'Dream Theater' is an
American progressive metal band comprising
James LaBrie,
John Petrucci,
Jordan Rudess,
John Myung, and
Mike Portnoy.
Dream Theater was formed in 1985 under the name "Majesty" by Petrucci, Myung, and Portnoy, while they all were studying at the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston, before dropping out to help support the band. Though a number of lineup changes followed, the three original members remain today along with LaBrie and Rudess. Dream Theater has become one of the most commercially successful
progressive bands since the height of
progressive rock in the mid-1970s, despite being relatively unknown in mainstream
rock circles. Though the band has had a few extremely successful hits (notably '
Pull Me Under' in the early
1990s, which had extensive
MTV rotation), it has mostly stayed underground for its career, feeding off support from fans.
The band is well known for the technical proficiency of its instrumentalists, who have won many awards from music instruction magazines. Dream Theater's members have collaborated with many other notable musicians.
Guitarist John Petrucci was named as the third player on the ''
G3'' tour six times, more than any other invited guitarist, following in the footsteps of
Eric Johnson,
Robert Fripp, and
Yngwie Malmsteen.
The band's two highest selling albums are ''
Images and Words'' (1992), which was awarded a
gold record although it reached only #61 on the
Billboard 200 charts;
[1] and ''
Awake'' (1994) which reached #32 on the
Billboard 200.
1 Dream Theater has sold over two million albums in the U.S.,
[2] and over eight million albums and DVDs worldwide.
[3]
The band is currently promoting their latest effort, ''
Systematic Chaos'', and went on the North American leg of their world tour, which began on
July 24,
2007 in
San Diego,
California[http://www.dreamtheater.net/tourdates.php#summer2007us].
History
1985: Beginnings
Founding members John Myung, Mike Portnoy, and John Petrucci in 1985.
'
Dream Theater' was formed in September of
1985 when guitarist
John Petrucci and bassist
John Myung decided to form a band in their spare time while studying at the
Berklee College of Music in
Boston. They came across a drummer by the name of
Mike Portnoy in one of Berklee's rehearsal rooms, and he was asked to join the band. They started off by playing
Iron Maiden and
Rush covers in the rehearsal rooms at
Berklee.
Myung, Petrucci, and Portnoy settled on the name 'Majesty' for their newly formed group. According to the ''
The Score So Far…'' documentary, they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the Berklee Performance Center while listening to Rush on a boom box. Portnoy commented that the ending of the song "Bastille Day" (from the album ''
Caress of Steel'') sounded "majestic." It was then decided that 'Majesty' was a good band name, and it stuck
[4].
The trio then set out to fill the remaining positions in the group, and Petrucci asked his high school band-mate
Kevin Moore to play keyboards. He accepted, and when another friend from home,
Chris Collins, was asked to sing after they heard him sing a cover of "Queen of the Reich" by
Queensrÿche[5], the band was complete.
During this time, Portnoy, Petrucci and Myung were still juggling their studies with part-time jobs and tutoring. Their schedules became so busy that they were forced to decide between pursuing a music career or dissolving the band, but Majesty won out and all three left Berklee to concentrate on their music. Petrucci commented about this on the ''Score'' documentary, saying that it was hard enough to convince his parents to let him go to a music school, let alone convince them to let him drop out. Moore also left his college,
SUNY Fredonia, to concentrate on the band.
1986 – 1987: The Majesty Demos and the birth of “Dream Theaterâ€
The beginning months of
1986 were filled with various concert dates around the New York City area. During this time the band recorded a collection of demos, entitled ''The
Majesty Demos''. The initial run of 1,000 sold out within six months, and dubbed copies of the
cassette spread like wildfire through the progressive metal scene all over the world. Because of the devotion of Dream Theater fans over the years, the ''Majesty Demos'' are still available in their original tape format today, despite being released officially on CD through Mike Portnoy's
YtseJam Records.
In November 1986, after a few months of writing and performing together, Chris Collins left the band because of creative differences with the other members. After a year of trying to find a replacement,
Charlie Dominici, who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band, successfully auditioned for the group. With the stability that Dominici's appointment brought to Majesty, they began playing more shows in and around the
New York City area, and gained a considerable amount of exposure for a band that had not yet released an album.
Shortly after hiring Dominici, a
Las Vegas group
[6] also named Majesty threatened legal action for intellectual property infringement related to the use of their name, so the band was forced to adopt a new moniker. Various possibilities were proposed and tested; among them Glasser, Magus, and M1; all rejected
[7], until Portnoy's father suggested the name 'Dream Theater', which was the name of a movie house in
Monterey, California.
Logo and imagery
The Dream Theater word mark and Majesty symbol.
During this time, the band adopted a custom
logo (known as the ''Majesty symbol'') and
wordmark which have appeared on the vast majority of their promotional material since, with at least one of the official marks appearing on the front cover of every major release to date, with the exception of ''
Once in a LIVEtime''. Even after the band dropped the Majesty name the symbol remained as an official mark of the band.
