I’ve been a Dream Theater fan since their second album (the first with singer James LaBrie), and that’s been a while. While I’ve picked up every album, I haven’t seen them live that much (only three times before last night), and I’m not sure why that is (although the last two tours hit Baltimore on a weeknight). Anyway, they’re an awesome live band. It’s a five piece: bass, drums, guitar, keys and vox, and they play progressive metal.
They’ve recently released a new album and a greatest hits package, and I was curious how the setlist would go. Some bands use the same setlist all tour, and some mix it up each night – Dream Theater takes the middle ground with several sets of usually played songs and some rarities they rotate in and out. Last night only featured two new songs and three songs from the greatest hits, spending a while on tracks from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. I didn’t mind that, since I’d never seen any of them performed live before. As much as I like all their albums, I love hearing tracks from the one that drew me in, so ending with “Take The Time” and “Metropolis, Pt. 1: The Miracle And The Sleeper” was great. One thing that gets lost when people talk about them is their sense of humor. They messed with each other on stage (I liked when the drummer and a roadie threw sticks at each other). I need to remember what a good time I had so I don’t miss them the next time through.