so kingshmegland and his wife picked me up at about 1:45 and we began the hour long drive to Worcester. None of the parking garages right near the venue were even open when we got there
so we had to park a few blocks away (which might have made our escape a bit easier afterwards). We headed over to Armsby Abbey and set up camp for a while, we were definitely there a solid hour and a half and had three rounds each of very good beer (cheers to the bartender who I think was a DT fan and gave me a break on a tasting flight featuring a pour of Cantillon, a rare Belgian brewery whose beer was $15 for a full glass). Chino stopped in with his buddy for a quick beer before they made their way over to Irish Times. We went over there a little before 5 and the place was already packed full of prog nerds
Evidently most of the shows at the Palladium attract a younger (under 21) crowd, so they didn't put on any extra staff for a pre show rush, so the help was kind of mobbed. It took us forever to get our appetizers, and then it took long enough for me to get my Sierra Nevada Pale Ale that they didn't charge me for it
Cheers to meeting tick, dreamtheatervt, Elsydeon, and I think maybe one or two more of you that I'm forgetting. We need nametags next time like at the Score pre-party
ZeppDT made it a little bit later on and we hung out with him for a while before heading over to the venue. Big thanks to tick for making room in the row he and his compatriots procured for me and Mr & Mrs Shmegland. Yes, as others noted, it was ridiculously hot in there, brutal really. I forget the name of the guy who did a few minutes of standup to open, but I didn't think he was that funny, although I do appreciate a punchline of "Yeah, he cried harder than Dave Mustaine in Some Kind of Monster". I think I laughed harder at Portnoy growling C IS FOR COOKIE THAT'S GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME during ANTR
As others said, the opening band's sound was pretty unfortunate, but I don't think they would have been my cup of tea anyway. I got to (very briefly) meet TAC as everyone was making their way back to their seats because it was only a few minutes to Psycho. Dream Theater put on a great show, James was on, and I got to see Wither live for the first time. It was weird seeing them without any video screens (though I understand why), and I noticed James had a foot pedal that he used I think to trigger some delay in his vocals, which I don't remember seeing at previous shows. It was a bit of a tease though when James was talking for a minute about them touring as an opener with Iron Maiden and Portnoy played the drum intro to Run to the Hills, I thought for a second we were gonna get a drum duel with Richard Christy. A few wrong turns trying to escape Worcester later and I made it home. Thanks again to kingshmegland and his wife for giving me a ride to/from, and for everyone who came out yesterday and helped make it a good time!
Topic: 2010-07-10 - Palladium - Worcester, MA (DT headlining show) (Read 47376 times)