The Majesty symbol is derived from
Mary Queen of Scots' mark,
[8] which was re-worked by
Charlie Dominici for use on the album artwork for ''
When Dream and Day Unite''.
[9] Portnoy and Dominici subsequently became the first two people to get tattoos of the majesty symbol on their arms.
1988 – 1990: When Dream and Day Unite
John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy, Charlie Dominici, Kevin Moore, John Myung
With a new name and singer, Dream Theater concentrated on writing more material and playing more concerts in New York and in neighboring states, eventually attracting the interest of Mechanic Records, a division of
MCA. Dream Theater signed their first record contract with Mechanic on
June 23,
1988[7] and set out to record their debut album.
''
When Dream and Day Unite'' was released in
1989 to far less fanfare than the band had anticipated. Mechanic ended up breaking the majority of the financial promises they had made to Dream Theater prior to signing their contract, so the band was restricted to playing around NYC. The promotional tour for the album consisted of just five concerts, all of which were in New York or
Rhode Island[11].
After the fourth of these gigs, Dominici was fired because of personal and creative differences between him and the rest of the band. Shortly after, however,
Marillion asked Dream Theater to open for them at a gig at the Ritz in New York, so Dominici was given the opportunity to perform one last time. It would be a further two years before Dream Theater had another full-time singer.
1991 – 1993: Images and Words and their first live album
Following Dominici's firing, Dream Theater fought successfully to be released from their contract with Mechanic, and set about auditioning singers and writing material for their next album. In their search for a new singer they auditioned over 200 people, among them former
Fates Warning front man
John Arch; all were turned down for various reasons. In mid-
1990, at a gig in New York, Dream Theater introduced Steve Stone as their new singer. He performed just three songs with the band before he was fired for performing less than adequately. It was five months before Dream Theater played another gig, this time all-instrumental (under the name YtseJam), and from then until mid-
1992 they did not take to the stage at all
[11]. Instead, they devoted their time primarily to auditioning other singers, while continuing to write and develop more music. During this period they wrote the majority of the music for what would become the ''
Images and Words'' album.
It was not until late
1991, when a tape arrived from
Canada, that they would find a suitable fit.
Kevin James LaBrie, of
glam rock band
Winter Rose, was immediately flown to New York for a proper audition. LaBrie jammed on three songs with the band, and they immediately decided to hire him to fill the long-vacant vocalist position. Once hired, LaBrie decided to drop his first name to avoid confusion with the other Kevin in the band.
For the next few months, the band resumed gigging (still mostly around NYC), and worked on vocal parts for all the music that they had written to that point.
ATCO Records (now
EastWest), a division of
Elektra Records, signed Dream Theater to a seven album contract on the strength of their reputation and a three song demo (later made available as "The ATCO Demos" through the Dream Theater
fan club).
The first album to be recorded under their new record contract was ''Images and Words'', which was released in 1992. The label released a CD Single and
video clip for the song "
Another Day" in order to promote it, but neither made a significant impact in the charts or on
radio. "
Pull Me Under", however, managed to attain a high level of radio airplay without any organized promotion from the band or their label. In response, ATCO produced a video clip for "Pull Me Under", which was in heavy
MTV rotation for a number of weeks. A third video clip was produced for "
Take the Time", but it was not nearly as successful as "Pull Me Under".
The success of "Pull Me Under", combined with relentless touring throughout the U.S. and
Japan, caused ''Images and Words'' to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum in Japan. A tour of
Europe followed in
1993, which included a show at
London's famed Marquee jazz club. That show was recorded and released as ''
Live at the Marquee'', Dream Theater's first official live album. Additionally, a video compilation of their Japanese concerts (mixed in with some documentary-style footage of the off-stage portion of the tour) was released as ''.
1994: Awake
Keen to work on fresh material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May
1994. The 1994 sessions were the first in which Dream Theater as a whole wrote music together that was specifically for an album.
''
Awake'', Dream Theater's third studio album, was released in October 1994 in a hail of controversy among established fans. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore announced to the rest of the band that he wished to concentrate on his own musical interests and would be quitting Dream Theater
[13]. This rocked a band that had enjoyed just two years of stability after a tumultuous first half-decade, but Moore was no longer interested in the life of a touring musician nor the brand of progressive metal Dream Theater performed, so the two parties went their separate ways. As a result of this news, the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist instead of jumping headfirst into touring mode.
Because of their high profile at the time, they had no shortage of musicians to choose from.
Jens Johansson, who would go on to become a member of
Stratovarius, was among the biggest names to audition, but they did not find anyone suitable for the position until
Jordan Rudess was contacted. Portnoy and Petrucci had spotted Rudess in Keyboard Magazine, which awarded him the "best new talent" award in their reader's poll that year, and invited him to play a trial gig with the band at the Concrete Foundations Forum in
Burbank, CA[11]. The gig went incredibly well for all concerned, and Dream Theater asked Rudess to fill the keyboardist position permanently, but
The Dixie Dregs had asked him to go on tour with them at the same time. Rudess decided that the commitment needed in Dream Theater was too much for him and his young family to be subjected to, so the less intrusive touring spot in the Dregs was chosen.
