Dream Theater in SoCal, 2 shows

Anahiem 3/9/6

03/09 - Anaheim, CA - The Grove
1. The Root of All Evil
2. Never Enough
3. Another Won
4. Afterlife
5. Under A Glass Moon
6. Innocence Faded
7. Just Let Me Breathe
8. Home
~~Intermission~~
9. The Glass Prison
10. This Dying Soul
11. The Answer Lies Within
12. Sacrificed Sons
13. Octavarium
~~Encore~~
14. In The Name of God

OK, now that I've de-sonified my brain a bit I can give this a whirl. This was only my 6th time seeing Da Boyz, I know a lot here have seen them many more times, but the quality of sound from where I was at was very well balanced. I was tier 1 row 5 left, right in front of the house speaker stack.

The first set was nothing short of phenominal as far as song selection, when they went into Under a Glass Moon me and my buddy were quite jazzed to say the least. After, when they went into Innocence Faded, I about hit the frikken cieling. They ended the set with Home, which I've seen I think 3 times now, but this was deffinatly the best time! Awesome! Only gripe I have about the first set, and I know I'm being picky, was that it topped out at about 1 hour 10 mins. We kinda get spoiled with the full sets of an hour and a half.

Second set after pretty close to a 25 min break started with both barrels, Glass Prison and Dying Soul. Everything was great song wise for me up until they hit "Answer Lies Within", the only song of the show I could have gone without. I tried to give it a good listen and get into it. I had learned last tour when they played Hollow Years, a song I previously didn't care for, that you can be pleasantly surprised with a live version that kicks ass! Unfortunately...that was a no go with "Answer" for me this time.

Sacrificed Sons.....AWESOME! The Intro Vid deffinately commanded the attention of most everyone in the arena. Octavarium...well...after reading what folks from past shows had said about it being better live, I have to agree whole heartedly. This piece just moved up a lot of pegs in my DT song hierchy. Jordans intro was stellar, and it only got better from there. Hearing it live really made me appreciate the song construction itself. I can't WAIT to hear it again tonight at Pantages!

Laughed our asses off when MP yelled for Pop Tarts ..."Hope he got them". My buddy was laughing, on a BUNCH of occassions me and MP had a little interactive thing going...was really fun!

OK...the following is strictly, as with everything, just my opinion and observation.

I think the Boyz were really stymied by the crowd. This venue layout for those who don't know is, tier 1 - 5 seating rows infront, then 4 tiers of dinner tables, a hundred tables in all. They gradually rise with each tier, but not enough to allow folks to stand in front of your tier without you having to stand. Example, we were the last seating row in tier 1, the folks at the table behind us, even though they were slightly elevated, had to stand or they wouldn't have been able to see. From my vantage point, it seemed the tables directly behind me on the left were the only ones standing.

This all being said, the majority of all the table seated folks sat through the entire show. I could see the look of puzzlement on the bands faces at key points when folks usually go hog wild. At one point during Glass Prison, when we pump our arms into the air, I saw James mouth the words WTF? with a look of pretty much disgust on his face, because the table folks didn't "Seem" to be into it. Again, I don't think it was necessarily thier fault for not standing, it was a catch 22 for all the tables. Anyways, I really hope the guys weren't dissapointed by our crowd, at the time to me it seeed like they were. Bottom line...I had a frikken great time! Was just kind of a wierd venue for a heavier band to play. Here's something that MIGHT be indicative, I didn't see any of the band throw picks or sticks, which was a first for me at a DT show.

Los Angeles 3/10/6

03/10 - Los Angeles, CA - Pantages Theater
1. The Root of All Evil
2. Another Won
3. A Fortune In Lies
4. Take The Time
5. The Mirror/
6. Lie
7. Raise The Knife
8. Strange Deja-Vu
9. About To Crash (Reprise)/
10. Losing Time/Grand Finale
~~Intermission~~
11. As I Am
12. These Walls
13. I Walk Beside You
14. Sacrificed Sons
15. Octavarium
~~Encore~~
16. Sheep (Pink Floyd)
17. Wait For Sleep/
18. Learning To Live

Cob webs are finally subsiding, probably as much as they will after 2 nights of sonic bombardment.

Highlight of the night........SHEEP!!!! off Animals..great tribute, in it's entirety!!!

I don't even know where to start. The differences between Anaheim and L.A. were quite dramatic. When the house lights dropped to start the show...you just knew the crowd was way more intense in LA. It showed during TROAL on the bands faces also, their expressions seemed to say "Whew...now were back on track" The crowd energy was intense. I loved the Myung to Petrucci's chest head butt, pushing him all the way across the stage! The setlist, for me, was brilliant through and through.

Lets do a quick 2 night re-cap.....in 2 shows we got -

Innocence Faded
Sheep
Raise the Knife
Another won x2
Extended version of Learning to Live that knocked my socks off
Mirror and Lie back to back
Wait for Sleep
Awesome versions of ITNOG and Home
Every song on Octavarium except for Panic Attack, which we got with gigantour in Irvine.
Plus the usuals!

Sounds like a winner to me

Back to LA...Sound quality from my vantage point was great, loud and mixed well. I could here all 5 of the boyz evenly with very few instances of "overpowering". As said before by folks, I think it depends on where your sitting. We were basically 3 rows directly in front of the house speakers for both shows. My guess is that being so close, none of the highs that can get lost did for us.

The band was in high octane mode, and really seemed to enjoy themselves! If I were a betting man, I'd say after 2 great Pantages shows in the last 2 tours, they'll be back there.

We hit the H & V restaurant/bar before the show, and ran into a few folks we had met on prior tours. Thats whats great about these boards and the DT experience in general. Great people with a passion for great Music! Two of the guys we had met prieviously sat right behind Steve Vai, who was sitting next to the Portnoys. When I met up with them at the end of the night they were Quite pumped up!

 I also noticed, after the show people really mingled for quite a bit. It wasn't the normal "lets get the hell out of here and get to bed" crowd. I thought that was really cool, part of the overall ambiance of the Evening.

I was really jazzed to meet up with my old pal Gretzky from the DT boards , we first met on ToT tour, with platinum paks, think we've done 3 shows now Gretz, including Gigantour. I always enjoy chatting with you Bro! We deffinatly have to keep this ritual going! Your right also in that I need to thank my MRS.'s also for allowing me 2 nights in a row with minimal griefing.

One other neat thing, the point when before the encore when a thousand cell phones lit the arena....I was in row F, looking back and up my jaw just dropped....deffinatly a sight to see, F**K lighters! This is the new Millenium baby!

Well I guess thats enough of my rambling.....I can best sum it up as "I still have a smile on my mug"

I hope all you guys and gals with upcoming shows have as great a time as we did! Enjoy!

disastercasper wrote: Sounds like a great show. The Anaheim show has a similar line-up as the show I was at in Amsterdam. Although James LaBrie's voice is live sometimes kind of dissapointing, this night he rocked! i only pity the fact that I had to miss them on their album cover night when they covered 'The Dark Side of the Moon'  But nevertheless, it was great!

Now that would have been epic!  With LaBrie it's odd, most vocalists loose their voice as they get older.  I swear with him though, his voice gets stronger and stronger everytime I've seen him since Met2.  He must be living the good life or has a great vocal coach, or both.