Boston

[DragonAttack]

Got to sit next to TAC, meet Buddyhunter before the show, and Kingpostwhore and his Queen at intermission.

Can't ask for a better night.

The band, and JLB, were on frickin' fire! 👍 Tops my DC 2008 as my favorite Dream Theater concert experience.

I thank you all!

[Architeuthis]

That's awesome! So glad you had a great time. The Seattle show was incredible too. 💥💫

[Bardic Tortoise]

I was there with a non-DTF buddy (actually, the guy that got me into metal nearly 20 years ago!) and kept wondering how many people around me were DTF people whose handles I would recognize.

It was a great show. Only my third (fourth if you count the tour that DT opened for Maiden). I previously had seen one full set with Portnoy right around when I was getting into the band (2007 or 2008 on the Chaos in Motion tour) and one with Mangini shortly after he joined when they were touring ADTOE (that show actually got me into DTF, as it was general admission so I lined up early and ended up chatting with some DTFers and sitting with them for the show). As you can see, I pretty much sat out the Mangini years after that, though I continued to listen to the albums as they came out.

Anyway, had a lovely time last night. So nice to see the guys back together, and a treat to hear Octavarium live after all these years.

[Stadler]

Got to sit next to TAC, meet Buddyhunter before the show, and Kingpostwhore and his Queen at intermission.

Can't ask for a better night.

The band, and JLB, were on frickin' fire! 👍 Tops my DC 2008 as my favorite Dream Theater concert experience.

I thank you all!

But I'll bet it was no bed of roses!!! 

(I kid, of course).

[DTiwbwMP]

LOVE their first 2 albums!

[Adami]

Meeting Joe and Lisa is hard to top.

[TAC]

So...

Boston show last night. They played at the Boch Center, which for decades was known as the Wang Center, which in the classic 70's bootleg lore was known as the Boston Music Hall. It's where they played for the first time on the AVFTTOTW tour, and it's the SEVENTH venue in Boston that I have seen Dream Theater play.

I'm the type of fan that hates these "Anniversary" type tours, or "Let's play an old ass album in its entirety" tours. Obviously, I wasn't going to miss this show though. The fact that it's now 2 1/2 years since MP's return, my excitement was pretty tempered. If they are concerned about how much time they have left, they sure as hell ain't acting like it.

Setlist wise, it is full of great songs. Not in the "best setlist ever" sentiments that I feel like I've been reading, but still, great tunes across the board. I saw the setlist at the start of the leg, and then they stared sprinkling in some different songs. I haven't followed it to know the various alternate shows or groupings.

Joe (DragonAttack) came up to come with me so The Lovely Mrs TAC got out of being dragged to another DT show. lol
Real nice catching up. Grabbed a great burger at the 4th Wall.

OK..the show. Holy shit, the place was packed. We were in the 4th row of the Mezz and looking up to see the rest of the balcony..the crowd was impressive.

Opening with Metropolis apparently has been a crapshoot for James. Although however he is in Metropolis, the comments have said that it's his toughest track right out of the gate, but that he improves throughout the show. Well, I gotta say, James was on it last night from the jump. He sang Metropolis with power and range, and even when he was pitchy, as he was from time to time during the show, it was never screeching cat pitchy.
The other thing that stood out about Metropolis was MP obviously. I have air and tapped drummed those parts for over 30 years, and it was really nice to have it back. I saw a number of shows on the original I&W tour, and they opened with Metropolis and the instrumental section was always such a statement. It gave me goosebumps watching it, but in my mind, I was really reliving those early days of my DT fandom. Really special times for me, musically.

I love Overture 1928. It doesn't even feel like an overture. This is placed in the set nicely to let James recover a bit. Strange Deja Vu is always surprisingly punchy.

The Mirror followed and it's really the only song in the set that I really didn't care about. Not the performance, but the song itself. I guess I never realized what a mouthful it is for James. He handled it well, because I thought at any point, he was gonna crack, but he was really strong.
I was surprised to see Jordan come out with his keytar during this song. I haven't watched many videos and had no clue how it would be incorporated. I feel like they crammed its use in here where it really wasn't needed. The part doesn't really scream keytar like it has done in other tracks like Endless Sacrifice. Also, Jordan just seemed lost out there with it. Like he would look at JP, and got no response, and then he'd look at JM, and well... so he just wandered around with it on a not very keyboard centric section.