Disappointed, Dream Theater hired fellow Berklee alumnus
Derek Sherinian, whose previous work included stints with
Alice Cooper and
Kiss, to fill in for the ''Awake'' promotional tour. By the conclusion of that tour, the band decided to take Sherinian on as Moore's full-time replacement.
1995 – 1998: A Change of Seasons and Falling into Infinity
Once again finding themselves in the studio with a new member, Dream Theater did not immediately start working on new material. Fans around the world, united on the YtseJam
Mailing List (the most popular form of communication between Dream Theater fans at that point), had started a groundswell of pressure on Dream Theater to officially release their song "
A Change of Seasons". It had been written in 1989 and was intended to be a part of ''Images and Words'', but at almost 17 minutes it was deemed too long and was put on the shelf for a later date. Although the band performed it live occasionally (to great reception), and continued to rework it in the years leading up to
1995, there was no sign of it ever seeing the light of day on an official album until the fans sent a petition to EastWest Records.
The petition was successful, and the group entered BearTrack Studios in New York in April
1995 to rewrite and record their epic, which was now more than 23 minutes long. It was to be Sherinian's first contribution to the band in a writing capacity, and he put a significant amount of his personality onto the track. They toyed with various ideas on how to disseminate "A Change of Seasons", but eventually settled on releasing an
EP with a collection of bonus cover songs recorded live at the infamous ''Uncovered'' fan club gig in addition to the title track.
After a short run of small "one-off" concerts to promote ''
A Change of Seasons'', Dream Theater took a break for a few months. They managed to keep busy however, releasing a special
Christmas CD through their official fan club, which consisted of some rare live tracks recorded through the early years of the band's existence. They would continue this tradition until
2005, releasing a new CD each Christmas.
[15]The break was also spent working individually on some compositions for their upcoming writing sessions.
Meanwhile, there were some changes at EastWest, and Dream Theater's main contact with the label was fired. As a result, the new people at the company were not fully accustomed to the relationship that Dream Theater had previously had with EastWest, and they pressured Dream Theater to write an album that was accessible to people beyond their progressive fan base.
At the end of
1996, they entered the studio to write their next album. In addition to, and as a function of, pressuring the band into adopting a more mainstream sound, EastWest recruited writer/producer
Desmond Child to work with Petrucci on re-writing the lyrics to his demo "You Or Me". The whole band substantially reworked the music to that song, and it appeared on the album as "You Not Me" in a form that was barely reminiscent of the original. Child also had a macroscopic impact on the album, which had a noticeable shift towards compositions that were less complex and more radio-friendly.
The band wrote almost two
CDs worth of material, including a 20 minute long follow-up to the ''Images and Words'' song "". The label, however, did not allow the release of a double album because they felt that a 140-minute record would not be digestible by the general public. The band also made a consensus that the CD should be one disc
[16], so half the songs had to be cut. Most of the unused songs were released in other ways later on, either on fan club Christmas CDs, or at live shows.
The material that made it onto the album proper was released as ''
Falling Into Infinity'', which received a mixed reception from traditional Dream Theater fans, a lot of whom wanted to hear another ''Images and Words'' or ''Awake''. Despite the album containing some very progressive-sounding songs, tracks like "
Hollow Years" and "You Not Me" prompted some to believe it was the dawn of a new, mainstream-sounding Dream Theater, just as the release of ''Empire'' had previously heralded the same shift for
Queensrÿche. Overall, the album was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Ironically, the songs that EastWest had earmarked as candidates for release as singles, "You Not Me" and "Hollow Years", failed to make an impact on radio or in the charts. In recent years, the album has been rehabilitated to an extent, and interest was rekindled when Portnoy indicated that the demos - including more traditionally progressive cuts such as "Raise the Knife" - would be released through YtseJam Records.
The time immediately before and during the release of ''Falling Into Infinity'' was a particularly frustrating time for a band that had up to that point enjoyed total freedom with their music, and the tension of having been thrust into dealing with the corporate side of releasing an album almost tore the band apart. Portnoy considered breaking the band up because of its newly imposed restrictions, a fact he didn't discuss publicly until many years later, but he stuck with it for the promotional tour.
During the European leg of the ''Falling Into Infinity'' world tour, two shows were recorded for a live album entitled ''
Once In A LIVEtime'', in
France and
The Netherlands. The album was released at around the same time as the video ''
5 Years in a LIVEtime'', which chronicled the time from when Kevin Moore left the band right up to the ''Falling Into Infinity'' promotional tour.
