2016-04-26 The Palace Theatre, Greensburg, PA. Check in and Discussion

[newdull]

Well, hadn't seen a post for this show, so figured i'd do the honors.  Who's going to this one?

I saw Dream Theater here last time they came through(playing their self-titled Dream Theater album and Awake ).  Beautiful venue, and very fitting for The Astonishing show.  Can't wait!!



P.S.  I have 2 extra tickets for this show due to last minute cancellations.  I posted in the DT-Bay pinned post, if anyone is interested.

[mikeyd23]

I'm heading to this show! My buddy couldn't make it so I'll be coming solo.

I'll probably leave work and head straight over to Greenburg, get my ticket at will call and then grab dinner/brews.

I've been to this place a couple times:
https://therialto1933.com/

Good food and beer and its literally right next to the venue. If anyone wants to meet up, let me know!

[newdull]

Ooo, The Rialto looks cool.  We were planning on hitting up Oliver's Pourhouse before the show.  Still just a couple mins walk, and I've heard good things about it.

[mikeyd23]

The Pourhouse looks good too, I might have to change my plans and head there 

[newdull]

Oh well.

[Shooters1221]

Well, hadn't seen a post for this show, so figured i'd do the honors.  Who's going to this one?



I saw Dream Theater here last time they came through(playing their self-titled Dream Theater album and Awake ).  Beautiful venue, and very fitting for The Astonishing show.  Can't wait!!



P.S.  I have 2 extra tickets for this show due to last minute cancellations.  I posted in the DT-Bay pinned post, if anyone is interested.

Just saw this show, album was performed perfectly, James was on his game! Overall, the sound wasn't great but my seat was buried under the overhang...ANB was the highlight for sure! BRAVO!

[newdull]

Here's my quick review:

James LaBrie is an absolute powerhouse for this show .  He's front and center the entire night, and never shows any bit of fatigue.
Utterly.... astonishing! 

As incredible as the rest of the band was, and they were amazing , i personally feel like they were truly backing their frontman for this performance. 

Overall, i loved the show.  No major complaints from me. (i could get nitpicky about the mix/sound, but nothing was glaringly bad).

However, here's my gripe: the actual story is confusing for a "non-fan".  Out of the 5 people in my group, i was the only one that had listened to the new album(many times), and read the extended story on DT's website.  So, the other 4 were extremely confused as to what was actually going on with the story.  Intermission was spent explaining what was going on with the different characters to my group. [Examples: "No, not him.  That one is Xander's Dad." ,  "Yes, those 2 are in love."  "Well, right now those 2 are over at the palace talking with the Emperor."  "He's over in Ravenskill; he's the one that kidnapped Xander."  "Yes, Xander is Arhys son."  "He's going to betray his brother to save his son."  "His brother is Gabriel."]  I had worried about this from the day the album dropped.  I knew the idea was ambitious and i was all for it, but i wondered how easily the story would come across to the casual fan.  When i found out they were going to use "visuals" during their live show, i was excited that DT would have another medium that could tell the story to the audience.  However, as i found out last night, if you don't know what's going on beforehand, you won't during the show.  Some things do come across, obviously, but most don't land.  Now, is this necessarily a bad thing?  I'm not sure.  Story aside, the show still rocks.  I just felt that the story was one of the strongest parts to this new album, so if it doesn't properly come across....... What's the point?

On a more positive note, the visuals look amazing.  The lights, and the design and placement of the screens.  Very well done.  It makes the screens/visuals more like a part of the show, surrounding the band, instead of just watching a rectangular movie screen and ignoring the music being performed.  Similar to if you go to a hockey game, and catch yourself staring at the jumbo-tron, instead of the action in front of you.  This was a more immersive experience with the visuals, keeping your attention where it should be.

Thanks for reading.

[newdull]

On a amusing note, who else noticed LaBrie almost(actually might have been) late coming out for their last song The Astonishing?

I saw Mangini looking around confused, then mouthing to Petrucci: "Where's James??"

[mikeyd23]

My thoughts on the show last night:

Intro to the show was great, set the mood perfectly. Couple highlights that stuck out to me throughout the set...

Dystopian Overture was a great live opener, the band came out in good spirits and sounding as tight as ever.

The Gift of Music was a great crowd participation song, everyone seemed to know it and the audience (around me at least) were really into it.

The Answer and A Better Life Played perfectly live, the first was beautiful and really set the stage for the dynamics of the second. One thing that really stood out seeing TA played live was the dynamics of the music. After the delicate acoustic driven song, the big palm mutes at the beginning of ABL felt huge.

Savior in the Square and When Your Time Has Come were a highlight of the first act for sure. The SitS intro sounded so great live and WYTHC worked better than I thought it would in the live setting, once again the dynamic shift in the song really hit home seeing it performed live.

Three Days was heavy as all get out, James sounded fantastic on this one in particular and MM's playing through the tango and blast beat outro was insane.

Chosen was completely owned by JP, flawless playing the chords throughout and jumping up the frets to play the little soulful fills in between vocal lines. Also, I remember thinking how great his solo in that song was last night, it had some sort of emotion weight to it, great stuff.

A New Beginning absolutely a joy to watch live. This is one I hope they keep around for future tour setlists. JP's solo at the end was honestly one of the best I've ever seen from him. After JP finished his lead and the song ended, some guy sitting beside me who was pretty reserved throughout the show just spat out "Holy shit". 


Second Act (I took a piss and got a beer during intermission, definitely worth mentioning)

Moment of Betrayal was also a crowd favorite and absolutely rocks live. Another song that would be a welcome addition to future set lists.