We got the Panic Attack/The Dark Eternal Night combination..thank God. Both songs killed, and it was cool that they reused the NADS cartoon. Hollow Years was amazing. The JR/JP extended intro was incredible, and JP's solo of course is an all timer, turning a Botton 20 song into a Top 20 song. Seriously. Amazing.

And Under A Glass Moon is a song that when I see it in the set, I just don't get excited, but that's on me because it's a great song and live it's great as well. It also invoked those early DT days for me, and like I said, that's a special place.

For the second set...Night Terror was amazing. This song has really grown on me and I think it's excellent. The instrumental section is classic DT and watching it played live is impressive. It took me a bit to warm up to it, but I really love it now.

I'm happy they added Midnight Messiah. I think I appreciate the fact that they played it more than I really enjoyed it. It was fine..straight forward, although JP's solo was pretty sick.

This Is The Life followed, and it was beautiful. I'm not saying it's one of my DT faves when I say this, but I believe it's one of their best and most well written songs.  I love the fact that MP really dug in on it, and convincingly played all of the accents that made it feel so grand. There's a musicality to MP's playing and it really showed in how he supported the song. The climax was incredible, and had a Marathon type feel to it.

Vacant..all I can say is..WOW. I don't know what the fuck JP was doing underneath James, but he sounded incredible. James was great on it, but JP's guitar part really carried this. Fucking wow!
I've never seen Stream Of Consciousness live before, and even though it's not my favorite DT instrumental, I was looking forward to it. It was really powerful. The video presentation for SOC was....am I at  Grateful Dead show or what?? Really fucking trippy.

And then of course...Octavarium. What an absolute fucking beast! It is my #2 favorite DT song, and it never disappoints. I thought their performance was really intentional and it carried with a great pace. Just an amazing song and performance.
One thing I was thinking is that I would love for Jordan to do his intro at the front of the stage. Like have the lap steel guitar and Continuum appear from down front. It's such an important part and it's like JR is relegated to the back corner, and it deserves to be front and center. I don't know. That's what I was thinking.

They skipped Home, and The Spirit Carries On was really nice. I started my way towards the parking garage as PMU began.


I thought the sound was really good. Well mixed and as others have said, definitely not too loud. The video presentation...was actually cool. I mean, it is too much, but I feel like it was way more distracting at the Dreamsonic show. Personally, I don't need a grand video presentation, but for songs like The Mirror, the Awake mirror video was cool as shit.
And clearly I haven't been paying attention but...fucking lasers?? Holy shit, that was awesome.


JM- he was in his spot chug chugging away. He was fairly stationary, but I felt like his head bobbing game was raised. I mean, it's a slight notice, but I felt it was there. I'd love to see him roam the stage a bit more. I could hear him just fine, and I always appreciate that. Not the loudest I've heard him, but I could still hear him.

JR- really, he was just doing his thing. I felt the keytar thing fell kind of flat, and if you can't get it into the set naturally, don't force it. But like I said with 8V, I'd love to see him at the front of the stage for...something. He seemed like he was in a great mood though, they all did, and during MP's introduction, he even jumped off his riser to the middle of the stage out of nowhere, and I've frankly never seen that before. A playful moment that was really nice.

James- James had a good fucking night, I'll say that. He didn't hit everything, and went low  purposefully on some things, but I found him generally powerful and on point, and he pushed himself pretty hard, but never seemed to pay the price for it. Night and day compared to Dreamsonic. Seriously, bravo James. He's still an awkward as hell frontman. His stage banter is pretty off kilter most of the time. He paid a really nice tribute to Boston as being the place that the band formed. I thought that was great. And holy shit, does he like to walk around in circles. lol
But James moved confidently, and was in a great mood, probably tied into his own performance, because he brought it. What does Indiscipline call him...Big James? He was Big James last night.
The other thing I thought of is that Bruce Dickinson is notorious for keeping warm. Known for having A/Cs shut off, to being extremely overdressed. I thought of that while I watched James parade around in a t-shirt on a March evening in the northeast.


