Dream Theater + Queensryche, 7/17/03

I had been looking forward to this show for quite a while, and for good reason... it was a great show! We had a decent sized group that went - My dad, cousin Alex, my friends Jon and Matt, and myself. Alex got stuck in traffic so we got a bit of a late start. After grabbing food at Burger King, we made our way out to Pine Knob. The place was suprisingly empty... perhaps it was the threat of thunderstorms, or just that nobody knows good music when they hear it.

We missed Fate's Warning which was kind of a bummer. We came in right during the set change, so we didn't miss any of Queensryche's show, so it wasn't all bad. I wasn't quite sure what to expect out of Queensryche since I've only been a fan of theirs for a few months... Well, they didn't disappoint. They came out rocking and didn't really let up. They led off with a couple heavy songs... I think they were Empire, Damaged, and Walk in the Shadows (in no particular order). The heavy songs absolutely rocked. Then they made me very happy by breaking into a few songs off of Operation Mindcrime (Anarchy X, Revolution Calling, Speak, and Eyes of a Stranger), and those were all way sweet as well. After that, they played Silent Lucidity, Jet City Woman, N M 156, and a few other songs I didn't recognize, plus a new song off their upcoming album. The new song was pretty cool, except there was a pseudo-rap type part in it that was definitely out of place in their style. Overall, they rocked. Geoff Tate has an amazing voice, with the ability to go from the low to high with no difficulty or loss of clarity. Simply a phenominal vocalist. Both of their guitarists are excellent, and played off each other really well. There were quite a few times where they would get together and play harmonized lead lines, and they nailed them. There aren't too many things cooler than when two sweet guitarists are in sync and excelling at their craft. Grade: A.

Dream Theater was the main reason I went to this show. I've been a huge fan of theirs for about a year now, and they certainly don't disappoint in a live setting. There are plenty of bands who sound good in the studio but can't carry that precision and intensity on the road. Dream Theater certainly isn't in this class. They come out with the energy of a hurricane and never relent. they opened up with one of their best songs, Metropolis Part I, and then carried the theme on by playing the first couple songs off of Scenes From a Memory (Overture 1928 and Strange Deja Vu). That was a good solid 15 minutes of sheer prog-metal bliss. Jon was quite impressed, since they played Metropolis and then went straight into the other songs, without stopping. It is pretty amazing that anyone has the stamina to do that, since all those songs are very lead oriented and would probably turn the bodies of mere mortals to jello in short order. After that, they calmed things down a bit and played Hollow Years. After that I don't remember the exact order, but they played a good selection of songs... They played the whole Mind Beside Itself trilogy (Erotomania, Voices, and The Silent Man), Under a Glass Moon, Solitary Shell, Pull Me Under, one song I didn't recognize (could be off When Day and Dream Unite, I don't own that one and have never heard it... also could have been new!), and maybe one other song. The only thing that disappointed me about their set was that the mixing seemed a bit off... The keyboards and vocals seemed a bit too loud, and the mics on the drums were too quiet. Mike Portnoy's double bass runs were hardly audible, which is quite a shame. They bring a lot of energy to the songs. John Petrucci was on (as per usual). It's really not fair how good he is. His playing is precise, effortless, and incredibly fast. John Myung's bass was just as amzing... He plays without a pick on a six string bass, and can probably keep up with Petrucci in just about any circumstance. He's got to be the most active bass player I've ever seen. Portnoy was his energetic self, dropping synchopated rhythms and bass drum heroics with no effort at all. Jordan Rudess's keyboard was also pretty incredible... he totally Wowed Alex with some of the lines played. Grade: A+

Dream Theater finished up at about 10:25 with the usual "Thank you goodnight, see you in 45 seconds for the encore" spiel, and I expected to see them come out and play another couple songs and then call it a night... Well, they did, but I was very plesantly suprised when Queensryche came out and took the stage with them!! All 10 people from both bands were out there playing... The first song they played was Comfortably Numb by Pink Floyd, and they nailed it. Geoff Tate sang the Roger Waters part, and James LaBrie took care of the David Gilmour Part. Their voices were a perfect match, almost as good as Waters and Gilmour. One of Queensryche's guitarists handled the first solo beautifully, and Petrucci took care of the second one with authority. I would have loved to have that one on tape... Next, they all played The Spirt Carries On (a Dream Theater tune). The studio version of that song has a female voice singing for a while in the middle of the song, and Tate took that part on and nailed it. I wouldn't have expected a male voice to sound right there, but it sounded great. It's another tribute to his voice that he can sing in such a gentle way. That song is quite long, with lots of solos... The cool thing was that Petrucci was the one handling the rhythm for the most part, and the Queensryche guys were playing his solos! Quite a cool display. The last song of the night was a Queensryche song, but I'm not sure of the name of it (maybe Best I Can?). It was quite a jam, and the hightlight of it for me was seeing both drummers playing along side of each other inside of Portnoy's Siamese Monster drum kit in perfect unison. They also did the reverse of the Dream Theater song here, with Petrucci handling the solos and the Queensryche guitarists holding down the rhythm fort.

