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DREAM THEATER 2 days event in ATHENS, GREECE review by Dimitris "Heartcollector83" Theodoropoulos photos © by Dimitris Theodoropoulos and Greenblooded The public use of these fotos is strictly prohibited without written permission. |
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Dream
Theater live in Greece once again. One of the best bands in the world today
comes to Athens for the World Turbulence Tour. Last time they played here
it was at the Rockwave festival in 2000 and they headlined. Everyone was
speechless that night and we couldn’t find words to describe that
excellent show. Now, in the fall of 2002, they visit us again. What should we
expect from them? They were announced to headline the first day of Rockwave
festival 2002 but, as we know, this festival was cancelled. The less thing
the promoters could do was to bring all the bands seperately soon. So….the
announcement was done somewhere in late September. Dream Theater in Athens
for 2 shows on 6 and 7 November. The venue that was announced then was
‘Ydrima Meizonos Elinismou’ but for some reasons, I don’t know, they
changed it to the famous ‘Rodon Club’ which is in the center of
Athens. As the band wanted to record the shows, Rodon is ideal for such
things so that why they probably changed venue. Iced Earth recorded they 3
cd set ‘Alive In Athens’ back in 1999.
The
day had come and I took the bus to go to Athens for 2 days, only for Dream
Theater. After 500 Km of traveling I arrived in town and in a few hours the
show was about to begin. By the time I got there,2 hours earlier, there was
already lots of people waiting for the doors to open so they can get
inside and get a place in the first rows. Tickets were sold out many days
before for both gigs. Actually this band has so devoted fans that people who
bought tickets for the first show got a ticket for the second one as well
! I was not an exception of course ;)When I got inside everyone’s eyes
were going straight on to Mike Portnoy’s drum set. We could see something
huge covered with a black thing. It was enormous and it was uncovered a few
minutes before the show. The
time was 8:00.The band hit the stage just in time and while many people (including
myself) waited to hear Glass Prison as the opening song they started
playing New Millenium off their Falling Into Infinity album. Great
surprise!This song is great and live was even better! During this song all
eyes were on John Myung who used on this song a 12 string bass (Chapman
Stick) !!! This man has no boundaries and has proved it...he can play
everything. Mike Portnoy had 3 bass drums instead of 2 which is the usual…! After
this song Myung changed to the usual 6 string bass he always uses. Next was
Mirror and after it Lie in the same way they are played on the Awake
album. Killer versions of both songs and very heavy ones. Burning My Soul/Hell’s
Kitchen were ok and Another Hand/The Killing Hand were again well played.
Now it was time to play a song from their new album and it was The
Great Debate. This song rules and it was cool to hear it live. Portnoy did
some very difficult drumming in this song. More difficult than he usualy
does. Another Dimension followed and after it a ballad off the band’s
previous album The Spirit Carries On. There was so much emotion in this
song! Everyone was singing and James LaBrie was simply amazing. It was time
for a song from the legendary Images And Words album and it was Learning To
Live! What a song! Live it was even better. Emotion, power, feeling,
melody, passion, excellence….Dream Theater in
all it’s glory. Jordan Rudess didn’t seem to have any problems at all
playing the keyboard parts of the ultimate Kevin Moore. After all these
years being in the band Jordan plays these songs as if they are his. Great
version of the song and after this song I thought I’ve seen everything.
The first set of the concert had finished and James said there
will be a fifteen minute break and the show will go on. Of course it would
be a shame not to say some words about the amazing John Petrucci…I
haven’t mentioned anything about him until now but what can I say about
such a player?? Just put in your cd players the dream theater albums,listen
to the guitar work in there and imagine it live BUT with improvisations
and much feeling and emotion. That’s how Petrucci is live.Sorry but I
can’t describe his live work…there are no words to describe John. So
this show ended and noone could believe what we have seen. No one could tell
the best part of the show or pick a member and say he was the best. All of
them were excellent and played the song without any mistakes at all. But
most of all there was this rare dream theater feeling and emotion in the
songs. A feeling that only James LaBrie can give. This guy is very
underrated. Even some dream theater fans don’t like him. Anyway….time
for sleep now, tomorrow is a busy day……! Set
List 6 November 1st
Set New
Millenium Mirror
Lie
Burning
My Soul/Hell's Kitchen Another
Hand/The Killing Hand The
Great Debate Another
Dimension The
Spirit Carries On Learning
To Live 2nd
Set Six
Degrees Of Inner Turbulence Home
Take
The Time |
Wednesday 7 November 2002 Arrived
at the Rodon club at 4:30.The show was scheduled for 8:00 but I was there
to be present at the special meeting of the band with some selected
members of their Greek Fan Club and also to be awarded from the Greek
Warner Music for the band’s success. The band was in a very good mood
while talking to the fans and signing autographs. A person from the record
company gave the award to the members of the band which was a big frame
that had all the albums of the band placed in a row from When Dream And
Day Unite up to the new cd Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. They had some
pics taken with the award and after that they signed some more autographs,
chatted with the fans and then left. When I got out the time was
about 5 and many people started coming to wait in the line to get in. I saw
many familiar faces from the previous day and as I said somewhere above
almost everyone who got tickets for the first day got ones for the second
as well. You can never get enough of this band. The
show started again in time at 8:00 with Glass Prison. This song is a
perfect opener and the crowd went wild. After the middle part of the song
until the end we saw the ultimate definition of the best progressive band
in the world or should I say the best band in the world in general? A song
off the Awake album followed,6:00 with the cool short drum intro. Strange
Deja Vu was next and then some songs from the new cd. War Inside My Head
and Test That Stumped Them All. These songs are part of the 42 minute song
which was played yesterday but no one complained of course! Next song was
Surrounded a song I always wanted to hear live. James was awesome and was
sitting on a chair during the ballad intro of the song. Next song was
Through My Words. Another beautiful melodic song off the previous album.
