Dream Theater performed in Holešovice on their softer and more melodic note
The program of the evening in the Fortuna sports hall, the former Tipsport arena, promised a lot. After all, the greats of progressive metal Dream Theater and as a special guest Devin Townsend were to perform on one stage. That is why expectations were rightly set at the highest level. Did these progressives fill them?
Live: Dream Theater
place: Fortuna Sports Hall, Prague
date: May 26, 2022
Support: Devin Townsend
setlist: Alien, 6:00, Awaken Master, Infinite Sacrifice, Bridge in Heaven, Invisible Monster, About to Fall, Ministry of Lost Souls, View from the Top of the World, Earl of Tuscany
Photo gallery
You can buy a lot of T-shirts, CDs and vinyls from Dream Theater’s extensive discography in our store. The answer to the perex question must be revealed right at the beginning. Yes, both protagonists met the expectations of Thursday night, to a great extent. However, what they failed to fill was the capacity of the Holešovice hall. Unfortunately, the pressure of events in one week and two big rock bands in one day (played by Scorpions at the O2 arena) probably had an effect on lower attendance, which is a shame for a band the size of Dream Theater.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The galleries were empty, as those who had originally occupied more distant places from the stage went straight to the surface. It was divided into sectors for sitting and ready for a big show and logically a bigger visit. He started the evening in the Devín Townsend district with his group, which, unlike his last visit to Prague’s Roxy, was cut into a quartet. However, it was not known in the performance, on the contrary. This sympathetic Canadian, this time he took away from pomp in the form of palms and other properties, but the approximately nine-item, who included his rich career as a cross-section, answered all the more strikingly. His played compositions mix his typical brutal approach to metal spiced with progression with subtle keyboard underlines. Of course, everything is sponsored by his great singing and specific sense of humor. In a short time, Devín became the darling of the audience, so it also happened that he jumped with his guitar closer to the audience, which ran to him and formed a kind of semicircle around him. At that moment, it seemed that he was really playing and soloing just for them.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
His music ensemble was almost equally equal to the composition under which he is signed as a solo artist, as well as those from his Project. Although the selection of songs was slightly similar to what was already on Brutal Assault in 2017 and, paradoxically, none of his last successful series “Empath” sounded, it’s nothing to say that it was a very well-anticipated pre-selection and choosing such an artist was definitely not a bad choice. . Really great start. Slightly before the announced start of the main star of the evening, symphonic reproduced music from the band’s workshop began to sound and clips of nature were displayed on the screen, describing the themes from the current cover of the last album. In the meantime, the area was filled with people from more distant galleries. Here it is necessary to highlight the security, which managed it brilliantly to the satisfaction of all, because those who wanted to sit could and at the same time did not lose their perspective. Experience from past concerts says that this has rarely been the case. Hats off. And I don’t evaluate the decision to adjust this type of concert to a session at all …
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The Dream Theater itself took place on the stage in a very civil manner, without any major gestures or stage spells. In the spotlight, the musicians greeted the audience and immediately dug into the strings. From the very beginning, the quintet let the audience know that it did not intend to make any of its technical and sound discounts. The scene, which was dominated by Mangini’s relatively truncated drum kit and keyboards by Jordan Rudess, was adorned with several panel screens that complemented one large screen, which projected various, and it should be noted that very successful film clips. The parties filled in other screens with large spotlights, which already showed their strength during the first and very vigorously played song “The Alien”. The whole stage, clean elements of apparatus and cables, thus created a graceful, even surgically clean space with a kind of 3D effect. At times, it looked like the deck of an alien ship.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The band seemed perfectly fine. Many times during the performance, John Petrucci conjured a smile on his lips and literally enchanted his guitar when he burned one solo after another, or instead let it resound in long tones, only then the amplified musical motif merged in the gradation. The Rhudess keyboardist turned and tilted his keys in various ways so that he would always be in the areas reserved for solo instruments. The stoic calm bassist John Myung drew attention to himself as much as possible by throwing his long mane and especially agile fingers, which ran down the fingerboard of his bass neck, otherwise he always stood slightly out of the main events. However, he made up for that in the song “6:00”, in which he created with his namesake fighting stancein which, at the sound of a keyboardist, the etude scales were crushed in unison.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
An inseparable figure of the band is and was of course the frontman that night, the singer James LaBrie, who encouraged the audience at every opportunity. He sang his part and quietly disappeared behind the scenes to return to full energy without singing after the passages. His voice seemed firm, being some parts sung slightly differently than is known from the studio. Needless to say, it didn’t hurt. The sung, slightly altered parts took on a different dimension in the quiet passages sounding more civil, without great manners, almost a recital. The setlist was also interesting. Apart from four songs, including the final twenty-minute composition, from the latest album “A View from the Top of the World”, only six more were heard, the shortest of which lasted about six minutes. The first peak came with “Bridge in the Sky”, in which, as Mike Mangini had a technical problem with the drums, he still managed brilliantly, as did the whole concert. And it should be noted – like the whole band. The composition “About to Crash” sounded beautiful. It was one of two overall calms, but it was part of a larger and longer whole here. After “The Ministry of Lost Souls” went to the finals. This provided the de facto forty-minute double track of the title track from the last album and after a storm of applause and maybe just a minute’s respite from the grand finale in the form of “The Count of Tuscany”.
© Tom Jajo Rozkovec / musicserver.cz
The viewer’s own point of view is certainly worth mentioning. Yes, Dream Theater are not wild boars, in fact, it wouldn’t even suit their music. Their music is thoughtful, sometimes irritating, soothing and smooth, and definitely not accessible to every ear. It takes a while to experience the intricacies of their places, but if you don’t give up, you are rewarded with a musical beauty full of melodies and feelings for gradation. This is how their show worked. Although the light of Rammstein and Tool cannot match the light, however, these musicians are completely different musically. For me, Dream Theater that evening, when their playlist read only ten items, some even surprising, became probably their most accessible set. And even though the sound from the place where I watched the performance was uneven in places, fortunately it became clearer from the middle, I evaluate the concert very positively. I can only say that I have not seen a bad concert this year. And this one was excellent. Just keep going.