1999 – 2000: Scenes from a Memory and their first live DVD
In
1997,
Magna Carta Records' Mike Varney invited Portnoy to assemble a progressive '
supergroup' to work on an album, which would become the first in a long string of side-projects for the members of Dream Theater
[17]. The lineup that was eventually settled on consisted of Portnoy on drums, Petrucci on guitar,
Tony Levin on bass, and Jordan Rudess, who had finished with the Dixie Dregs by that time, on keyboards.
The band assumed the name
Liquid Tension Experiment, and would act as a medium through which Portnoy and Petrucci could once again court Rudess to join them in Dream Theater. They extended an invitation for him to join them in
1999, and he accepted the offer to become the third full-time Dream Theater keyboardist. Unfortunately for Sherinian, this meant that he was out of a job.
Many fans blamed Sherinian for the disappointment of ''Falling Into Infinity'', and his firing was perceived as Dream Theater's tacit agreement with this notion. This was perhaps unfair, because the corporate pressures placed on the band at the time were not the fault of anyone in the band, but Sherinian was seen as a scapegoat nonetheless.
'']]
Armed with yet another new member, Dream Theater entered BearTracks Studio once again to write and record their next album. As a result of an ultimatum from Portnoy that the label must give the band creative control or it would fold, this time their record label gave the band complete freedom with their music. The follow-up to "Metropolis Part 1", which was written during the ''Falling Into Infinity'' sessions (but not used on that album), was taken off the shelf as the first thing for them to work on.
They decided to expand the 20-minute song into a complete
concept album, with the story revolving around themes such as reincarnation, murder and betrayal. To avoid stirring up the fan base, a tight veil of secrecy enveloped the writing and recording process. The only things fans knew prior to its release were a track list that had been leaked against the band's wishes, and a release date. They knew nothing of the title, the music, or even the fact that it would be a concept album.
In
1999, '' was released to high critical acclaim. It was hailed as Dream Theater's masterpiece by many fans and critics alike, despite only reaching #73 on the US album chart.
[1]
A massive world tour followed, taking over a year to complete and visiting more countries than they had ever toured before. The concerts, which were far bigger than anything the band had attempted before, reflected the theatrical aspect of the album. They played the entire ''Scenes From a Memory'' album from start to finish, with a video screen on the back wall of the stage showing a narrative companion to the story of the album. In addition to playing the album in its entirety, the band also played a second set of older Dream Theater songs as well as a few covers and some new interpretations of old Dream Theater material.
For one extra special show, at the
Roseland Ballroom in New York City, actors were hired to play characters in the story, and a gospel choir was enlisted to perform in some sections of the show. One actor played the part of the hypnotherapist, and gospel singer
Theresa Thomason sang the part of the female main character, Victoria.
This show, the last North American date of the tour, was recorded for the band's first DVD release. After many technical delays, Dream Theater fans finally got their hands on the DVD, entitled , in early
2001. Shortly after its release, the band announced that an audio version of the concert, with the entire four-hour long setlist (most of which had to be cut from the DVD to save space), would be released shortly thereafter.
The cover for the CD version of the concert, titled ''
Live Scenes From New York'', showed one of Dream Theater's early logos (the ''Images And Words''-era burning heart, modelled on the
Sacred Heart of Christ) modified to show an apple (as in "
Big Apple") instead of the heart, and the New York skyline, including the twin towers of the
World Trade Center, in the flame above it. In an unfortunate coincidence, the album was released on the same date as the
September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. The album was quickly recalled by the band and was re-released with revised artwork a short time later
[19].
2002: Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Putting the whole ordeal behind them, Dream Theater once again entered BearTracks Studios to record their sixth studio album. Four years after they first petitioned EastWest to allow them to release a double album, they finally got their chance with ''
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence''. The first disc consisted of five tracks of 7-13 minutes in length, and the second disc was devoted entirely to the 42-minute title track, which is to date the longest song Dream Theater has written. The genesis of that song came when Rudess wrote what would become the "Overture" section of "
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence", and the band took some different melodies and ideas contained within it and expanded them into chapters of the complete piece.
''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'' ended up being received very well by critics and the press. It was the most publicized of Dream Theater's albums since ''Awake'', debuting on the Billboard charts at #46
[1] and the Billboard
Internet charts at #1.
[21] Throughout the next year and a half they toured the world once more, with an expanded live show including a select few special "album cover" gigs (see
Cover songs section, below), in which they played Metallica's ''
Master of Puppets'' and Iron Maiden's ''
The Number of the Beast'' in their entirety.
2003 – 2004: Train of Thought
The year of 2003 saw a reunion between Kevin Moore and Mike Portnoy, nine years after Moore left Dream Theater.
Jim Matheos, guitarist and songwriter for
Fates Warning, recruited the pair, along with
Sean Malone, to perform in his
OSI project. Their debut album, ''
Office of Strategic Influence'', can be described as a heavier version of Moore's
Chroma Key work, and it was very well received by most of the prog world including Dream Theater fans. It was quite a departure for Portnoy to take drumming direction from Moore and Matheos, since he was essentially playing the role of band ''member'', rather than the band ''leader'' role he was accustomed to in Dream Theater, but many critics have applauded his drumming with OSI.
