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

This may very well be the best music DVD I have ever seen. Anyone who has seen Dream Theater live knows what an awesome experience it is, and this DVD possibly captures the wonder of a DT show better than any other. Fantastic production in general - great camera angles, sound, etc. - make this a great investment for a Dream Theater fan who wants to watch them whenever they want. It's also a great DVD to show your friends who are missing out on one of the greatest bands of all time. The song selection is great! Those who went to a show on the 20th Anniversary tour know that the band went through their history and played one song from each album, a song from the Majesty days and some extra material from Octavarium. So some forgotten gems have been remembered! Majesty track "Another Won" sounds awesome, as does "Afterlife" from the band's debut. If only this lineup could have recorded those albums with today's technology! "Under a Glass Moon" was another great choice. Often forgotton among the epic pieces, this song is actually one of the band's best, with one of the coolest Petrucci solos ever. "Innocence Faded" may have been a surprising choice from Awake, but it proves to be a fantastic performance, and LaBrie nails the high notes that he has been struggling with for the past few years. Good to have him back! Next is another surprise. Instead of playing a track from Falling into Infinity, they played a track from the sessions that was left off of the album. "Raise the Knife" may not be as good as "Trial of Tears" or "Lines in the Sand," but it definitely could have replaced some of the weak tracks on the disc. Another rather surprising choice, "The Spirit Carries On" reminds us of how good that song is. So touching! Yet another surprise! The band plays the entire "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" with a full orchestra! the orchestra stays for the rest of the performance to play yet another surprise, "Vacant." Certainly of all the tracks on Train of Thought, that one works best with an orchestra, but I'm sure the band also had to save some time after whipping out that 42-minute song. The band closes the set where it began, with Octavarium (yes that was a reference to the lyric). They opened with two songs, they close with three. The obvious highlight is the title track in all its splendor. Rudess' continuum solo r00lz as does everything else. "Metropolia" makes for a great encore to bring this amazing performance to a close.

Amazing DVD from an amazing band! The song selection is full of surprises and vastly different from the previous DVDs, which is nice. That makes all of them worth getting. Do yourself a favor and pick this up. And never miss an opportunity to see them live!