Seen Live: Dream Theater

Despite being in top form, singer James LaBrie spent a lot of time off stage at Dream Theater’s gig in Amsterdam on February 17th. Whenever John Petrucci, John Myung, Jordan Ruddess and Mike Mangini were shredding away up-front during a prolonged instrumental section—and with them being Dream Theater, there are bound to be a lot of those—he sat in his little tent behind a stack of amps.

But that’s alright. Dream Theater’s main feature has always been the instrumental power play. This tour saw the return of the An Evening With format, with the band playing large chunks of their self-titled latest album, Awake and Metropolis Part II: Scenes from a Memory (on behalf of the 20th and 15th anniversary of those albums)—while ignoring their break-though album Images and Words altogether—in a three hour set.

It was an epicly awesome evening. The band smoked, the sound was very good, the set list rocked, I managed to squeeze off a few shots and I ran out of things to say.

Seen live
Dream Theater, “Along for the Ride World Tour” at Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam on February 17, 2014
Set List
False Awakening Suite (intro tape) / The Enemy Inside / The Shattered Fortress / On the Backs of Angels / The Looking Glass / Trial of Tears / Enigma Machine (w/ drum solo) / Along for the Ride / Breaking All Illusions // The Mirror / Lie / Lifting Shadows Off a Dream / Scarred / Space-Dye Vest / Illumination Theory // Overture 1928 / Strange Deja-Vu / The Dance of Eternity / Finally Free / ‘Easter Egg’ (outro tape)