Also during 2003, Dream Theater entered the studio to write and record another album. Since ''Scenes From A Memory'' they had written and recorded simultaneously in the studio, but to bring a fresh approach to the new album they tweaked this process, setting aside three weeks prior to recording in which they wrote and developed the material.
In the middle of the recording sessions for that album a special one-off package tour with two other heavyweights of progressive metal, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, was devised to tour North America. The "Escape From The Studio American tour", as it was referred to in Dream Theater's promotional material, featured Queensÿche and Dream Theater as the co-headlining acts, alternating the right to perform last between cities, and Fates Warning performing support act duties. As a finale for each concert there was an extended encore in which both Dream Theater and Queensrÿche performed together on stage simultaneously, often performing cover songs.
At the completion of that tour the group returned to the studio to finish the recording of their seventh album, ''
Train of Thought'', which was their heaviest to that point. They concentrated more on writing a great song-oriented album (that is, a collection of songs rather than an album as a single composition), a mindset inspired by covering ''Master of Puppets'' and ''Number of the Beast'' on a previous concert tour. As a result, the heavy metal sound of those two albums seemed to creep into ''Train of Thought'' as well.
The album was a critical success, but it alienated a fair proportion of Dream Theater's fans that enjoy traditional progressive rock such as Yes or
King Crimson more than modern heavy metal like
Tool. Regardless, it seemed to expand Dream Theater's fan base into new territory, that of mainstream heavy metal.
Another world tour followed, during which Dream Theater performed support act duties for one of their major influences,
Yes. A modest North American tour was completed by the two bands, after which Dream Theater continued to tour the world with their so-called "Evening With" shows.
Their next move was to release another live CD/DVD combination, this time recorded at the famous
Nippon Budokan Hall in
Tokyo, Japan on their Train of Thought world tour. ''
Live at Budokan'' was released on
October 5,
2004, and further propelled Dream Theater's reputation as one of the premier live acts in progressive metal.
2005 – 2006: Octavarium and Score
Upon the completion of their ''Train of Thought'' promotional tour, Dream Theater entered the
Hit Factory studios in NYC to record their eighth album. As it turned out, they would be the last group ever to record in that famous studio, and after they wrapped up their final session, the lights were turned off at the studio forever.
''
Octavarium'', was released on June 7, 2005 and took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Among its eight songs is a continuation of Portnoy's "
Alcoholics Anonymous" suite ("
The Root of All Evil", steps 6-7 in the 12-step plan), as well as the title track itself, an epic rivaling "A Change of Seasons" and which spans several musical styles in its 24-minute running time. Like nearly every album by the band, ''Octavarium'' has received mixed reviews from fans and been the subject of spirited debate. In particular, some fans thought that the band wore its musical influences too prominently on their sleeves (e.g. "Never Enough" has been compared to
Muse's "Stockholm Syndrome"
[22] and the relatively radio-friendly "I Walk Beside You," which combines a sound reminiscent of
U2 and
Coldplay)
[23]. ''Octavarium'' was the last album under their seven-album deal with
Elektra Records.
Dream Theater toured extensively throughout 2005 and 2006 to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a band, including a headlining spot on
Gigantour. During a show on August 2, 2005 in Dallas, the band paid tribute to
Pantera's late guitar
virtuoso Dimebag Darrell by performing "
Cemetery Gates" as an encore; what made the performance even more remarkable was the unexpected appearance of fellow musicians
Russell Allen,
Burton C. Bell and
Dave Mustaine, who joined the band on stage to perform parts of the song.
Dream Theater later departed from Gigantour and continued their own series of concerts. The 20th anniversary tour concluded with a show at the famous
Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1st, 2006. Though the show had minimal promotion, the show was sold out days after tickets were made available. This show, which was recorded for a CD/DVD called ''
Score'' (holding a double meaning for both a musical score, as well as a score meaning 20), released on August 29, 2006 through
Rhino Records, was the band's first concert accompanied by a full symphonic orchestra (the "Octavarium Orchestra").
2007: Systematic Chaos
Dream Theater's latest release ''
Systematic Chaos'' was released on
June 5,
2007. The record marked their first with new label
Roadrunner Records. Immediately Roadrunner implemented increased promotion for Dream Theater's new album, and as a result, ''Systematic Chaos'' reached number 19 on the Billboard 200, making it the best start of an album in Dream Theater's career.
[24] It also saw the release of a video for "
Constant Motion" on
July 14, the band's first music video since the mid-1990s. An authorized book entitled ''
Lifting Shadows'', detailing their first twenty years, is also set for release before the end of
2007.
