So, I’m feeling a bit melancholy today
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Topic: So, I’m feeling a bit melancholy today
Posted By: Empathy
Subject: So, I’m feeling a bit melancholy today
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 10:19
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I feel like an era of my life is somewhat coming to an end. After
seeing Dream Theater last night, I realized that I seem to have
outgrown my adoration for them. Don't get me wrong, it was still a
great show, as I don't think DT could ever put on a BAD show. But...
they just seemed a little tired. At points, it almost felt like they
were just going through the motions. Combined with the fact that one of my other favorite all-time artists, Ozric Tentacles, left me feeling a little disappointed the last time I saw them... it's just making me a bit blue. Maybe it's me that changed. On the upside, I found myself appreciating the Octavarium material MUCH more after this show. I'm glad they're starting to explore some different textures, and focusing more on songwriting, less on the breakneck technical acrobatics. ------------- Pure Brilliance: 
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Replies:
Posted By: aprusso
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 10:34
| I had the same impression 4 years ago. Ozric are repetitive also. Only porcupine tree never dsappoint |
Posted By: Empathy
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 10:39
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I was a touch fidgety at the last Porcupine Tree show I saw as well, to be honest. I guess it just comes down to the fact that I have this expectation for a band to grow, and try different things. Both DT and Ozric seemed somewhat bored with what they were doing, at least in my perception. ------------- Pure Brilliance:
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Posted By: Firepuck
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 10:44
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Probably you are changing... I, for example, do not do the large concerts anymore - I just don't enjoy them. There is so much good music out there that I can spend my entertainment dollar at venues more suited to my current tastes (read age). To explain, I recently saw The Strawbs, then Steve Hackett at nightclubs that hold a couple of hundred people and saw Jethro Tull at the local Opera House. Additionally I have gone to see the 'best of the best' tribute bands for Genesis, Pink Floyd, Queen, etc. which help to preserve my old memories! Plus there are tons of performers not so well know(local or up and coming), or not from 'prog', that I could spend myself poor if I wanted to. ------------- Kryten : "'Pub'? Ah yes, A meeting place where humans attempt to achieve advanced states of mental incompetence by the repeated consumption of fermented vegetable drinks." |
Empathy wrote:Posted By: The Wizard
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 10:45
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I really want to see Ozric Tentacles in concert. Dream Theatre isn't my cup of tea though. -------------  
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Posted By: Empathy
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 10:55
That reminds me of something funny Mike Portnoy did at the end of the night. There's this music school in Boston called the Berklee College of Music (I believe both Portnoy and Petrucci are alumni). So as you can imagine, the audience was FULL of students and ex-students (myself being in the latter category). I couldn't see what Portnoy was referring to, but I'm assuming someone was holding a homemade banner, because he said... "Berklee may teach you to play your asses off, but they sure don't teach you how to spell!"  BTW, if you haven't seen Ozric at LEAST twice, you owe it to yourself to do so.  Firepuck, you're likely right. Maybe in the future, I'll focus on less on seeing the large national touring acts live, and more on the myriad "unknown" acts I WILL say that the two Sleepytime Gorilla Museum shows I've seen in the past year absolutely floored me. ------------- Pure Brilliance:
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Posted By: Paulieg
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 11:03
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I can relate. I find it harder and harder to listen too a lot of the classic prog bands, though I still love them, along with the classic prog metal bands like Dream Theater. I find myself getting bored. I was primarily a symphonic and prog metal head. I've been buying and listening too a lot of obscure prog from other countries too get my fix lately, along with some of the newer prog, gasp! I used too be pretty much a die hard from the old school of prog. There's some great new stuff coming from countries like Italy, Sweden, and Poland. I've also been expanding my listening field to other genres of prog. I now listen to Italian prog, French prog, Spanish prog, Kraut rock, Space rock, Canterbury, Zheul, jazz-rock-fusion(as long as it's prog influenced), tech metal, folk prog, and of course my first two loves still being symphonic prog and prog metal. There's no shortage of genres with prog. I just found the classics like Yes and Crimson getting stale. You mentioned the Ozrics. This is a band I never checked out until recently and I'm listening too and loving "Jurassic Shift" right now.
I just got a bundle of cd's I ordered today which I can't wait to listen too. |
Posted By: Padraic
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 11:17
Empathy, it's too bad to hear this. At the show I saw, the guys seemed really energized and were having a great time (Portnoy had a perpetual grin on his face). All I can think is that it's at the end of the tour, they probably are tired, and they're gearing up for the Radio City show which will be enshrined in CD/DVD form, so they also might be "saving themselves" to make sure tomorrow night's show closes the tour in grand fashion. I also have a renewed appreciation of the Octavarium material, wasn't the performance of Sacrificed Sons and Octavarium unbelievable? Maybe this is related, but a couple years ago (I think?) I got tickets for Rush on the Vapor Trails tour. Now, I wasn't really thrilled about Vapor Trails, the sound quality was terrible and I wasn't too much of a fan of the songs (I might revisit the CD soon and try again now that I'm thinking about it). I was melancholy at the time, thinking, "Here's my favorite band of all time, but I wonder if they're just hanging around too long. Am I losing interest here? Should I even bother with the show?" Out of the 5 or 6 Rush concerts I've seen, that one was the very best and I was so glad I went. See, even favorite bands can get tiresome. I think the only thing you can do is to just put them down for a while (it might be months or years), and check out new bands or subgenres. Come back to them after some period of time, and they might be fresh for you. Another example, I played Zeppelin so much as a young teen there came a point where I was bored to tears, I literally couldn't hear another one of their songs. My attitude was, "I've played all the Zeppelin I need to play in my lifetime. Time to move on." Lo and behold, lately I've been reacquainting myself with their work and have really been enjoying it. Sorry for the long post.  But I just wanted to say "I've been there." |
Posted By: Empathy
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 11:49
Sacrificed Sons is what impressed me the most. The visual surprise in Octavarium was pretty funny.
