1. Trial of Tears- Falling Into Infinity
Still awake
I continue to move along
Cultivating my own nonsense
Welcome to the wasteland
Where you'll find ashes, nothing but ashes
Still awake
Bringing change, bringing movement,
Bringing life
A silent prayer thrown away,
Disappearing in the air
Rising, sinking, raining deep inside me
Nowhere to turn,
I look for a way back home
It was the months before Black Clouds and Silver Linings. I was in a Secondary School called Chaucer Tech School (soon to be RIP) and my music taste was on the verge of changing. From bands like Oasis, Coldplay, Keane and The Verve (I still like some of them), I was moving into different bands. Pink Floyd. Led Zeppelin (Who I've now moved on from as well) . King Crimson. My friend, Mr Sketchy, was some of the main reasoning into getting into these bands, introducing me through ways he knew I'd like them. From Brain Damage to 21st Century Schizoid Man, I was being dragged into a different music world that I didn't even know existed. But before most of these things happened, there was a catalyst, something that made the change.
Sketchy sent me one song, a song by the name of A Change of Seasons, and I was blown away by it. After some listening to it, I brought two songs after this. Peruvian Skies. Somewhere, even after 20 listens between the both of them, I wasn't quite hooked yet. It needed something special, to really give me the push into becoming a full fan. I clicked on the second song I brought. And after thirteen minutes, I was in. Dream Theater hit and for the next 4 hours, I listened to the song that has made my number 1. Trial of Tears. To me, I never understand why people don't like this song. It's perfection. The mellow opening, into the bass, into the soft vocals, into the band coming in, James coming in. From there, we repeat a bit, and then we start becoming grandeur again, we get into the keys. We get into the section where it washes over you, where your ears become nothing but the source for pleasure as the band get into a groove, get into a rocking..
And then, the final section. The Wasteland. I can not not sing along. I can not not let James LaBrie sing the beautiful words of John Myung at me. It is perfection. It explodes into the grand ending, James singing so loud, the band playing just so loudly and then.. we reprise the beginning keyboard sound, the small drum noise.. Then we're done. Perfect. I sat there, stunned. Shocked. I didn't know that music this beautiful, this awesome even existed at this point. I hit play again. It was just as perfect the second time. The third time. The hundredth time. It was the very best song I had ever heard at that point, and it might even still be.
When I made the decision that I was, for the first time, going to see Dream Theater, I was anxiously awaiting the setlist arrival, because of some talk that it might have been static. Songs revealed.. and then Trial of Tears was revealed and I just sat in awe they might be playing it again. Come around to February 14th, they began. It played just as well live as it did in those private concerts I had with headphones, with speakers, on car trips and study breaks. It was perfect to me. I sat there, on the upper right balcony of Wembley Arena.. and I cried tears of joy. It was just perfect to me. My first Dream Theater experience was just perfect for me, no matter what else happened that night. But you know what?
It might even be my favorite song of all time.
Topic: The Gentleman's Top 50 DT Songs Thread 1.5 V. Number 1 revealed. (Read 11178 times)