[25]
''Systematic Chaos'' contains eight tracks, but only seven songs. The epic on this album is entitled "
In the Presence of Enemies", and the song is split to bookend the album as tracks 1 and 8. Portnoy's
AA Saga is also continued on this album with the song "
Repentance", a brooding piece that chronicles steps 8 & 9 in the AA Program. Also, another political song makes an appearance on this album, in the form of "
Prophets of War", making it the fourth album in a row to contain a political-based song (''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'', ''Train of Thought'', and ''Octavarium'' being the others containing "The Great Debate", "In The Name Of God", and "Sacrificed Sons" respectively).
The 2007/2008 Chaos In Motion World Tour started off in Italy. Dream Theater played in the
Gods of Metal concert on
June 3,
2007.
[26] Dream Theater also appeared at the Fields Of Rock Festival in the Netherlands on
June 17,
2007[27]. They also played at various other European festivals including the UK's
Download Festival and the French festival
Hellfest Summer Open Air with other bands such as
Megadeth,
Korn,
Mastodon and
Slayer.
Dream Theater returned to perform the North American leg of the tour on
July 24th in
San Diego,
California and wrapped up on
August 26th in
Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. They played with opening acts
Redemption and
Into Eternity. Dream Theater will continue their "Chaos In Motion" tour for the rest of the year and into
2008, where further shows in
Europe,
Asia,
South America and possibly
Australia will take place. The band has also mentioned a return to U.S. live shows in the Spring of 2008.
Live performances
Throughout their career, Dream Theater's live shows have gradually become bigger, longer, and more diverse. The most obvious example of this is their rotational set list policy. That is, every single night of every tour has its set list devised by Portnoy using a meticulous process that ensures it is unique. Factors such as set lists from previous cities are taken into account to ensure that people who see Dream Theater multiple times within the same area will not see the same songs performed twice, and even the set list from the last time the band was in a particular city is taken into account for the benefit of fans who see the band on successive tours.
[28]
For this to be possible, the band prepares to play the majority of its catalogue at any performance, depending on what Portnoy decides to program for that night. This process also requires the employment of a complex lighting system to load pre-configured lighting cues based on the individual songs.
Some of Dream Theater's more notable touring partners include
Deep Purple,
Emerson Lake and Palmer,
Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani,
King's X,
Marillion,
Megadeth,
In Flames,
Pain of Salvation,
Porcupine Tree,
Queensrÿche,
Spock's Beard,
Fear Factory,
Enchant,
Symphony X, and
Yes. In 2005, Dream Theater toured North America with the
Gigantour festival, co-headlining with
Megadeth.
The band's full world tours, since ''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'', have predominantly been so-called "Evening with..." tours, in which the band performs for at least three hours with an intermission and no opening act. The show that was recorded for ''Live Scenes From New York'' was nearly four hours in length (LaBrie humorously apologized to the audience for the "short set" after the show), and resulted in Portnoy almost being hospitalized.
[29][30]
There is also a significant amount of humor, casualness, and improvisation attached to a Dream Theater concert. In the midst of "A Change of Seasons" it is quite common for themes such as those for
Major League Baseball and ''
The Simpsons'' to be quoted, and Rudess routinely modifies his solo section in this song and others, often playing the
ragtime section of "When the Water Breaks" from ''
Liquid Tension Experiment 2''. Other quotations include "Mary Had a Little Lamb" during "Endless Sacrifice" on the Gigantour, a calliope-inspired break between verses of "Under a Glass Moon", a quote of "
Don't Cry for Me, Argentina"'s main melody played by Petrucci while performing the intro solo of "Through Her Eyes" in
Buenos Aires, and the Turkish March at a concert in
Istanbul. On the most recent "20th Anniversary World Tour" Rudess has even thrown in a short "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" theme in a break during "Endless Sacrifice".
Occasionally, a member of the audience is picked at random to perform on stage, an example of which can be seen during Portnoy's drum solo on the ''Live at Budokan'' DVD. There have also been many impromptu renditions of "Happy Birthday" when a member of the band or crew have a birthday corresponding to a tour date, which normally results in a birthday cake being thrown at the subject.
Perhaps the best example of Dream Theater's unpredictable concert structure is that during Derek Sherinian's time with the band, at selected shows the band members all
swapped instruments and performed an encore as the fictitious
Nightmare Cinema. They usually performed a cover of
Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers", and, on one occasion,
Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution." At some shows, Sherinian, Petrucci and Portnoy would take the stage together under the name "Nicky Lemons and the Migraine Brothers". Sherinian, wearing a feather boa and novelty sunglasses, would perform a pop-punk song entitled "I Don't Like You" with Petrucci and Portnoy backing.
Dream Theater's largest audience as a headlining act was 20,000 in
Santiago, Chile on
December 6,
2005.
[31] This was during their first tour of
South American countries.