Fatal Tragedy again from the previous album and then was
Misunderstood from the new cd.Once again nice melodies and amazing guitar
work by the master. Peruvian Skies was played next and then the band did a
big instrumental with many improvisations which many call the Intrumedley.
The song started with Dance Of Eternity and then they changed
into countless songs and also they threw in there some cover tunes from
other bands as well! This instrumedley was the best part of this night for
many people. For about 15(?) minutes we were all staring at all
members. Each of them was giving his own show but Mr Petrucci was playing
some incredible stuff! Myung was as always ‘punishing’ his bass,
Portnoy
playing everything he wants with even one hand while with the other one he
was drinking something. Rudess with his spinning keyboard system was
smiling to the crowd and playing. James was nowhere to be seen of course.
I bet he was backstage relaxing since this was an instrumental. After this excellent piece of music the first set of the
night closed with Lines In The Sand which featured a magnificent guitar
solo from John ,who was doing some effects with his mouth on the
microphone while soloing. After
the 15 minute break we heard the number of the beast speech intro from the
speakers! Rumours had spread the word some day before the gigs that the
band was to cover Iron Maiden’s Number Of The Beast album in it’s
entirely and now we were all ready to hear it. So the band started playing
the album from first song Invaders up to the last one Hallowed Be Thy
Name. The second guitar parts were played on the keyboards by Rudess and in
some parts he did it so good you thought it was a guitar playing. In some
other parts he wasn’t so successful but that was ok. Petrucci seemed to
play all the guitars very easily of course…the things dream theater play
are so much difficult than that and all seemed to have fun to play these
easy songs. Especially Mike Portnoy was so cool and could play parts with
just one hand. All of them seemed much more relaxed than when they did
their own songs. The album was played like it is played by Iron Maiden except only one
song, Gangland. Dream Theater managed to turn this average
song into an amazing tune! They played it in a completely different way, a
jazz/blues version I could say. The only difficult part of the number of
the beast album is without doubt the vocals. Few singers can sing
Dickinson’s lines. James LaBrie didn’t screw up in any parts at all.
He
approached the songs in his own style and although he didn’t make that
big impression as the other members did he was just ok and had fun. In the
background there was the cover of the album but instead of saying iron
maiden it had dream theater written with the iron maiden font style! After
about 40 minutes of playing the album it was time to finish the show with
an all time dream theater classic and probably their most famous song,
Pull
Me Under. The live version they did was great and in the middle part of the
song they played it in an ultra fast version! It was funny to hear James
trying to keep up with the other member’s pace with the vocals but he
managed to do it! In the last part when the song was about to end they
played it in an ultra slow pace and it was sounding like when you put a
vinyl LP record playing in a slow motion. Once again this band is
unpredictable and played the song in this different way. There were no good
or bad parts of the show. All were equally fun and like the previous
night’s gig we show the best musician’s of the world giving an
unforgettable show. No one will forget these 2 shows and I am sure that even
the band members will remember the times they spent here in Greece. |
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Set
List 7 November 17, 2002 1st
Set 6:00
Strange
Deja Vu War
Inside My Head Test
That Stumped Them All Surrounded
Through
My Words Fatal
Tragedy Misunderstood
Peruvian
Skies InstruMedley
Lines
in the Sand 2nd
Set Number
of the Beast - Iron Maiden Pull
Me Under
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