METROPOLIS 2000: SCENES FROM NEW YORK

A great live DVD from amazing studio album, which also recognized as one of the best progressive metal albums. Just a little information, the DVD is a live concert of Dream Theater fifth studio album and the DVD was released in 2001. The studio album itself was released in 1999 and was Jordan Rudess (keyboards)'s debut album with Dream Theater.

The best part of the DVD probably is the concept behind it. As we know, Metropolis Pt.2, Scenes From A Memory is a concept album and has a story behind it. This situation somehow made Mike Portnoy created an amazing concept for the DVD that it has some movie elements besides a rock metal concert. For those of you who haven't known the story behind Scenes From A Memory, here is the general story. The story is situated in 1928 with the main characters, Nicholas, Victoria Page, Senator Edward Baynes and Julian Baynes (yes, they are brothers). The story started when Nicholas was in a subconscious mind, imagined Victoria and her murder. Once Nicholas felt about this feeling, there is no turning back for him, he had to solve Victoria's death. Later, he found out that there was a love affair between Victoria, Ed and Julian. This love affair then leads to Victoria and Julian's death. You can read the full story on my Scenes From A Memory review.

About their performances, its no doubt, great playing, amazing techniques and skills, also good stamina. However, seems like Mike Portnoy was very enthusiastic that he collapsed and passes out due to over-exhaustion.

Main Concert - The main concert was the real Scenes From A Memory songs, with some changes of course. Same like the one on the album, the story started with The Hypnotherapist's calming Nicholas's mind and told him to go to his subconscious mind. I consider this part is a bit tricky for John Petrucci and Kent Broadhurst (The Hypnotherapist) since they had to make sure the timing is absolutely perfect, and they've done it very well. The "movie concept" I told you started when the song "Through My Words" kicks off. Here you can see Victoria (Siri Vilboel)'s face. Throughout the DVD, there are lots of psychedelic's and camera effects. Personally I don't really like these effects since I consider it's a bit too much. There other difference with the studio album is the song "Through Her Eyes". At the concert, there was an extended intro of Through Her Eyes, which called "John & Theresa Solo Spot". Theresa Thomason also took part in the making of Scenes From A Memory. Also, in Through Her Eyes, there was an extended drum and guitar section, which very different on the studio album. So the "original" drum part was a drum machine, but then Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci decided to have an extended part since the crew had to set the stage for the next song. Probably the best song and the best performance was "The Spirit Carries On", and honestly, this is one of the songs that gave me a chill. They've had a group of gospel choir to add a background vocal for The Spirit Carries On, and yes, along with Theresa Thomason. So just imagine, a truly great beautiful song, amazing solo with deep feeling, even better lyrics with gospel choir, who won't get a chill? Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci also said that they had a chill at this stage. Another good this was the last scene and the closing scene, which very similar like the one on the studio album. Here you can see when Ed (Michael Bentholm) killed Julian (Kasper V. Kristensen) and Victoria, continued with the scene where The Hypnotherapist, which is Ed's reincarnation killed Nicholas (Sune L. Jensen).

Bonus Tracks - There are some bonus tracks on the DVD, which are "A Mind Behind Itself" ("Erotomania", "Voices" and "The Silent Man"), "Learning To Live" and the 25 minutes of epic, "A Change Of Season".

Extras - Probably the best thing is the full length commentary track by all members, however, don't expect to hear lots of John Myung's voice : ) You can really figure out what kind of men Dream Theater's personnel are. They were very funny and commented about each other's performance, good and bad things. They were also clearly explained the full story behind the studio album and while they played the songs, we can actually feel the beautifulness of the songs. The other part of the extras is the "behind the scenes", which was divided into five: The crew, band, fans, rehearsals and the show. Last but not least is the photo gallery which Mike Portnoy has taken throughout the "journey".

In the end, five huge stars for a great live DVD. Well actually its 4.8 stars since I don't really enjoy the psychedelic and camera effects. For those of you who have owned the original studio album, I believe you will enjoy this DVD which really complements the album itself.

Keep On Proggin' In The Free World!!! Timur Imam Nugroho

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