Bootleg culture
Dream Theater is one of the most actively
bootlegged bands in the progressive metal genre. Since their very first gigs in New York as Majesty, fans have recorded almost every single show that Dream Theater have played (occasionally there are three or four versions of a single concert), and some very elaborate and professional recordings have been released.
However, not every member in the band tolerates the release of Dream Theater bootlegs. Portnoy is the most pro-bootlegging member, since he was an avid collector of many bootlegs in his younger days and keeps his own personal archive of Dream Theater material in his basement. Petrucci and LaBrie have voiced opposition to people recording their concerts. Petrucci takes issue with bootleggers because he prefers audience members to concentrate on the musicians on stage, and not the level adjustments on their recording device. LaBrie, on the other hand, argues that bootlegging takes ownership and control over Dream Theater's performances away from the band themselves and into the hands of the public. Myung has expressed mild opposition to bootlegging, but in some interviews has mentioned that he does not particularly take great issue with it.
Dream Theater have released a series of official bootlegs, demos and other rarities through
YtseJam Records, headed by Portnoy
[32]. They include demos the band put out before official albums, as well as many live shows, including shows where the band has covered a particular album. Albums covered include
Dark Side of the Moon,
Made in Japan,
Master of Puppets, and
Number of the Beast.
Cover songs
Dream Theater have been known for
covering other artists' work throughout their career. They took this practice to a new level during the promotional tour for ''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence''. At three special gigs, one each in
Barcelona,
Chicago and New York City, they covered
Metallica's ''
Master of Puppets'' album in its entirety after a full set of Dream Theater material. This came as a surprise to fans, as there was no sign that this was to occur, other than it being announced that the gigs involved, which were the second of a two-night stand in each city, would be "extra special". This tradition can most likely be traced back to one of Mike Portnoy's favorite bands,
Phish, who began a series of performing "
musical costumes" of entire albums from other artists each Halloween beginning in 1994. Portnoy devised this "album cover" as the first in a series of gigs to be played as tributes to bands that had been influential in the formation and development of Dream Theater. The covers set divided many fans who attended the shows, with some people saying that they went to a Dream Theater concert to see original music and not another artist's work. Others, however, said that it was a bonus and not a replacement for a normal Dream Theater concert, since an ordinary gig had been played the night before.
On the next leg of the tour they covered
Iron Maiden's ''
The Number of the Beast'' and received a similar reaction to ''Master of Puppets'', although it was already known that a cover was to be performed that night because the tour itinerary included two successive gigs in a single city. On October 11, 2005, Dream Theater covered
Pink Floyd's ''
Dark Side of the Moon''. Dream Theater's official webpage stated that the second sets of the second nights in Amsterdam, London, Buenos Aires, São Paulo and Tokyo (October 11, October 25, December 4, December 11 and January 13 respectively), and also the second set of the January 15 show in Osaka, would be a classic album covered in its entirety. ''Dark Side of the Moon'' was played again on October 25 in London. However, in Buenos Aires (December 4) and São Paulo (December 11) the 'classic album' played was Dream Theater's own '', to make up for not having visited Argentina and Brazil in their ''Metropolis 2000'' tour. On January 13, 2006 (Tokyo) and on the 15th (Osaka), Dream Theater covered
Deep Purple's live album ''
Made in Japan''. Portnoy says that he has one more cover show planned, but refuses to reveal when it will occur, or what album will be covered.
[33]
During Gigantour 2005, Dream Theater did a cover of
Pantera's "
Cemetery Gates" as a tribute to the late
"Dimebag" Darrel Lance Abbott. As an added bonus, they had
Burton C. Bell of
Fear Factory, and
Russell Allen of
Symphony X do guest vocals and
Dave Mustaine of
Megadeth, do the main solo for the song.
In addition, Dream Theater released several live cover songs on their EP ''
A Change of Seasons'', including songs from
Elton John,
Deep Purple,
Led Zeppelin,
Queen,
Pink Floyd,
Genesis,
Journey,
Kansas, and
Dixie Dregs.
Discography
Main articles: Dream Theater discography
Studio releases
★ 1989 - ''
When Dream and Day Unite''
★ 1992 - ''
Images and Words''
★ 1994 - ''
Awake''
★ 1995 - ''
A Change of Seasons'' (EP)
★ 1997 - ''
Falling into Infinity''
★ 1999 - ''
★ 2002 - ''
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence''
★ 2003 - ''
Train of Thought''
★ 2005 - ''
Octavarium''
★ 2007 - ''
Systematic Chaos''
Awards and certificates
===RIAA Gold and Platinum certification
[34]===
★ ''Images and Words'' (Gold) -
February 2,
1995
★ ''Metropolis 2000: Live Scenes From New York'' (Gold) -
November 8,
2002
★ ''Live at Budokan'' (DVD) (Platinum) -
January 26,
2005
★ ''Live in Tokyo/5 Years in a Livetime'' (Platinum) -
March 22,
2006
★ ''Score'' (DVD) (Platinum) -
October 11,
2006
Keyboard Magazine
Jordan Rudess was awarded the following ''Keyboard Magazine'' Reader's Poll award:
★ Best New Talent (1994)
Modern Drummer
Mike Portnoy won the following ''
Modern Drummer'' magazine Reader's Poll awards;
★ Best Up & Coming Talent (1994)
★ Best Progressive Rock Drummer (1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)
★ Best Recorded Performance (1995 for ''Awake'', 1996 for ''A Change of Seasons'', 1998 for ''Falling Into Infinity'', 2000 for ''Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory'', 2002 for ''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'', and 2007 for ''Score'')
★ Best Clinician (2000, 2002)
★ Best Educational Video/DVD (2000, 2002)
★ Hall of Fame Inductee (2004)
Guitar World
The album '' was ranked #95 on the magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time.
