Dream Theater 2011 Concert Review – Massey Hall, Toronto

Dream Theater in Toronto

Oct 6 2011 –  Tonight Dream Theater played Massey Hall in Toronto. This tour is in support of Dream Theater’s 12th album ‘A Dramatic Turn of Events’ which entered the US charts at #8  and the Canadian charts at #9. It is also the first without drummer and founding member Mike Portnoy. Portnoy is considered one of the best drummers right up there with Rush’s Neil Peart. (Peart had won DRUM! Magazine coveted drummer of the year award four years in a row before Portnoy just took the title away in 2011). The non presence of Portnoy was considered a big setback for a Dream Theater show by many in the audience, not just because of his drumming prowess but his creative presence on stage and the shows. Portnoy was infamous for meticulously creating each gig’s setlist by taking many factors into accounts and it was rare that any 2 Dream Theater shows had the exact same setlist. The new guy is drummer Mike Mangini who played in various bands in the past but was most recently a professor at the Berklee College of Music.

If Metallica was the father and Rush was the mother, their first born child would have been Dream Theater. Dream Theater is a highly regarded progressive metal band whose technical skills on the drums, guitars, and bass are arguably on par with the grand wizards of the genre Rush. The guitarist John Petrucci was named one of the Top 10 “Greatest Guitar Shredders of All Time” by the magazine GuitarOne. The bassist John Myung beat out Geddy Lee in MusicRadar.com’s poll of “The 25 greatest bassists of all time” to claim the number 1 spot. Also in the band are Jordan Rudess on Keyboards and hometown vocalist James LaBrie who is from just north of Toronto. As previously mentioned their  ex-drummer Portnoy was considered one of the best in the world, but that is not where it ends. The new drummer Mangini owns several world records for WFD (are you ready for this?) The World’s Fastest Drummer Extreme Sport Drumming!! He owns a few records such as being the first to hit 1200 single strokes in a single minute – umm 20 strokes a second! Have a look at this YouTube video if you have never seen it.

Trivium

Tonight’s opener was Trivium (whom I had not heard of before), and the best description I can give them is an angrier Metallica. The singing was often screaming which is not my thing but the music itself was raw, fast and energetic. Aside from my dislike of the “singing” they were an enjoyable opener. Not my musical preference but they did seem to have some pretty enthusiastic fans in the audience. They kept their stage presence to a minimum with a big curtain behind the drummer to hide the headliner’s drum kit. Not having full use of the stage actually helped their raw sound and headbanging fury. Trivium played 7 songs for about 35 minutes from 8-8:35 or so.

The Stage

As the intermission between acts occurred the stage hands promptly prepared the stage for Dream Theater. The Trivium curtain gets removed and their instruments get moved to the side for the grand unveiling of Dream Theater’s setup. Three cubes floated over stage and it turned out those were very cool as they were used as projection screens through the night and showed the artists or background scene video. This was very cool actually because the video was shown on all faces of the cube in a continuous manner (not simply cloned on each side).  The other thing that was as impressive is the drum kit. I don’t have words to describe it just take a look at this picture below:

Mangini’s insane percussion kit

Gripe #1: As everyone around is taking pictures of the stage, the ushers come rushing and tell everyone (including us)  “No pictures allowed at the request of the band”. Not during the show, and not even before the show. WHAT???? If this indeed is the demand of Dream Theater then guys get with the times, that is lame with a capital L. Needless to say alot of people around us took pictures throughout the night but simply had to be inconspicuous about it. Dream Theater – cut out that ridiculous stance. Seriously. Gripe over. Massey Hall is also the most frustrating place to see a concert in Toronto. The seats barely fit an adult, the washrooms have 200 people line up during all breaks, and the ushers are running around with their little flashlights, flashing in peoples faces that dare to take a picture or a video. At the same time it is also one of the best places to see a big name from up close and personal due to the proximity of the seats to the stage.

Dream Theater came on at 8:55 and the place erupted as expected. The crowd was quite a mix of characters ranging from older headbangers to devil horn saluting teenagers. I would say it is at about 98% capacity with only a few odd vacant seats here and there throughout the venue. They kick it off with a cool video of their unicycle mascot and some intro music and kick right into the fist pumping Bridges in the Sky, and These Walls. We are notified that the last time they were in Toronto was at the Molson Amphitheater and that they like Massey Hall for its much more intimate feel. Everyone in the band is wearing black shirts, black pants, and black shoes, with the exception of the singer LaBrie who is sporting a white t-shirt under his black trench coat.

Mangini’s solo

As the night progressed a major peak was hit with Endless Sacrifice in which they group nailed what seemed like 10 minute instrumental solos including the keyboard guitar making an appearance. The energy in the building was sky high, and then we get an introduction to Portnoy’s replacement Mike Mangini. What better way to get introduced than with a drum solo. MAN! The guy had this massive kit and nailed a really technically complex solo unlike anything I have ever seen (well not since Neil Peart). Easily one of the highlights of the night. Well done Mike – mind blowing is an understatement. Mangini even throw down a little demonstration of his speed prowess with some rapid fire strokes during the solo.

LaBrie and Petrucci acoustic set.

Unfortunately there was an ill timed slow down for a 2 song acoustic set (guitar and vocals) in the middle of the show, that just didn’t feel right to me.  The energy in the venue took a nosedive. Papa Metallica and Mama Rush would be disappointed at the impotent child at this point as they paid tribute to Simon and Garfunkel. I am partially joking as many appeared to enjoy this part of the show but I wasn’t able to connect with the band during that time. They pick it up after the 2 song acoustic set with some real prog rock that make Dream Theater the band they are. Those extended instrumental solos are worth the price of admission on their own. We also find out that LaBrie’s mom is in the audience. Gripe number 2 – LaBrie in my opinion holds the band back. The best parts of the night are when he is not on the stage or his part is relegated to vocals that accentuate the instruments. It’s not that he is a bad singer, but his singing style and on stage presence don’t seem to be in synch with the rest of the band. I truly believe that the band would be in a much better place with someone more hard hitting or convincing. I won’t harp on it too much but I can’t think of any other band in which the lead singer is so secondary. All great bands have an iconic lead singer (Zeppelin, The Who, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, even Rush) that help the band and its audience reach a higher level. Gripe over. Dream Theater end the night with Under a Glass Moon from their 1992 album Images and Words which is their highest selling album. The roughly 2 hour set had come to a sweaty conclusion with a very strong closer.

Verdict: Lots of highlights along with some lowlights made it an inconsistent night for me, but Dream Theater’s extended instrumental solos are the best in the industry.