The Official DREAM THEATER Thread

[Nick_917]

Bought the album today and I really like it (much better than their last album in my opinion, in both the mixing and overall vibe, etc.). It kind of reminds me of Images and Words in a way. Idk how to explain it, just does. Some songs are still growing on me, but most if not all of them have something memorable. Sure, parts of the album sound like "by the book" DT, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The standout by far is Illumination Theory. I love everything about it. Honestly, I think it's one of their best songs/epics ever. So anyway, definitely a solid and strong album in my opinion. Go DT!

So, is anyone going to go ahead and check at this Luna Park performance, thingamabob? Do you guys think the content is good?

I might give that a watch or so.

I'll probably check it out at some point. I know they're always awesome live so I'm sure it'll be worth a watch.

[DivCruz]

That amazing moment when I played the first track of the Dream Theater's self-titled album and it fits as a background music to the game my nephew's playing. He was playing Age of Empires and his army was onto battle with that False Awakening Suite playing.

[anguyen92]

Found this from the DT forums.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/dream- ... -s-top-10/

34k copies, though they were against a lot of tough competition.

This does not give me a lot of hope for Fortress' 1st week album sales in the US.

[BennyWhatever]

Finally gave this a listen. I've only heard it once, and I do like it. I have some big complaints though:

-The sound and pacing is way too similar of ADTOE.
-I can't stand the chorus effect James LaBrie has on every single song. I love his natural voice and he only uses it without effects a couple times in the album.
-I love Petrucci and I'm a guitarist, but the album was a little too guitar-focused for me.

Other than that, I like it. I need to give it more listens. I was able to get through all songs without wanting to skip any, which I couldn't say for their last album.

[anguyen92]

I've been giving The Bigger Picture a lot of listens, recently, and I'm loving it. Overall, to me, I think this album might be the most Rush (as in Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures-era Rush) DT have ever been.

Especially with the Looking Glass, it reminds me of Limelight. Never a bad thing though.

[BennyWhatever]

Yep, those two were the standout tracks to me (Bigger Picture & Looking Glass). I honestly don't like their main 2 songs - The Enemy Inside & Illumination Theory. They're just not hooking me. Kind of like the Systematic Chaos album; I didn't really like the main songs from that one either.

I like the album, but I definitely don't put it up as high as the others. It just seems like leftover songs that didn't make it into ADTOE. I do take back what I said about the guitar-focus, though.

[anguyen92]

Here's a preview from their upcoming release of the Luna Park show.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/T27uaIb_D2Q[/youtube]

It's pretty good, though some of the DT forum guys have some complaints about the syncing (they filmed two shows in this location). I like Rudess' wizard hat the most in the performance. LaBrie's voice is decent. Everyone else was playing well as they always do.

[Decay]

Shit, that was amazing. Man, look at that fucking drum-set. Petrucci's playing is flawless, the dude's insane.

I still don't know why I haven't checked these guys out (completely). I mean, I've listened to some of the songs and liked them, but I don't feel like I can find the time to listen to all of those albums.

[anguyen92]

Another video from Luna Park. This one is On the Backs of Angels.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/TD4nYqf1wEI[/youtube]

[JaredWard]

Ordered my copy the other day. Sounds promising so far.

[BennyWhatever]

Love the tracklist for Luna Park. I'll have to pick it up - lots of Images & Words!!

I managed to pick up a special edition of Images and Words on Vinyl last year. It's pure excellence.

[anguyen92]

All right, just finished watching their main set from the Luna Park DVD. It was really good, for the most parts. More details in the "Rate the last album, you've listened to." thread.

[Lukeage]

I've bought all of DT's albums. I think the new one's gotta be one of my favorites. I don't hate on ADTOE but it's pretty boring as far as DT goes. I've listened to the album a handful of times but mostly it sits there in my cd rack gathering dust. The documentary of their search for a new drummer was far more entertaining than the album itself.

DT are in my top 10, easily.

