Sorry DT-bashers

I just saw DT yesterday in Helsinki. They were amazing!! I can't believe how good they were. LaBrie has really been working on his voice he sounded like a totally different singer. He hit all the high notes and he was really energetic. The whole band was great! And DT aren't loosing their touch. They're still making a lot of good songs, the newest album isn't as good as the previous albums as a whole, but it has a couple of really great songs. In fact Octavarium is imo their best song. Trapped inside this octavarium is mindblowing live!! I love this band.

Octavarium is a great song...although the intro is pretty skippable i like the approach of a epic track that manages to stay in the "softer" area and even incorporates the great symphonic ending...the only really awfull thing is that they cut out the really excellent flute ending wich IMO was MUCH better

MikeEnRegalia wrote: What's so brilliant about the ending of Octavarium? Both Scenes and 6DOIT disc 2 have MUCH better endings.

yea well 6doit got a better ending but i think it is really one of the best...if they only had kept the flute outro part ...But i just love symphonic stuff with a orchestra, cant help it

Edited by maidenrulez

GFoyle: Their music is quite complex and difficult to play. I'm a musician and I know how difficult it is to stand on stage and jump around and interact with the audience even when you play SIMPLE songs. I agree that they're a bit "stiff" ... I really like Zappa in that regard. They interacted much with the audience and at the same time played very complex music.

Please don't call them w**kers just because they play complex stuff. They do that, most of their fans like it, and if YOU don't like music like that then do yourself a favor and DON'T GO THERE. Or at least don't expect it to be different and then complain about it afterwards.

[QUOTE=MikeEnRegalia]

GFoyle: Their music is quite complex and
difficult to play. I'm a musician and I know how difficult it is to stand on
stage and jump around and interact with the audience even when you
play SIMPLE songs. I agree that they're a bit "stiff" ... I really like Zappa in
that regard. They interacted much with the audience and at the same time
played very complex music.

Please don't call them w**kers just because they play complex stuff.
They do that, most of their fans like it, and if YOU don't like music like
that then do yourself a favor and DON'T GO THERE. Or at least don't
expect it to be different and then complain about it afterwards.

[/
QUOTE]

Jumping around and being energetic on the stage is one approach of
making a good live show and I understand that DT's music is not perhaps
the most suited for it. Nobody stops DT members interacting with the
audiance between songs though... I think there are multiple way of being
a good live act, I just didn't DT was any of them.

I never said that I didn't like their music, I didn't pay good money to sit
there and listen to them almost three hours to just bash them. Just the
damn solo's annoy me and especially in a live show they are very
apparent. I WAS expecting that though, it is just "funny" that is all.

btw. guitar solos IMO do not make music complex

GFoyle wrote: Jumping around and being energetic on the stage is one approach of making a good live show and I understand that DT's music is not perhaps the most suited for it. Nobody stops DT members interacting with the audiance between songs though... I think there are multiple way of being a good live act, I just didn't DT was any of them.

Then you should not go to a King Crimson show.

GFoyle wrote: I never said that I didn't like their music, I didn't pay good money to sit there and listen to them almost three hours to just bash them. Just the damn solo's annoy me and especially in a live show they are very apparent. I WAS expecting that though, it is just "funny" that is all.

Well, then DON'T GO THERE because DT is all about solos and complex song structures. People go to these shows because of these aspects. Surely DT aren't JUST that - but it's their main "asset".

GFoyle wrote: btw. guitar solos IMO do not make music complex

 true ... fortunately DT aren't just about guitar solos. The point is that they're all virtuosos on their instruments, and they all get their spots.

Petrucci is a perfectionist. I think it was portnoy who said, He plays about a million notes in a show, but if he doesn't get that one note right, the whole night is ruined (not an exact quote, but near enough). He was refering to the feedback note that starts train of thought.

Heh, I have seen King Crimson when they were the "warm-up" band for
Tool in San Francisco. Didn't know the band back then and they sounded
interesting but after awhile I started to get sleepy...

To me a good live act can be for example on of the following:

Interacting with the audience
-either during or between songs.
-examples: Opeth did this a LOT, between every song. It was fun and very
entertaining. Robin Williams was very good at this as well, even being a
huge star he felt really close to the audience with his act (no I'm not a
huge fan of his music, just there because of my girlfriend)

Being energetic and "rocking"
-really going for it in their performance.
-examples: Rage Against the Machine back in their second album tour,
Strapping Young Lad (only seen them on tape unfortunantly).

Visual experience
-having a great visual show
-examples: I haven't seen that many of this, but Marily Manson was very
visual in his live act, with all the costumes and weird stuff and that way
very entertaining. Ramstein of course.

Being cool
-This is really a matter of taste, but some bands are just so damn cool on
the stage that you just love the act because of that.
-examples: Tool, Maynard standing almost BEHIND the band for the
whole show as a silhuette and twisting himself like a maniac while
singing!

There are others of course. Sometimes if the music just sound so much
better live than on the albums can do alone (Anekdoten comes to mind
and Opeth, though I like them on albums as well).

I agree with you GFoyle. Being in Australia i have not had the opportunity to see Dream Theater live in person so it's really hard to guage them fairly, but i have seen a couple of DVDs and clips and they don't seem to be an interesting live band at all.
I really don't get how people can just say it's because the music is so complex al the time either. I mean come on DT's music isn't THAT complex. Ok the have intricate little runs here and there, but there are PLENTY of moments for the band to get into it or just even move around the stage or something, but i've never seen them do it. It makes their music come across as more of a gimmick to them or a chore rather than something they enjoy. However, as i said, i've never experienced them live, so i can only go off video footage.

Again, being in Australia i haven't had much opportunity to see any decent big name bands, but i have seen Opeth, and while they aren't the most active band in the world either, they still get into it and interact really well with the audience. Hell, they even played along with chants in the audience when they came down here.

My friends and I saw Opeth in Cleveland (Damnation tour) and they did way too much "interacting with the audience".  The lead singer just wouldn't shut up between songs.  He'd talk for 5 minute stretches on stuff between every song and it was just so frustrating.  It seemed like such an amateur production.

 

 

Edited by bartok