Other recognitions
At Dream Theater's
Salt Lake City show, Governor
Jon Huntsman, Jr. signed a proclamation making
July 30th, 2007 "Dream Theater Day" in the state of
Utah.
See also
★
List of Dream Theater songs by lyricist
★
List of rock instrumentals
★
Liquid Tension Experiment
★
Nightmare Cinema
Notes
1. Billboard Chart history for Dream Theater can be seen at Billboard.com.
2. February 9 2007
3. When Dream Theater and Roadrunner Records Unite!
4. This was referenced in the documentary "The Score so Far"
5. Portnoy, Mike (2003). "The Majesty Demos 1985-1986" [CD Liner Notes]. New York: Ytsejam Records.
6. [1]
7. Portnoy, Mike (2004). When Dream and Day Unite Demos 1987-1989 [CD Liner Notes]. New York: YtseJam Records.
8. The mark used by Mary Queen of Scots has previously been available on DreamTheater.net and now available at DTFAQ.com.
9. Dixon, Brad et al. "What is the 'symbol' DT use?". ''DTFAQ.com''.
10. Portnoy, Mike (2004). When Dream and Day Unite Demos 1987-1989 [CD Liner Notes]. New York: YtseJam Records.
11. Please see MikePortnoy.com tourography for more information on this tourdate.
12. Please see MikePortnoy.com tourography for more information on this tourdate.
13. EastWest Records. Dream Theater and Long Time Keyboardist Part Ways. Press Release.
14. Please see MikePortnoy.com tourography for more information on this tourdate.
15. Nine Christmas CDs were released through Dream Theater's fan club before it was closed down in 2005. See DTIFC on Dream Theater.net.
16. LaBrie, James. (Summer '97) ''Images & Words No. 14'', pg. 5
17. Portnoy, Mike (1998). "Liquid Tension Experiment" [CD Liner Notes]. New York: Magna Carta Records.
18. Billboard Chart history for Dream Theater can be seen at Billboard.com.
19. http://www.mikeportnoy.com/about/mpfaq/showquestion.asp?menu=about&faq=1&fldAuto=249
20. Billboard Chart history for Dream Theater can be seen at Billboard.com.
21. DreamTheater.net reported that ''Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence'' had reached #1 on the Billboard Internet Charts.
22. [2] Octavarium review (MusicOHM)
23. [3] DPRP Octavarium Review
24. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/feature/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003604046
25. http://www.dreamtheaterbook.com/
26. Gods of Metal official website
27. " DREAM THEATER Begins Recording New Album, Seeks New Label Home". ''Blabbermouth.net''
28. Campbell, Courtney. "Mike Portnoy - Dream Theater". ''Earplugs Required''.
29. See the ''Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York'' DVD
30. Hansen, Scott & Portnoy, Mike. "What’s this I hear about Mike being really sick after the Roseland (DVD) show? What happened?". ''MP FAQ''.
31. Voices UK: Dream Theater Fan Club "Dream Theater News: Record crowd"
32. http://www.ytsejamrecords.com
33. Hansen, Scott & Portnoy, Mike. "What are all the aspects involved in covering an entire album by another band? What does Mike take into consideration when picking an album?". ''MP FAQ''.
34. http://www.riaa.com
References
★ Bredius, Mark.
Dream Theater - The Official Site. (Retrieved February-April, 2005.)
★ Dixon, Brad et al.
Official Dream Theater FAQ. (Retrieved February-April, 2005, moved c. 2007.)
★ Hansen, Scott & Portnoy, Mike.
Dream Theater Tourography. (Retrieved February-April, 2005.)
★ King, Brian. (2003). "JaM Progductions! Interview with John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy". ''Theater of Dreams'' '29', pp. 14-20.
★ Hansen, Scott. (2003). "James LaBrie: As this man thinks". ''Theater of Dreams'' '27/28', pp. 26-30.
★
Headbangers, , Mark, Hale, Popular Culture, Ink, 1993,
External links
★
Official website
★
★
YtseJam Records
★
Mike Portnoy's website, featuring an entire tourography of Dream Theater
★
Recent Tour Photos
★
Fan Forum
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