First off I’ve been a fan since IAW’s came out, but I’ve only seen them once in 2002 because of circumstances beyond my control and their work in the 2000’s just didn’t make me want to go so much. I missed the last tour because of work and vowed not to miss this one. So this will be kind of review of the venue, highlights of the show and some observations since the setlist has been the same all tour. Lots of photos, not all that great taken with my smartphone.
First off the Fox Theater is a really cool, old theater originally built in 1929 and renovated between 2007-2010. It boasts many bars, way to expensive drinks and parking attached to the venue. Before being let into the theater the staff told us photos are ok, but no video per the bands request. The first part of the show the staff was like Gestapo running up and down the aisles yelling at people, I got talked to twice before I snapped and showed her I was taking photos, she them apologized. This luckily only last maybe 2/3 of the first set. On to the show.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Fox_TheaterFirst off I thought the crowd was going to be small, but by the time the band started I would say it was sold out. Next, the sound was really good, I was 10’ from the soundboard. I could hear all the instruments and the bass rumbled the floor, loved it. The loudness was perfect, JP’s guitar had a great sound!. The video and light show were amazing IMO, such a perfect match. I’ve seen 100’s of concerts and I just loved the light show, everything reminded me of seeing Rush, not a bad thing.
The crowd was really into the show from the start until the end, I only noticed some people go get drinks when Along For The Ride started, which amazed me, but not a lot of people. I was really watching the bands interaction and enjoyment level. At first I wasn’t sure, but then they really seemed to be enjoying themselves, the show and the crowd. James seemed to ramble quite a bit between songs, more than usual IMO. They just seemed into it and made some fun of Riverside, James had me laughing!
I have to say I wasn’t sure about the setlist, especially the 3rd set/encores. I guess I’ve been burned out on SFAM for a while now and Space Dye Vest I thought would be a snore. And set 2 had me a bit concerned, all these turned out to be wrong. The first set went as expected, awesome and I loved Trial of Tears, hell all of the songs The video between the 1st and 2nd sets was amazing, so Rush like, but yet different. All the ways they poked fun of themselves, it’s a classic. It had me laughing for 9 minutes.
[imghttps://photographersnature.com/dt/20140418_203154_8_bestshot.jpg]https://[/img]
When they started the second set I couldn’t remember the song names or order at first, but The Mirror and Lie just kicked some ass. After those two James made a comment like “I think I’m getting a contact high up here”. People were seriously smoking some pot by now and a big cloud of smoke hung in the venue. Then James made a comment about the first two songs along the line of “If those two songs don’t get the blood pumping through your veins you’re already dead!” LOL Then they played Scarred and Space Dye Vest, I have always loved Scarred, but SDV live blew me away, the videos on YouTube don’t do it justice! Illumination Theory sure didn’t seem 22 minutes long, it just flowed and seemed over before it started compared to TOT and Scarred that actually seemed their length.
The first two sets are done and now time for SFAM encores, 4 songs. James comes out and talked about some special things going on, I can’t remember, I think I had a contact high at this point, ok I did! LOL The third thing he mentioned was it was MM’s birthday, I thought that was so cool. JP, JM and JR played Happy B-Day and the crew brought a cake out, cool!
Now the part I was dreading and I was ready to leave, but I have to say those four songs and probably my favorite of the album and just blew me away, they sounded so good we stayed until the last drop. I had forgotten all the songs because I hadn’t looked at a setlist in a few months, thankfully.
Overall I think the show was flawless, tight, sounded great, the band was really into it and I think they’ll be back to Riverside again. I give it a 9 out of 10, only because of the douche bag that was across the aisle from me that was so high he kept screaming, running in the aisles, had to high five everyone that walked by him. He looked like a zoned out zombie, dude you’re tool! I took a friend with me who had never seen DT but loves their music and he was blown away, we’ll be back.
PS: I love Mangini in the band!!!