Overall, I couldn't really ask more out of a concert. Sure, Dream Theater's mix could have been a bit better, but that could also be a result of the spot where we were sitting. Seeing two incredible bands perform their best material would have been good enough, but seeing them together for the encore made it truly memorable. Grade: A+++

Jon Kettinger :: 07/18/2003, 4:09 pm :: Reply

One of the most talented concerts I've ever seen in my life. The guys in both of those bands own on their instruments much in the way that people that play in professional orchestras do. The Dream Theatre guys even more so, to the point where you are continually in disbelief at the precision at which they execute their runs and hits together.

Queensryche jammed hard. Geoff Tate is simply one of the best vocalists I've ever heard. The rest of their guys jam too, but I'd say hearing him was the highlight of their performances for me.

Dream Theatre exists on a level all their own for rock bands. As Mike commented, the only problem was the mixing. The drums should have been 10db louder, and the keyboards 10 db quieter. As it was, the guitar and the keyboard were at the same volume, and in my biased world that should never happen. Keyboards are great, and this guy got some incredible sounds out of his especially, but a killer guitar player is still the focal point of any rock band. Overall, I'm still astonished at how well they played live. To sound like they do in the studio is one thing (granted only a few mere mortals can pull off such feats), but to equal the precision and tonality in concert is an unparalleled accomplishment that I don't expect to see challenged anytime soon.

Then of course the big jam at the end. It was cooler than you can even imagine, with the precision they performed each others leads, and how well they did "Comfortably Numb". Top notch. This are two of the few bands out there these days that are actually worth the inflated ticket prices these days.

Guy LaRouche :: 07/18/2003, 6:14 pm :: Reply

I watched the show from the lawn, and I have a slightly different bias on the mix issues, but anyway, here goes....

Having never heard much from either band, and only ever hearing "Silent Lucidity" and "Jet City Woman" on the radio, I came into the concert with little bias, expected a good time, and hope to be thoroughly amazed. I was not disappointed.

The queensryche set was strong straight through, with the intenisty only subsiding for about a minute during the first half of silent lucidity. I have to echo Mikes comments about the phenomenal vocals of Jeff Tate. His voice is clear, and his range and flexibility is wonderful. Ana definitely appreciated the clarity of his voice stating "this is the first concert where I could understand every word that the lead singaer sang.." I guess that's a big concern when English isn't your native language. Anyway, I, too thought the guitarist were excellent, though they seemed to clash a couple times when trading from lead to rhythm and vice versa... Overall, Top notch performance.

Dream theater knocked me of their feet with their effortless runs, traded lead responsibilities, nonstop set and multimetered rhythmic magic. However, as I alluded to earlier I disagree with the complaints about the mix. In my opinion, This was the best mix between guitar and keyboard that I have ever heard. The way that the melody switched seamlessly from keyboard to guitar and vice versa was superb, and there is not way that that type of blend could be achieved in a mix where the keys are backed off as is the disappointing case for most concerts I've seen at Pine Knob. Further, In my opinion the vocals and bass were a little low. I didn't notice any problem with the drums... but then again I wasn't looking for them either... Maybe that's just because I have different biases, maybe it's because I sat on th lawn and the acoustic are different ther in the open compared to being partially enclosed by the stage left wall where Mike and Jon were in the pavilion. Probably a litlle of both. Not being able to hear the vocals above the guitar drums and keys, I can't say whether the dream theater guy is in the same arena as Jeff Tate, but Ana (being a singer) definitely preferred queensryche to dream theater because of this issue. I definitely differ from that point of view. Unfortunately I missed the finale as we had to leave early because of my wife's whining about a big commitment she was missing at an OCC meeeting (which turned out to be a meeting at a bowling alley bar... GRRR)

Anyway PHENOMENAL show... Next up is Lynerd Skynerd and Sammy Hagar on the 22nd. Later

Joe :: 07/25/2003, 12:17 am :: Reply

I was like KICKING RAD and then said WHOA.... =P