I've told this story on the board before, but I don't mind re-telling it! (Sorry for the RIDICULOUSLY long post!)
In 1998, the summer before high school, my dad brought me to my very first big rock concert. I had gone to my first show the year before, which was "Weird Al" Yankovic. Great show, but it wasn't anything crazy. Anyway, my dad wanted to go see two of his favorite bands play together: Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. He had seen both bands many times in the '70s, but it had been a while since he'd seen either (I don't think he went to many concerts after getting married to my mom). Anyway, we went to the show, and prior to ELP coming on, the opening band was playing. That band happened to be Dream Theater.
We had never heard of DT before this, and were surprised by how many fans they had up in the front of the audience. I don't remember much from this show, but I do remember two moments. One was when they played Hollow Years, and my dad turned to me and said, "This must be their 'Lucky Man!'" And the other moment was really cool. During Peruvian Skies, the band pulled out quotes of "Have a Cigar" by Pink Floyd and "Enter Sandman" by Metallica (as documented on Once In A Livetime). Now, my dad being a big '70s rocker, obviously, started nudging me saying, "This is Pink Floyd, this is Pink Floyd!!" when Have a Cigar was being played. And myself, growing up on Metallica (they were my favorite band, more on that later...), did the same back to him when Sandman got whipped out. It was a really cool moment.
As the concert went on, ELP came out and completely, IMO, destroyed both other bands that night haha. So much so that I went out and got their Greatest Hits not long after and fell in love with it. And while they were cool to see, Deep Purple did not hold my interest as much as ELP did. And I kind of forgot about DT since I was so into ELP.
Fast forward to 1999, I see Scenes From a Memory on the shelf of a local CD shop, pick it up, and say to myself, "Hey! It's THOSE guys! haha, cool!"... and then proceed to put it back on the shelf. I vividly remember this moment, and sad to say I regret it still, to this day. I should have picked this album up on that day.
Fast forward to 2003, my favorite band METALLICA put out their first new album in five years, and it's pretty much a massive disappointment. After this, I'm looking for some new music (and a new discography to dive into). I start thinking of bands I may want to get into, and DT is the first to come to mind. Not one to ever go spending money all willy-nilly (re: the last paragraph), I go do some research (ie. download files from Napster! - Hey! I was in college, I ain't got no money! haha). So, I download two of the first songs I can see on Napster. They are "The Spirit Carries On" and "Voices." When listening to Spirit, I immediately get a Pink Floyd vibe. Love it. Then Voices, I like the soaring vocals, and it almost seems like, at the end of the song it would go into the next song. This intrigues me.
I go to the store to pick up a DT album. I see Scenes From a Memory on the shelf again. I WILL NOT MAKE THE SAME MISTAKE. I pick it up and pop it in on the ride home. "Regression" comes on and I immediately hear the same chord progression and vocal melody from Spirit. Love it.
Then "Overture 1928" starts... then the drums start pumping in... a quick pause... the band explodes into the song... and I had found my new favorite band.
From there I went and picked up the other releases: Awake, Train of Thought (on release day), A Change of Seasons, When Dream and Day Unite, Images & Words, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, and Falling Into Infinity. Love every note, and have never stopped. First day buy every time for me.
As an aside to this story, I feel very blessed that I was able to pay my dad back for that MASSIVELY influential first concert. I got to bring him to see DT in 2007, Emerson and Lake in 2010, and Deep Purple in 2011. He's unfortunately not around anymore, but his influence on me and my musical journey will always be here.