MP- Look, I loved the Mangini years musically. He was amazing to watch play live. So fucking tight. But DT with MP is the band that I fell in love with. It's a sound that blends perfectly for me, and hearing Metropolis with MP really reminded me of that. I've always said that MP looks like a kid playing in his bedroom. I love that spirit about him. And while I love watching drummers at concerts, there's something about MP's style that draws you in. His drumming musicality is really underrated IMO, especially in the conversation about technicality in the other thread.


JP..Ok..the first thing I noticed is that he looks smaller and lankier. I was on the other side but from where I was, that's what I thought. I also had a great view of his...forehead, and I don't think he's too far away from a skullet. If he's gonna downsize his body, he should really dial back the hair and beard.  But holy shit, what a fucking great player. The intro to Hollow Years reminded me so much of Gary Moore.
But more than anything, he just looked...relaxed. Like all he had to worry about was playing guitar. He doesn't have to be the defacto frontman anymore. There's noone happier than JP to have MP back. They were making faces at each other all night, even playing a sort of peek-a-boo during SOC.
Along these lines, it also got me thinking during the show about the whole click track debate. I was thinking that before MP left, MP likely handled a lot of the video preparation and direction..that sort of thing. I don't think that it was ever anything JP had to worry about. When MP left, I think JP decided that worrying about all of that would probably be distracting for him, and I think he wanted to nail down those parts of the show, so he wasn't worried about it. I feel like with the pressure riding on JP's shoulders, I think that was the best way for him to dissipate some of it. Unfortunately, it turned a DT concert into a DT performance, and last night...I went to a DT concert!



Meet up with Buddyhunter and Kingshmegland.






Some shots from the show...












Oh, and they were fine if you were taking pics. probably took close to 60, but they were definitely cracking down on people filming.

[wolfking]

Stellar review Tim, as expected. 

You left as PMU was starting though? 

[TAC]

You left as PMU was starting though? 

Yes! I didn't want to get stuck trying to get out.

[Metro]

Great review Tim!

I'll probably do the same with PMU. I've seen it twice already, though not with MP, but I'm good.

[wolfking]

Also, Wang Center. 

[nobloodyname]

The fact that it's now 2 1/2 years since MP's return, my excitement was pretty tempered. If they are concerned about how much time they have left, they sure as hell ain't acting like it.

It's been one and a half years. Your excitement needn't have been quite so tempered

Lovely review and photos, read every word.

[TAC]

It's been one and a half years. Your excitement needn't have been quite so tempered

Lovely review and photos, read every word.

Well, it feels that way. lol


And thank you.

[Awaken]

Yes! I didn't want to get stuck trying to get out.

This is my favorite 'dad trait', one of my favorite Progressive commercials (nailed it in the 'becoming your parents' series), and something my kids lol @ me for every event we attend - Show hasn't started yet, but the gameplan for exit has been finalized and most likely rehearsed.

I left after Home in CT since TSCO and PMU have been songs I don't necessarily need to see anymore.

Great review and pics, a lot of very similar sentiments from the night before in CT.  Boston got the setlist I was hoping for - fingers crossed we get that one in NYC Saturday.  Amazing seeing them still together and playing at the level they're playing.   

[TAC]

Oh, I forgot another thing I took notice of...LIVE BACKING VOCALS!!

[DragonAttack]

Oh, I forgot another thing I took notice of...LIVE BACKING VOCALS!!

That was probably just me you heard half the time 

[TAC]

That was probably just me you heard half the time 

Well, you were making the case to pipe them back in. 

[TAC]

This is my favorite 'dad trait', one of my favorite Progressive commercials (nailed it in the 'becoming your parents' series), and something my kids lol @ me for every event we attend - Show hasn't started yet, but the gameplan for exit has been finalized and most likely rehearsed.
 

 

For sure. Love those too.

[King Postwhore]

You old bastard, on a saturday night, even.  LOL