Dream Theatre / Symphony X - Newport 10 Nov 07

 

Symphony X - I enjoyed them immensely.  They have a huge amount of potential, and I wish them well.  They played circa 45min, which is probably not long enough.  I had never heard anything by them, so to impress, they had to do something special.  The guitarist and charismatic lead singer I thought were very special.  They have to polish up a bit, their stage presence isn't quite there at present, but I am sure it will come.

 

What can you say about DT?  I believe it was a very special performance.  They took a 10min applause at the end of the gig, and the applause   only stopped when they reluctantly left the stage.  Overrated, I don't think so.  I won't go into setlists etc, but they played a good number of tracks from the Systematic Chaos album.

 

Special mention must go to Mike Portney, who when he came back on for the encore, stood wearing a Welsh Rugby shirt with the word Cymru across the centre of the shirt.  Some people will call this cheesy, other will say he was getting closer to his fans and audience.  Anybody from foreign lands who tries to understand that countries culture, also gets my vote.  I hear that MP drums over everything, the guy's got charisma.  My daughter came with me, and at the end of the concert asked "where does he get his energy from".  He played brilliantly. 

 

They were quite simply awesome.  Probably one of the greatest gigs ever.  I will probably pursue the remaining albums.  I hope someone else saw this amazing gig, and put their view across as a seasoned fan, cos if it impressed someone with only 3/8th of their catalogue goodness what it did for them. 

 

A bit on prices

 

Gig £24 (a bargain)

Tour programme £15 (a tad expensive)

Tee shirts £22

 

That's it.  Rock on (progressively off course)

 

 

 

I love the English sense of humour.  I get the same reaction when I go to work every day.