Heaven's Cove seemed like it was right in Jame's sweet spot, he sounded better than the record on that song last night.

The Path That Divides was a monster live.

At the start of Hymn of a Thousand Voices James got everyone to stand which I thought was awesome.

Our New World was a great crowd sing-along song. The chorus filled that theater up in glorious fashion. 


General notes on the band members:

MM was a joy to watch. Someone on here (I think Stadler) mentioned that when he saw Mike this tour he seemed to be playing the music, not the drums. I agree wholeheartedly.

JMX was rock solid as usual. JR was perfect, didn't miss a beat, I'm still in awe every time I see him. I could sit a watch Jordan play piano all day.

JP and James were the MVPs to me. You could tell this was John's baby, he was really into it from start to finish, and he played his ass off. Smooth, fluid, great tone, he was on point. James was fantastic and exceeded my expectations. I think he fell more into each characters voice last night then he did on the album. He definitely was flat a few times, but he was going for each high note and his power was excellent. There were a couple times I was blown away by him.

From where I was sitting the mix was great, the balance between instruments was excellent. Overall, it was a great show and it was more than I could have hoped for. The visuals and the staging were top notch, probably the best I've ever seen from DT before.

[mikeyd23]

On a amusing note, who else noticed LaBrie almost(actually might have been) late coming out for their last song The Astonishing?

I saw Mangini looking around confused, then mouthing to Petrucci: "Where's James??"

Yeah I saw that too, pretty funny. All the band members intro each other and....no James haha

At least he made it to the mic before his cue, so its all good.

[newdull]

Great notes on the show!

I agree whole-heartedly about the dynamics of the music.

[Shooters1221]

On a amusing note, who else noticed LaBrie almost(actually might have been) late coming out for their last song The Astonishing?

I saw Mangini looking around confused, then mouthing to Petrucci: "Where's James??"

Yes, you are correct, Mangini was looking back and laughing and wondering if James would make out out in time for the first verse, but he did make it....lol. I've only seen this show once in this city so maybe they do that as an inside joke or something.

The visuals and lighting on this show were just incredible! Unlike any DT light show in the past.

[Dream Team]

Here's my quick review:

James LaBrie is an absolute powerhouse for this show .  He's front and center the entire night, and never shows any bit of fatigue.
Utterly.... astonishing! 

As incredible as the rest of the band was, and they were amazing , i personally feel like they were truly backing their frontman for this performance. 

Overall, i loved the show.  No major complaints from me. (i could get nitpicky about the mix/sound, but nothing was glaringly bad).

However, here's my gripe: the actual story is confusing for a "non-fan".  Out of the 5 people in my group, i was the only one that had listened to the new album(many times), and read the extended story on DT's website.  So, the other 4 were extremely confused as to what was actually going on with the story.  Intermission was spent explaining what was going on with the different characters to my group. [Examples: "No, not him.  That one is Xander's Dad." ,  "Yes, those 2 are in love."  "Well, right now those 2 are over at the palace talking with the Emperor."  "He's over in Ravenskill; he's the one that kidnapped Xander."  "Yes, Xander is Arhys son."  "He's going to betray his brother to save his son."  "His brother is Gabriel."]  I had worried about this from the day the album dropped.  I knew the idea was ambitious and i was all for it, but i wondered how easily the story would come across to the casual fan.  When i found out they were going to use "visuals" during their live show, i was excited that DT would have another medium that could tell the story to the audience.  However, as i found out last night, if you don't know what's going on beforehand, you won't during the show.  Some things do come across, obviously, but most don't land.  Now, is this necessarily a bad thing?  I'm not sure.  Story aside, the show still rocks.  I just felt that the story was one of the strongest parts to this new album, so if it doesn't properly come across....... What's the point?

On a more positive note, the visuals look amazing.  The lights, and the design and placement of the screens.  Very well done.  It makes the screens/visuals more like a part of the show, surrounding the band, instead of just watching a rectangular movie screen and ignoring the music being performed.  Similar to if you go to a hockey game, and catch yourself staring at the jumbo-tron, instead of the action in front of you.  This was a more immersive experience with the visuals, keeping your attention where it should be.

Thanks for reading.

You didn't try to explain the story ahead of time?

[HolidaysAnoraks]

Great show. I was up in the balcony, so I had a good view of all the visuals. Got to meet everyone except Myung afterward. They were all very humble / friendly guys, Mangini in particular. I told him I was a drummer and he asked me how his drums sounded in the mix. I was blown away by how genuine the band seemed, both on and off stage. The gig was definitely worth the 7+ hour drive!

[ResultsMayVary]

I just got back from the Cincinnati show and I couldn't agree more about Chosen being owned by JP. That song is on another fucking level in a live setting and JP just played perfectly. Chosen was definitely a top 3 highlight of the show. A New Beginning and Three Days being the others. MM is a fucking monster. I'm glad the drum mix live is higher than it is on the studio album because you get a really good appreciation of his playing and energy in the live setting. The dude gives 110% percent. And of course, JP, JR, and JMX absolutely fucking killed it. The band really hasn't sounded this tight, at least at the shows I've been able to see them. James was great, don't get me wrong, but you can tell there are a few parts that give him trouble. He still had a very good performance tonight in Cincinnati.

[newdull]

[review]

You didn't try to explain the story ahead of time?

Ha, an excellent point.  I guess i could have/ should have....  

However, i immensely enjoyed the suspense and "twists" of the story on my first listen.  So, I guess i didn't want to spoil it, and was hoping that the story would successfully be told to my group as it unfolded....