DREAM THEATER - SCORE: 20TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR LIVE WITH THE OCTAVARIUM ORCHESTRA

From the moment I heard about the DVD until now, I still don't know whether I should use all capital letters or just the first letter. Oh well, I will refer it as SCORE will all capital letters. A four stars for the DVD, because I was a bit disappointed by the setlist. They seemed to prioritised more on the "musical career" of their 8 albums than the songs that their fans love more. But it's all about progressive isn't it?

First of all, I want to tell a story of my experience with Dream Theater's 20th anniversary concert in Singapore on February 27, 2006. Actually, they were going to Indonesia on the 29th, but because some political maniacs governed a country, the show was cancelled. So I logged on to the internet and bought two tickets to Singapore with my father because he loves Dream Theater as much as I do. Also, we met many Indonesians in Singapore, wearing the same shirt as I did, "When Dream Theater and Indonesia Unite?". Probably we screamed very loud there, and maybe we were the loudest during the gig. And it was all worth it.

Back to the DVD. It is actually a really good concert, with usual Dream Theater's aspects, virtuosity, feeling and great-composed songs. Plus, LaBrie sang very beautifully during the concert, unlike the concerts in the previous years. He has improved really well in his live performances. John Petrucci also displayed very cool guitar skills, with an incredible sound of guitar and technique; there is no doubt about it. Mike The Camel Portnoy also showed a great performance, with his new drum kit, which I forgot the name of it. I am not a bassist, but I can really see John Myung's improvements in stage performances, plus, his speed has doubled from the previous concerts :P. Lastly, Jordan Rudess, which I reckon the best member of Dream Theater in terms of technical proficiency. Imagine, if all of them play the same musical instrument, I reckon Jordan topped them all. With his new toys, which I think is really cool, the continuum fingerboard. I thought the sound on the intro of Octavarium was a guitar sound, but I was wrong. Behind them all, the Octavarium orchestra, conducted by Jamshied Sharifi. There is nothing special about the orchestra, actually, it is just an orchestra like other orchestra. What makes it special is, they were playing with a progressive metal band.

Several modifications to the songs were made, like Under A Glass Moon, which is really cool, probably too cool. The songs I enjoyed the most in this DVD set were Spirit Carries On, Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence, Sacrificed Sons and Octavariums. Why? Because they all fit well with the orchestra, and improved the feeling of the songs. Honestly, I almost cried when I heard the ending solo of Octavarium. Still about the songs, again, I was quite disappointed with the setlist. Dream Theater clearly wanted to reflect their 20 years of musical career journey, and played the songs from 1985 to 2005. However, some of the older songs are just "not-that-great", and that is why I mostly skipped these songs.

As a comparison to the DVD, you can watch Live At Budokan. There was not much of visual effects like in Live Scenes From New York. The power of the DVD comes more from the technical skills and the feeling of the songs, and of course the musicianship of the personnel.

The second DVD is also very cool. This is probably the longest Dream Theater's documentary yet, because they were talking about their 20 years of musical career, and that couldn't be done in just 10 minutes. However, we can know much more about them and how it all started. The Octavarium Animation is very cool too, pretty funny actually. A cartoon showing a part of Octavarium (part 3 if I'm not mistaken).

In the end, maybe 4.3 stars. I wanted to give 4.5 (minus 0.5 because of the "less-incredible" setlist. But then if I give 4.5, it will round to 5. So I gave 4.3. Also, this DVD is not very different from the previous concert, apart from the orchestra, of course.

This story ends where it began - Imoeng

Share this DREAM THEATER review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to imoeng
• Report this review (#110359)
• Buy DREAM THEATER music online with PA partners
• Show all DREAM THEATER MP3/Stream
• Go to DREAM THEATER page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Dream Theater - Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live with the Octavarium Orchestra page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for DREAM THEATER related discussions