Dream Theater - Tour closer at Blackburn

The final night concert by Dream Theater on their Systematic Chaos tour was at King George's Hall, Blackburn, UK on 11/11/07. I'd been unable to see DT on this tour in Newcastle so travelled down to Blackburn. In short this was a superb concert with a good setlist, 4 songs from the SC album plus representatives from various older DT albums, including a medley encore.

[Constant Motion (SC), Never Enough (Oct), Blind Faith (6DoIT), Forsaken (SC), The Dark Eternal Night (SC) Another Day (I&W), Scarred (A), In The Presence Of Enemies (SC).

Encore medley: Trial Of Tears (FiI),Finally Free (Met Pt2), Learning To Live (I&W), In The Name Of God (ToT), Octavarium (Oct)].

Good points: JL was in very good voice throughout, the overall musicianship was excellent (amazing to hear and see those intricate arrangements played live), the balance of personalities (these are musicians whose personas seem to be expressed through their playing styles), the fun and humour – only excellent musicians can get away with it.

For me the two song highlights were Forsaken and the entire In The Presence Of Enemies. The former since it's a relatively simple but powerful and melodramatic song with a good riff and catchy chorus that was excellent live, and the latter because it's a perfect DT prog metal opus moving through many outstanding movements (try listening to the 2 parts on the album together to appreciate the whole). Once we've all learned the lyrics we'll be joining in with the "FIGHT" and "FEAR" yells in part 2! Lots of young fans in too - good to see.

Bad points: the sound mix was disappointing in the heavier segments (I was about 10 'rows' back, centre-stage so should have been in a good position) – perhaps we get spoilt by the carefully-balanced DVDs DT produce – but JR's keyboard and JM's bass were often lost to JP's guitar sound, yet both are also important to the DT sound.

The supporting band was Symphony X, whose latest album – Paradise Lost – is excellent, so I was really looking forward to seeing them. Unfortunately, the venue security set-up was so inefficient, with only 1 guy barcode-checking tickets for the standing area (they had 2 for the balcony – but no signs to say which queue was for which!), that a huge number of us had to queue for nearly an hour to get in – so we missed half of the SX set. Since doors only opened at 7pm for a 7.30 start this was criminally poor planning and I urge promoters and bands to avoid this venue unless the management can sort out this problem. I'll stick to Newcastle City Hall and the Academy in future.