Well, my first DT concert was quite the experience to say the least.
As I've mentioned before my lovely wife showed her true love for me and accompanied me to the show. We got dinner at Mo's Irish pub across the street from the theater and heard quite a bit of DT conversation. Two tables down from us was a very "vocal" fan filling in his friends on everything they needed and didn't need to know about the band. He was not shy about spouting his knowledge and he wasn't shy about drinking. More on him later.
We got done with dinner around 6:30 and realized we forgot the tickets at the hotel, which thankfully was just across the street as well, so we walked back to pick them up. While waiting for the elevator we just happened to run into one of my wife's friends husband who was there with his brother to see the show as well. We talked a bit and said we'd meet up afterwards for a drink.
After getting to the theater I decided I was going to get some merch and put down for the hooded sweatshirt. A little pricey, but hell, first show memories right?
We got to our seats about 15 minutes to showtime. We were in the balcony on Petrucci's side about 5 seats in from the wall. Good view. Then we heard Mr. Loud Know-it-All from the bar from earlier. I was very happy to see him not sitting anywhere near us but felt bad for the people who did.
The lights finally dimmed and BAM! My ears were not ready. Holy shit was it loud. I got used to it, but what a jolt.
Knowing the setlist going in I was ready for what I was to hear. I'm not a fan of "The Enemy Inside" or "The Shattered Fortress" so I just soaked in the ambiance until the third song. Like Scotty said earlier something happened during TSF and James took the time after the song to talk to the crowd to stall. I personally didn't notice anything wrong, but in less than 2 minutes the show was back on.
"On the Backs of Angels" was next and after it was done my wife actually said to me, "I liked that one". There is hope for her yet. About this time I was starting to absorb the sound of the show. From where I was, Petrucci's guitar seemed to dominate the sound and it was hard to pick up the rest of the band, especially James' singing. I don't know if it was our seats being closer to the wall or the volume, but on some of the mellower songs the sound was great.
Loved "Through the Looking Glass" and "Trial of Tears". Again, my wife approved of TofT. "Enigma Machine" was fun as well with the animation. "Along for the Ride" was ho-hum. And it was at this point the show really took off for me. "Breaking All Illusions" was beyond phenomenal. It was too bad intermission happened right after this song because I was really into the show big time at this point.
During intermission, my wife's friends husband came over to talk to us. Unfortunately for him, he was very near Mr. Loud Know-it-All who was completely wasted at this point. Thankfully this guy wasn't ruining the show for him.
The "Awake" set sent me back 20 years. It's been a while since I've spun that album and these songs reminded me just how much I love "Awake". "The Mirror" and "Lie" just slayed. "Lifting Shadows" was gorgeous. And then "Scarred". "Scarred" is one of my all time favorite DT tracks and I was well beyond satisfied by the performance. I was curious to see the crowd reaction to SDV. Some definitely took the moment to go get a drink or use the facilities. Petrucci added a bit of flair to the end of it but I was okay with it. Glad I had the opportunity to see it performed live.
"Illumination Theory" was outstanding. I had told my wife before the show that if nothing else, she would enjoy the orchestration portion of this one song, which she did.
The crowd was really into the encore, and I mean really into it. Excellent stuff all the way around.
When the show ended I just took in as much as I could. The 3 hours went by pretty quick. It's truly amazing how gifted these guys are as musicians. You could see the genuine joy on their faces all night as well, which was nice to see. I couldn't really hear anything and I didn't really care. Even my wife said she enjoyed the show.
We eventually met up with my wife's friends husband and his brother afterwards and again went to Mo's pub for a couple of drinks. They told us how Mr. Loud Know-it-All had spilled one their drinks during the second half of the show and that he was nearly passed out by the time it ended. While discussing the evenings events we noticed the bands buses were parked outside the bar and down the street. We joked that maybe we'd run into them when we left. About 12:15 my wife says, "hey there's the guy with the white beard." Sure enough Jordan was outside getting on the bus and some fans had stopped for an autograph/picture opportunity. She prodded me to go out and meet him and after finally agreeing, we went outside. Just as we walked out the door Jordan got on the bus. I didn't think anything of it. I didn't want to be "that guy" and bother him. So we turned around to go back inside.
At this point a few people across the street started making some noise. We turned around and LaBrie had walked out to the bus. My wife looked at me and said, "we are going over there." Like I said, I didn't want to be that guy, but my wife is a spirited lady and she wouldn't take no for any answer. We politely asked James for a picture and he graciously accepted, to which I now have this great memory....
The band was on all night. James sounded flawless. I got to hear some of my favorite DT songs of all time. For a first time Dream Theater concert, I couldn't have asked for a better experience.