of the songs. Pretty funny.

On the other side was a cool guy called Jeff who was also on his own, as his mate had to travel with work at late notice. He said he'd only listened to the album a couple of times, and said he was definitely not into concept albums, or LOTR or anything like that, but he was very complimentary.

One thing that struck me was the variety of the crowd - there was a real mix of young and old, guys and girls, metalheads and just normal folks.

The lack of an encore didn't surprise me, as I wasn't expecting one, but there was a *lot* of cheering at the end which kinda fuelled a bit of hope that they might re-appear even to say a few words, but it wasn't to be. Didn't bother me, but the booing from a few eejits was disappointing.

All in all, a fantastic experience, and one that I'll remember for a long time. One other enduring memory is the image of a couple of folks a few rows in front sitting eating ice cream during 2285 Entr'acte. There's just something so hilariously anti "rock and roll" about that, but secretly I'm probably just jealous that I didn't have one! 

!!!!!!!!...how old are you?!!!!!!

[Logain Ablar]

!!!!!!!!...how old are you?!!!!!!

It's ok - I did all my chores that week, so Mum said I could go.

[IdoSC]

I think we have to face it... Wacken 2015 was not the "odd one out".

Sorry but totally disagree with that sentiment. Yes he may be a little more inconsistent as his age shows, but he still has a lot of great nights, and his great nights are really spot on. No need to go to either extreme about that, a Prog Metal singer is allowed to make mistakes here and there. You're looking on 2 tour debut shows and one badly recorded show where he claimed he was sick too, but then so many shows from 2009-2015 were amazing if you followed these tours closely and unfortunately people ignore that when they bring up Wacken. Even 2007-2008 wasn't that bad most of the time.

[Prog Snob]

!!!!!!!!...how old are you?!!!!!!

It's ok - I did all my chores that week, so Mum said I could go.

How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat.

[IdoSC]

Just got back last night from my long weekend to London. The gig on the 18th was my first DT gig and it didn't disappoint. So great to see the guys doing their thing live.

It is a little intimidating going to a gig on your own, but a big shout out to the DTF-ers I met at the Argyll Arms (Billzo et al), albeit too briefly. It was nice to chat to like-minded strangers from the internet.  Seriously, though, everyone I met was very cool indeed.

In the venue, I sat beside a really nice 'northern' couple who had been following the band for over 20 years. They had bought tickets for the Friday night as well as the Meet and Greet. The girl was moved to tears at several times during the show, and had to be consoled by her other half. His contribution was to shout out "James LaBrie - F***ing awesome!!" in the break between a couple of the songs. Pretty funny.

On the other side was a cool guy called Jeff who was also on his own, as his mate had to travel with work at late notice. He said he'd only listened to the album a couple of times, and said he was definitely not into concept albums, or LOTR or anything like that, but he was very complimentary.

One thing that struck me was the variety of the crowd - there was a real mix of young and old, guys and girls, metalheads and just normal folks.

The lack of an encore didn't surprise me, as I wasn't expecting one, but there was a *lot* of cheering at the end which kinda fuelled a bit of hope that they might re-appear even to say a few words, but it wasn't to be. Didn't bother me, but the booing from a few eejits was disappointing.

All in all, a fantastic experience, and one that I'll remember for a long time. One other enduring memory is the image of a couple of folks a few rows in front sitting eating ice cream during 2285 Entr'acte. There's just something so hilariously anti "rock and roll" about that, but secretly I'm probably just jealous that I didn't have one! 

!!!!!!!!...how old are you?!!!!!!

Concerts are a very social experience, even if you're "old enough" it both kinda sucks and might be intimidating to attend one alone. Kinda like going to the movies by yourself, but even more extreme.