The Most Talented Musician Ever

I just saw five of them a week and a half ago for the fourth time in the last six or seven years.  The band is Dream Theater and while they have been around since the early 80's, they have been mostly ignored by both mainstream and satellite radio, save for their one hit single "Pull Me Under".

The show on the 16th of February here in Cin City was nothing less than outstanding.  Having seen them three other times in support of two of their most popular releases and the third show consisting of the playing of their entire latest release at the time, I had little to go on as to what their set list would be for this show.

They just released another album a few months ago and while I had seen videos to two of the four songs that made it into this show, I was not overly familiar with either song.  Another selection from their Awake album I had heard maybe two or three times.  And despite owning their entire catalog on CD as well as a number of their DVD's, there are still quite a few of the CD's I haven't had a chance to listen to following their receipt last year for my birthday.

So, out of a 14 or 15 song set list, I had heard only three of the songs on a very limited basis.  But despite this fact, the show was still 100% entertaining and magical.  And the reason for that is due to the five musicians in this band.  I honestly do not believe they've ever written a bad song and they are one of those groups that you know whether or not you're going to like the song after only a few notes.  So far, I've yet to find one that hit a bad chord (no pun intended) with me.

Their guitarist, John Petrucci is truly one of the most underrated players to ever strap a guitar on.  He has a contract with Music Man guitars and following their development of a seven string guitar based on his specs, he went another step further and this year they came out with an EIGHT string, which he developed strictly for the ability to play very low leads on a couple of the songs from their latest release.  And those leads were AMAZING!!!

I consider them a combination of early Yes and Genesis multiplied by Metallica.  They can be EXTREMELY heavy at times and then turn around and play a slow melodic ballad that you'd never expect out of such a progressive based band.

If you've never heard of them or their one hit (which in my opinion isn't even the best song on the album) I recommend picking up "Images and Words" (which includes that hit), "Metropolis Part II - Scenes From A Memory" (a concept album with an eerie backstory much in the manner of Operation: Mindcrime by Queensryche) or "The Astonishing" (a 3 1/2 hour epic concept double album that most of their fans and critics hated, but I think is one of their best works).

Or simply go to their YouTube channel and take in one of their many live shows that are posted there or some of their videos that likely never made it to MTV or other video music channels (one of my favs is "Hollow Years").

While they have changed a few members over the years (James LaBrie did not sing on their first EP album; Derrick Sherinian was replaced by Jordan Rudess on keyboards about three or four albums in; Mike Mangini replaced Mike Portnoy on drums four albums ago), they have not lost one iota of ability or quality with these three and are in my opinion better than ever with this current line-up.

They have also been known to play and record cover versions of entire albums.  A few that I can think of are Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd, Master of Puppets by Metallica and The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden.  

The album "A Change of Seasons" features that seven part 30 minute song on Side A, while Side B includes the covers of "Funeral For A Friend / Love Lies Bleeding" by Elton John, "Perfect Strangers" by Deep Purple, a medley of "The Rover / Achilles Last Stand / The Song Remains The Same" by Led Zeppelin and another medley of "In The Flesh" by Pink Floyd / "Carry On Wayward Son" by Kansas / "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen / "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" by Journey / "Cruise Control" by The Dixie Dregs / "Turn It On Again" by Genesis"

Check these guys out and spread the word!  They are simply just TOO good to be playing small 1,200 seat venues.