DREAM THEATER OR KANSAS

moodyxadi wrote: BTW, Steve Walsh really did a lot of s**t with his voice. I can't hear Icarus or Belexes in Device-Voice-Drum without feeling pain in my ears, so this is a reason that can be counted against Kansas when you compare these bands today. But in terms of playing Kansas still kicks DT.

Not exact Moodyxadi, Steve wasn't going to sing in that tour because he had a recent surgery in the vocal chords, I believed the problem was created because of some drug abuse  (Had a previous one in 89 and Kansas had to cancel), but nobody could convince him to stay away from such an event, especially having kept clean for a long time.

If you notice Robbie Steindhart covers him at various moments because he knew how dangerous was for Steve to make that effort.

After that gig he rested for some time, and he's back again better than ever.

Iván

KANSAS

I'm not sure what the comparison criteria is for these "X vs. Y" polls, but of course I voted for Kansas.

I agree with the couple people who have noted the two bands have very little in common to form the basis for comparison, but here's a couple of bullets to quantify some of the differences.  This doesn't speak to the quality of either group's music, but I think does point to the scope of each's contributions:

Productivity:
Original studio albums by DT - 9
by Kansas - 16

Originality:
Songs Dream Theater has covered -
Carry on Wayward Son (Kansas)
22 Acacia Avenue (Iron Maiden)
Hallowed Be Thy Name (Iron Maiden)
Children of the Damned (Iron Maiden)
Gangland (Iron Maiden)
Invaders (Iron Maiden)
Killers (Iron Maiden)
Run to the Hills (Iron Maiden)
The Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden)
The Prisoner (Iron Maiden)
The Trooper (Iron Maiden)
Where Eagles Dare (Iron Maiden)
2112 (Rush)
A Passage to Bangkok (Rush)
Different Strings (Rush)
The Necromancer (Rush)
Tears (Rush)
The Trees (Rush)
YYZ (Rush)
Battery (Metallica)
Damage, Inc. (Metallica)
Disposable Heroes (Metallica)
Enter Sandman (Metallica)
Leper Messiah (Metallica)
Orion (Metallica)
Sanitarium (Metallica)
Hot for Teacher (Van Halen)
Mean Street (Van Halen)
Heart of the Sunrise (Yes)
Machine Messiah (Yes)
Echoes (Pink Floyd)
Hey You (Pink Floyd)
One of These Days (Pink Floyd)
Carry that Weight (The Beatles)
Within You Without You (The Beatles)
Perfect Strangers (Deep Purple)
Smoke on the Water (Deep Purple)
Moby Dick (Led Zeppelin)
Since I've Been Loving You (Led Zeppelin)
Baba O'Riley (The Who)
Won't Get Fooled Again (The Who)
Bad (U2)
Red Hill Mining Town (U2)
Acid Rain (Liquid Tension Experiment)
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (Elton John)
In The Dead Of Night (UK)
Cemetery Gates (Pantera)
Death on Two Legs (Queen)
Diary of a Madman (Ozzy Osbourne)
Walk this Way (Aerosmith)
War Pigs (Black Sabbath)
Winter (Tori Amos)

Songs Kansas has covered -
Eleanor Rigby (The Beatles)
Dream Weaver (Gary Wright)

Influence:
James LaBrie has noted numerous times in interviews that high among his influences are Kansas, and particularly Steve Walsh.