Hello, my friends-
I've been on here for a few days now, and have already posted a few things (hope you liked them), but couldn't think of how to introduce myself. Still having trouble putting the words together. Anyway I'm one of the band's older fans. I'll be 52 in less than two months. I honestly don't remember how I first heard of Dream Theater, but I think it was either a radio or magazine article in which it was mentioned that they were a band that was equally influenced by "hard rock" or metal bands, and "progressive" bands as well. I had long been into both. I've always really liked bands like E.L.P., Genesis, Kansas, Moody Blues, Alan Parsons Project, Pink Floyd, Rush and of course-YES! But I was also into What I consider to be the better "hard rock/metal" bands such as AC/DC, Black Sabbath Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple, Dio (God rest Ronnie's little soul!) Iron maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, Metallica and Queensryche. I could name other bands in both categories, but the list is plenty long enough to give you more than a good idea. I also like instrumental rock such as the Dixie Dregs and Joe Satriani.
I had long thought that there was a fine line between those two (or more) musical genres, and was longing for YEARS for a band that would come along and combine them, or create a "fusion" of sorts. Needless to say when I first heard DT, I was blown away!
I was asking things like "where has this band been all my life?" and "why the [BLEEP!] didn't this happen a long time ago?!"
I have all of there albums (cds) and DVDs, but not much in the way of "bootleg" stuff. I've only seen them in concert four times, but I'm kind of glad, because I think it would get boring and monotonous to hear the same set over and over again. Besides like said, I have all of the DVDS. The first time was a number of firsts. It was at the Celebrity Theater in Phoenix, Jan. 31st, 2001, on the "Metropolis 2000" tour, (I live in Mesa, Az.) and it was the first time they played anywhere in Arizona that was bigger than a bar or a nightclub. Granted the Celebrity isn't MUCH bigger, but still... Anyway it was also the first tour with Jordan Rudess on keyboards. It was also the first time they played SFAM in it's entirety from beginning to end.
The second show was in '02 at the Dodge Theater, also in Phoenix, with King's X and Joe Satriani. That show was the one of the worst concerts I've ever been to, for a myriad of reasons.
The third, Train of Thought tour show again at the celebrity, was one of the best ever. Great variety of songs, at least one from every album at the time, including "A Change of Seasons'' in it's entirety as the encore!
The last one was Easter Sunday of this year at the mesa Arts Center, or Ikeda Theater, if you Prefer (ten years is a long time between shows, and I hadn't been to any other concerts during that time, either!) but it was pretty much worth the wait. I think most of you know what their current show consists of, and I knew what it would be going in. I wasn't disappointed. Good Sound, Good songs, good lighting rig, good everything. Oh, and it was also nice that Mr. Mangini played a solo. Portnoy never did at any of the previous shows that I saw.
In closing, I would like to say that Dream Theater is the ONE band that comes CLOSEST to doing everything that I like, and thank you for you patience.