epic. epic. epic.
i didn't have any interested in bigelf or scale the summit, so knowing the band start times, i planned accordingly. as a result? i got stuck in nightmare traffic on I-95 north and it poured rain the entire drive, until i turned onto MD32 (about five minutes from the venue). apparently it rained everywhere in the d.c. metro area EXCEPT for columbia, and the concert grounds were dry as a bone.
so thoughts?
caught the end of bigelf. better name is bigfail.
queensryche: first couple of songs, i was already writing the review for their set to post here in my head. something along the lines of "geoff tate's certainly showing his age, but his voice is as good as it has ever been." and that was true of the entire set. first half of the set? thoroughly enjoyable. second half of the set? complete and utter suck. they wrapped themselves in the american flag so hard it was distasteful. at one point, either a marine disrespecting his uniform, or an actor disrespecting the service, came on, saluted the crowd (wtf seriously), and then proceeded to jump around the stage like a pro-wrestler, only taking occasional breaks to shout "fuck" into the microphone. there was no coming back from that. the rest of their set was utterly forgettable.
zappa plays zappa: holy shit. i mean, jesus christ, i was skeptical of all the raving reviews posted on these boards, but i'll be damned if they didn't live up to every expectation i had. if DT hadn't been so on tonight, zappa plays zappa would've blown them offstage. i think maybe that's one of the reasons mike portnoy picked them to co-headline: if DT tries to phone a show in, ZPZ is just gonna make em look bad, so DT always has to bring their A game. dweezil zappa is, i guess, in his early 40s by now, and his face is starting to look a lot more like his dad's. if he grew a goatee like his dad, they would be indiscernible. what i really loved about his performance was just how happy he looked. he had this completely placid, comfortable look that seldom left his face, even as he scorched up and down his fretboard. mind you, this was not the stoned-concentration of phish. he just looked like he was doing exactly what he wanted to be doing, and was happy to be playing for us. he opened the show by saying that his dad was born in baltimore (huge cheers), so he always enjoyed playing around here. the rest of the band? unbelievable. i know a lot of people have singled out the incredibly talented young woman who sings, plays keyboards and saxophone, and yes, was insane, but i've gotta give it up for the percussionist. having been a classically trained percussionist myself (many many years ago), my jaw just dropped at the fluidity and technique with which, in particular, he played the vibes.
and then it was dream theater's turn. about 95 minutes of performance (a little bump from average *squee*), all of it amazing. i was in row O, so after the meet and greet ticket holders, i was 8th row center, no more than 30 feet from the stage. after hearing some people comment about shows poorly mixed, i was afraid that was going to be the case, especially during the opening minutes of ANTR, where jordan sounded a little quiet. but i guess the sound guys actually do their jobs at merriweather, b/c this was corrected by halfway through the song. the mix throughout the remainder of the show was excellent, if a little on the high end (which i attribute to the fact that i was close enough to actually hear the cymbals and JP's amps, not through the PA. even mike's "RAWR I AM A BEAR" stuff in the song worked, b/c he used the "RAWR" to say "come on maryland" or something, that got the crowd going. the only thing from their set, and it's a fairly minor thing, was that i found the footage of 9/11 during "sacrificed sons" to be, i dunno, distasteful is too strong a word, but inappropriate. the song itself, however, one that has long been on the bottom of my rankings of DT songs, was performed excellently, and the second half of the song was really very well done.
TDOE and OLT were definite highlights for me. i would've liked to hear some stuff from awake and IaW, but knowing that they'd played erotomania and voices in philly, i wasn't expecting anything. the set didn't suffer because of it, i just hope to hear some when they come through town next time on their headlining show.
ITNOG was a surprising set closer. During PoW, the camera mounted on jordan's keyboard came up on the screen, and so amidst his flying fingers, we got to see the left half of the setlist. it made me comfortable to know that we were getting TCOT for an encore, but i could only see "In The..." for the closer, so spent a bit of their set wondering if we were getting "in the presence of enemies." that aside, once they actually started the song, it was just amazing. ToT has long been my 2nd least favorite DT album, but their expert performance was more than enough to get me to revisit that album.
and then there was TCOT. jesus h. christ, what a song live. the woman next to me switched with (i think) her daughter or niece about halfway through the set, so while i never got her name, i got to spend the set with a beautiful woman who knew all the lyrics to all of the DT songs. somedays god just smiles on me :3 now i can play the drums pretty well, but i can't carry a tune in a bag, and nonetheless, particularly on PoW and TCOT, i felt compelled to sing at the top of my lungs. fortunately for everyone around me, the band was loud enough to drown me out
but the entire venue, it seemed, sang along to TCOT, and by the conclusion of the song, everyone was belting out the WooooaaAAs. so anonymous girl and i were throwing the metal horns up and belting at the top of our lungs until the very end.
as they took their bows, all she said to me, with huge smile on her face, was "how was that for a show?" indeed.
(two negative things happened around me during the concert.
during ZPZ's set, two rows in front of me, these two guys, probably five or six years younger than me, were clearly huge zappa fans. they knew all the lyrics, knew the instrumental parts, etc. so how did they show their love? they danced their asses off. they weren't stoned, they weren't drunk, they were just enjoying the music as best they could. and some douchebag (who had stood throughout QR's set), grabbed one of the guys' shirt and proceeded to berate them to sit down. i couldn't hear the argument, but i just remember seeing said douchebag go "do you see anyone else dancing?" as he gestured to the pavilion. eventually the two kids just sighed sadly and sat down. i could tell they were trying to enjoy the show as much still, but my heart went out to them. it was such a dick thing to do.
the other (which got said anonymous girl next to me), was that some jackass and his friend had clearly too much to drink. one of them was so drunk that he was literally unable to support himself. he passed out on the concrete floor, while his jackass friend punched him over and over. two kids behind me, no older than 14, tried to get the guy some help, but jackass said to them point blank, "fuck you you little faggots." said passed out jackass proceeded to vomit his entire digestive system all over the floor about two or three songs into DT's set. by this point, someone had gone to get help, and the staff of the venue took the two idiots out and did their best to clean up the mess. so yeah, one, don't be a fucking homophobe. two, don't get fucking drunk at shows. have a couple of beers, sure, if that's your thing, but know your limits. these idiots very nearly ruined the whole show for the people sitting next to me.
so other than those two things, amazing amazing show. nice that we got a little variety in the set. start to finish, the band was on fire, and TCOT was maybe one of the best musical performances i have seen in a very long time.
added bonus? only took me ten minutes to get out of the parking lot
i hope everyone else enjoyed the show as much as me. it was truly a great night.
(edit: put the wrong SFAM song in there. oops)
Topic: 2009/10 WORLD TOUR DISCUSSION THREAD (Read 416333 times)