Hope that they come to Australia on their current world tour, sometime next year, that would be nice as they didn't tour here for ADTOE

[anguyen92]

I took another spin of the Illumination Theory. It's sounds really awesome when I'm listening to this piece in its entirety for the 3rd time. Especially, around 8:40 mark when the strings come into play with that peaceful vibe and then, boom!, The Pursuit Of Truth part is playing and its rocking hard.

[anguyen92]

Here are the announcements of the North America dates if those that may fancy wanting to go to them if it's close. Pretty decent venues as well.

2014-03-20 - Massey Hall - Toronto, ON
2014-03-21 - Bell Center - Montréal, QC
2014-03-25 - Opera House - Boston, MA
2014-03-27 - Tower Theatre - Philadelphia, PA
2014-03-28 - Hammerstein Ballroom - New York City, NY
2014-04-01 - Lincoln Theater - Washington, DC
2014-04-02 - Palace Theatre - Greensburg, PA
2014-04-04 - The Fillmore - Detroit, MI
2014-04-05 - Chicago Theatre - Chicago, IL
2014-04-06 - Pabst Theater - Milwaukee, WI
2014-04-08 - Burnsville Performing Arts Center - Burnsville, MN
2014-04-09 - Uptown Theatre - Kansas City, MO
2014-04-10 - Paramount Theatre - Denver, CO
2014-04-12 - Queen Elizabeth Theatre - Vancouver, BC
2014-04-17 - Warfield Theatre - San Francisco, CA
2014-04-19 - Orpheum Theatre - Los Angeles, CA
2014-04-23 - Arena Ciudad de Mexico - Mexico City, MEX
2014-04-25 - Arena Monterrey - Monterrey, MEX
2014-04-26 - Auditorio Telmex - Guadalajara, MEX

Also, here's pretty much the announcement on letting the audience know what they are playing.

We’ll be premiering some songs we’ve never played live before, as well as featured tracks from our latest self-titled release and plenty of classic DT songs for all of our long time and hard-core fans. We are all looking forward to a great night of music and super-psyched to kick it all off!”

[anguyen92]

All right, the setlist for the 1st show of the Europe tour.

Act I
False Awakening Suite
The Enemy Inside
(Live premiere)
The Shattered Fortress
(Live premiere)
On the Backs of Angels
The Looking Glass
(Live premiere)
Trial of Tears
(First time played in full since 2004)
Enigma Machine
(With drum solo by Mike Mangini, live premiere)
Along for the Ride
(Live premiere)
Breaking All Illusions

Act II
The Mirror
Lie
Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
(First time played since 2002)
Scarred
(First time played since 2007)
Space-Dye Vest
(Live premiere)
Illumination Theory
(Live premiere)

Encore:
Overture 1928
Strange Déjà Vu
The Dance of Eternity
Finally Free

Pretty interesting setlist here. It favors Metropolis Part 2, Awake, and Self-titled. Hard to believe that this setlist would fill up 2 hours and 45 min. of time.

[anguyen92]

I'm in a music video linking mood, this week, and I'm continuing it here with this video of The Looking Glass. It involves a woman holding a crystal ball and the band playing in a confined studio. James LaBrie's hairstyle there makes him look really old yet aesthetically intriguing.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/_1ldefw-nHk[/youtube]

[anguyen92]

Man, I don't know what to make of this video. The song is still a good instrumental song, but the video is just so random even though I did hear that DT wanted to work with a Ballet company to do this kind of thing.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/rcCH8ndt8qA[/youtube]

[anguyen92]

Six in a row. Son of a. All right, well. I'm bumping this thread to say that these guys got another DVD coming out soon in late September. This includes a guest appearance from the The Berklee College of Music Orchestra and Choir and the band has great connections with that school (Myung and Petrucci were former students and Mangini was a former professor there).

http://loudwire.com/dream-theater-bosto ... ck=tsmclip

Here's a clip.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/DI7E_QvetVM[/youtube]

Someone please respond. I don't want to go 7 in a row here.

[BSC]

I used to absolutely love this band, now I barely listen to them. I don't know why, but I just got bored of their sound almost overnight. The only albums I can listen to by them are Awake, Six Degrees and Train of Thought. Illumination Theory is great too.