I saw that tour as well, and was VERY glad I did. They were in top form. 
the DVD that came out in '03 is what renewed my love for Zep. 
thanks for the support. ------------- Pure Brilliance:
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Posted By: Dreamer
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 12:15
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I used to be a huge Dream Theater fan, but stopped listening to them almost completely for some reason. I have sudden changes like that very often for some reason.... Maybe the prog mentality really got into me.. |
Posted By: Trickster F.
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 12:28
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Reminds me of the time I came back from a Judas Priest concert with my neck broken and the day after stopped listening to rock music for about a week. Sometimes it is for a period of time, sometimes it is permanent. -- Ivan ------------- sig |
Posted By: Empathy
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 13:11
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Wow, you broke your neck at a Judas Priest concert??? You should probably steer clear of Slayer shows, for health reasons then! ------------- Pure Brilliance:
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Posted By: Rashikal
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 22:29
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I stopped listening to DT a long time ago because they were too cheesy and recycled too many ideas. "you're the rotten root in the family tree" ------------- 
listen to Hella |
Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 23:09
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...There's always avant-prog.
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Posted By: akiko
Date Posted: March 31 2006 at 23:20
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Empathy, I have gone through the same thing over the last 20 years. I used to listen to the now prog classics all the time when I was in high school, Tull, ELP, Yes, Rush, Kansas, Crimson, Genesis etc. Around the mid 80s, I got so burned out of it that I started listening to more British pop, like The Police, Simple Minds and such (arghhhh, how could I, now that I think of it). In the mid 90s I graivitated towards bebop and jazz (Miles, Art Blakey, Monk, Max Roach etc) which brought me back to my prog roots in the last 2 or 3 years. I still listen to jazz a lot but most of my listening is prog both old and newer. I guess as I got older I had the need to expand my tastes and try it all. Also as a musician during the 90s I was playing for a living and really wanted to build my chops, hence all the jazz. I don't know what cause it but I tell you it really has affected my life in a positive way. Take that road and see where it leads you... |
Posted By: moonlapse
Date Posted: April 01 2006 at 10:22
At the Toronto show James mentioned that they had been on the road for something like 10 months, with last year's Gigantour and the current tour, so yeah they probably are pretty tired. Also, the Detroit show on March 20th was cancelled because James wasn't feeling well and they had already done shows the previous 3 consecutive nights. So maybe they just overextended themselves a little too much. |
Posted By: zappaholic
Date Posted: April 01 2006 at 10:52
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My concert-going days are over too. This has mostly to do with the fact that it's such a pain in the ass and I'm getting too old to deal with it anymore. I haven't been to a show since Tool in '01.
------------- "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard." -- H.L. Mencken |
Posted By: man@arms
Date Posted: April 01 2006 at 11:30
I have to agree with this. I haven't been to a concert since the Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young reunion in 2000. Although the sheer amount of pot smoke made the show itself rather enjoyable... |
Posted By: Empathy
Date Posted: April 01 2006 at 16:58
There certainly is. Thanks to this site, there's no shortage of new music I'm discovering to fill the void. !------------- Pure Brilliance:
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Posted By: micky
Date Posted: April 01 2006 at 21:15
says to me.. that you are growing as a prog fan.... no slam on D.T. what I mean are those different textures are a hallmark of great prog and a reason why I haven't been a Dream Theater fan. I love to hear a flute or sax come in to change the mood.. or some harpiscord, maybe some Church Organ. That is one of the things that true prog is about... see the definition I posted in another thread. Cutting edge technology AND the archaic. BTW. your post makes me curious to take a listen to Octavarium... maybe I'll like it where I haven't liked their previous stuff. ------------- The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip |
Posted By: valravennz
Date Posted: April 01 2006 at 21:46
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Interesting thread on DT and Live concerts. It is years since I last attended a live concert and I think that it was an outdoor classical music one - with about 40,000 other attendees! I can't be bothered now - the price of tickets are enough to put off even the die hard fans. I think too that as I am getting older I would rather spend my dollars on albums that last much longer than a 2 hour live event! I went through a DT phase last year and bought several albums. Alas, the only one I listen to now is "Awake" which is still my favourite DT album. I might add I was disappointed with SFAM - imo overated! I have moved on and am enjoying Canterbury and Krautrock and Jazz/Fusion at present. The older classics still get a thorough listening to but not nearly as much as new prog such as Glass Hammer, Porcupine Tree and Ozric Tentacles. There is so much new prog to be discovered - I don't have time to go to concerts now ------------- 
"Music is the Wine that fills the cup of Silence" - Robert Fripp |