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DREAM THEATER |
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If there was one constant craving that went unfulfilled during the evening it was for the removal of the bitter taste of frustration. There was much to offend the palette on this count, everything from vocalist James LaBrie’s missing his very first vocal cue and drummer Mike Portnoy’s constant stick dropping to the annoyingly unresponsive audience. For as much as Portnoy flailed his arms hoping to incite some crowd response they just weren’t to be moved and after a point it seemed like everyone involved just gave up trying. Taken together it all contributed to an evening that had divine potential metastasizing into something quite a lumpy bit less. Though it is easy to say that this was my personal low in a half dozen DT experiences it was still nothing on the order of regarding as “bad” which is the beautiful nature of DT but “uninspiring” is a term justly used, I think.
The main gripe from the audience seemed to be DREAM THEATER’s song selection, which was in truth slightly exotic. Broken into three basic sets the evening began with better than an hour’s worth of lesser known to down right obscure numbers. The second set featured the entire forty-five minute title song from the new double disc, “SIX DEGREES OF INNER TURBULENCE,” at the conclusion of which the stage was briefly emptied of band before starting in on the final three “encore” numbers. “Pull me Under” was the most obviously appreciated of the evening’s songs but not filling enough on its own to tip the cook. There is a paradigm that DREAM THEATER has to mind when putting a show together, play exciting music beyond the audience’s ability to compare but do not play beyond their interest and this is what the group has done brilliantly in the past. Here it was, well, less than
thrilling which is itself something rarely said or even felt by anyone
who has witnessed the group live. Second Set: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (entire title song) Encore: Home, The Spirit Carries
On, Pull Me Under DAVID LEE WILSON |