Morning everyone. Hit up the Oakland, CA gig last night with bosk and a friend of ours. Hadn't seen either of them in a long time, so it was nice to get together. The venue was beautiful. The Fox Theater is just a classy place to see any show. Really easy to get to (most of the time, more on that in a sec), very open feel once you are inside, helpful staff, I always love going to the Fox and I'm glad it seems that's where DT hits up most of the time.
For context, this was my 15th time seeing Dream Theater. I'm a Long Island kid who now lives across the country, so seeing the hometown boys (I guess these days its just JP and JR, as I believe JM lives in PA) is always fun. Got into DT in 1996 (a little late), but I have been fortunate to see a lot of historic gigs in NYC and the east coast as well as out west. The last time I saw them was in 2019 (like I am sure many of you) on the DoT tour.
Anyway, traffic was horrendous. I still managed to get there a half-hour before Arch Echo hit the stage, but good lord, the drive was double the time due to Sunday (head back to the Bay Area) traffic. Arch Echo was okay. I've seen worse, I've seen better. The sound on the low end was really muddy (bosk noticed it), and it continued with DT. It could have been where we were sitting (stage left, orchestra, about 13 rows back). Anyway, Arch Echo was fine if you like instrumental prog metal. They were into their gig, they got polite applause, and after I guess 20 or 25 minutes, they were off stage.
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Okay, so Dream Theater came on, and for the life of me, I forgot to look at my phone to see the time. It was probably 8:20ish? The first thing I noticed was how CLEAN the stage was. No speaker cabinets or rigs, a riser for a SMALL drum kit (for DT standards), one for JR, and another in the back behind JP. That's it. No walk-up ramp and mini-catwalk for James to run up like he did on the DoT/SFAM tour a few years back.
I thought it really worked, because the backdrop of A View From the Top of the World album art was absolutely stunning splashed across the entire back (and onto the sides) of the stage (it was screens, so throughout the gig, the animation was running). The lighting was really well done. It brought the focus on the band and I really enjoyed the more stripped down presentation.
They opened with The Alien, and if you've been following the setlist at all, it was the standard one they had been playing. Everyone played really well. Awake is my favorite DT album, so getting to see "6:00" was a highlight, as was "About to Crash" and "Endless Sacrifice." I felt bad for JLB on the latter. If you're a singer, you know shit happens -- he choked on his own spit and had to duck a line or so of the tune. JP looked over, and JLB recovered. JLB gets crucified, unfairly, and I thought he recovered well and delivered a professional performance. Perhaps not as energetic as the 2019 show in San Fran, but certainly on par with the consistency he's been showing the last few album tour cycles. My one wish though, is I really would like him to not duck some of the more challenging high parts of some of the songs. "Moments wasted, IIIIISOLATED" - he kept lowering the latter. He did this on a few songs too. it still sounded good, don't get me wrong. But a dynamic vocal is important to me. Still, he's way more consistent in comparison to some of the tours in the 2000s.
Like I said, if you've followed the tour, you know the set. I really enjoyed "Bridges in the Sky." I saw that on the ADToE tour in San Francisco. Can't believe that was 11 years ago now. Crazy. And for me, I LOVED the fact they played the entire title track from A View From the Top of the World to end the main set. I love that song, and they all performed it well.
I ducked out after that, as the encore was The Count of Tuscany, and honestly, I just don't like that song much.
Overall, I give the show a "B+" grade. Musically stunning, visually beautiful (I really loved that clean look), strong musical performances. JLB was as I described above. Professional, consistent, if lacking some dynamics. The setlist -- not really one I am in favor of. My top-5 records from the band are Awake, I&W, SFAM, FII, DoT. I got exactly ONE song from those five entire records. (To be fair, they did play SFAM in its entirety and a bunch from DoT in 2019.) But this emphasis on playing all the long songs really just stunts other things I really would like to see.
It's the 20th anniversary of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence and the 25th anniversary of FII. Not to mention the 30th of I&W. I really wanted, and honestly, expected, a couple songs from each, and a verbal acknowledgement by JLB/JP about those records. It was nice to hear "About to Crash," but given this whole "long song" setlist, there's just no time to pay any homage to those records.
I know some hardcores really like "The Ministry of Lost Souls" and "The Count of Tuscany" and I get it - the band can't please everyone. But six short songs commemorating 6DoiT, I&W, and FII, would have been a great tip of the cap to those great records, and would have been a set that still supported A View From the Top of the World properly and made the show more well rounded IMO.
Anyway, glad I went, I enjoyed the show and I look forward to seeing them again (JLB mentioned they were planning to tour on the record for a couple years and would be back in the Bay Area).
I took a few videos if you want to check em out (I just enjoy the songs, so they aren't pro caliber or anything):
"6:00" -
https://youtu.be/HmYawJMcdtE"Endless Sacrifice" -
https://youtu.be/IUOFhq-uqZg"About to Crash" -
https://youtu.be/4R2Q1J0KfTkEnjoy!
And thank you Dream Theater!