Thursday, September 23, 2004
When Dream and YES unite
Although Numbtown is still killing the best of me, there are sometimes life seems more bearable. Last night my eyes, my ears and my soul were filled with virtuosism, with great
music and a pretty good show. In what it seems to have been a very short North American
summer tour together, YES and Dream Theater offered their very last show of their tour here in Monterrey, Mexico, the cradle of cabrito (which I hate), terrible, ever changing wheather and pretencious way of living.
Yeah yeah, I'm still in denial, I miss Sydney, what can I say?
Well, the concert started at 8:03 pm, and there they were: My heroes. The gods. Dream
Theater. I admit I'm an addict to their music since 1992, when I first heard their album,
Images and Words. I was appalled by their catching riffs and aggressive rhythms. Their lyrics told me exactly what I needed to hear at the moment, and the songs showed me how a virtuoso musician can also find the way to add emotion and feeling to the songs.
One thing before we continue. I'm definitely not an expert in music, concert reviews or however you want to call this. I'm a simple person with simple pleasures, one of them, Dream Theater. So, I offer my apologies to those who are experts in the subject at hand and believe there are better bands. I know that. But having said that I remind you that this is just my humble opinion, if you don't like it ..SO SORRY! But I'm the one with the blog! Damn it! NO one shows respect to Ms. Mysterious! You dirty bastards...
*Ahem* Where were we? Oh yeah, the show.
Lights went out. People shouting. Ms. Mysterious hitting her head against the chair and asking herself why the hell she didn't bought tickets in the front row. Or why the hell she's not a groupie to get access to backstage. And then... the light. They started with a fragment of "Overture" from their album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, followed by "About to Crash", from the same album. After that is all a blur to me. I only remember having a damn good time, watching the audience being hypnotized by Portnoy, the drum master, Petrucci's precise and brilliant guitar solos, Jordan Ruddess kicking ass on his keyboards. Myung did his job excellently as always, the only problem was that for some stupid reason the only solo he had in the concert (in "learning to live") was omitted, and the sound engineers decided to turn down his bass, making it almost impossible to enjoy.
Yeah I know. I always have something to complain about.
This is the second time I see these guys perform, and really, I believe they should learn to interact with the public. That goes specially for LaBrie. Yeah yeah, he knows how to sing, but hell! Say something else besides hello! I think it would be helpful. Also I wouldn't mind if they played a little with their songs. Make them grow, don't play them EXACTLY as they are on the cd. In my humble opinion I believe THAT is what makes interesting a concert. But that's just me.
Sadly they only played for exactly ONE lousy hour. But man, it was enough for me to sing,
jump, pretend to play air drums, and wanting to jump on stage. Damn rockstars, they do get
all the fun. It really makes you think about your life. He he.
They played at least a song from each of their studio albums (except from When dream and
day unite and Awake), but my small, sad life was filled with songs like " Stream of consciousness" (from their album Train of thought); "Misunderstood" and "Solitary Shell" (from six degrees of inner turbulence); "The spirit carries on" (from Metropolis pt2: Scenes from a memory); "Trial of tears" (from Falling into Infinity); and "Learning to live" and "Metropolis pt1" (from Images and Words)
I have NO idea in what order they played them. Yeah! Sue me! I'm not a reporter dammit!
And I don't have a good recollection of things! Be grateful I even remembered what I did last night! But the last song (this one I remember), was "Metropolis Pt1". Oh. My. God. Pure , absolute bliss.
So that was it. Dream.. was over and the stage was being prepared for YES. Now, I know what
I'm about to say will probably get me a death warrant or a weekend at a "Kick Ms. Mysterious stupid head" camp. But I declare myself ignorant. I only know like eight songs from YES, yet I admit they are Gods. I know Fragile and Closer to the Edge are classics. Even masterpieces. I know that without these British guys that have like 35 years of career, progressive rock would not be what it is today. I know that all of them , Anderson, Squire, White and Howe look like your average grandfather, but they all (specially Howe on guitars) can play like if their life depended on it (leavin us bleeding on the ground, dying from disgrace for ever thinking these old guys can't play anymore).
By the way, something I loved from YES is that they really take the time to bond with their audience. They joke, they talk and even play a little with their songs. And yes, Jon Anderson is so positive, always saying things such as "Life is beautiful", "All you need is love" yadda yadda yadda that at times I felt I was watching Barney (you know, purple annoying dinosaur) singing I love you, you love me lalala....Ok. I admit my blasphemy. It's late. I beg for forgiveness.
Anyway, check their official sites (not Barney's):
www.dreamtheater.net
www.yesworld.com
Ok, enough has been said. Let us rest now. Take out your favorite CD's, order a pizza and
choose you favorite capital sins. I recommend gluttony and sloth... (sure I would love LUST
but SOMEONE is SOMEWHERE far far away!) *sigh* Bring on the pizzas dammit..
music and a pretty good show. In what it seems to have been a very short North American
summer tour together, YES and Dream Theater offered their very last show of their tour here in Monterrey, Mexico, the cradle of cabrito (which I hate), terrible, ever changing wheather and pretencious way of living.
Yeah yeah, I'm still in denial, I miss Sydney, what can I say?
Well, the concert started at 8:03 pm, and there they were: My heroes. The gods. Dream
Theater. I admit I'm an addict to their music since 1992, when I first heard their album,
Images and Words. I was appalled by their catching riffs and aggressive rhythms. Their lyrics told me exactly what I needed to hear at the moment, and the songs showed me how a virtuoso musician can also find the way to add emotion and feeling to the songs.
One thing before we continue. I'm definitely not an expert in music, concert reviews or however you want to call this. I'm a simple person with simple pleasures, one of them, Dream Theater. So, I offer my apologies to those who are experts in the subject at hand and believe there are better bands. I know that. But having said that I remind you that this is just my humble opinion, if you don't like it ..SO SORRY! But I'm the one with the blog! Damn it! NO one shows respect to Ms. Mysterious! You dirty bastards...
*Ahem* Where were we? Oh yeah, the show.
Lights went out. People shouting. Ms. Mysterious hitting her head against the chair and asking herself why the hell she didn't bought tickets in the front row. Or why the hell she's not a groupie to get access to backstage. And then... the light. They started with a fragment of "Overture" from their album Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, followed by "About to Crash", from the same album. After that is all a blur to me. I only remember having a damn good time, watching the audience being hypnotized by Portnoy, the drum master, Petrucci's precise and brilliant guitar solos, Jordan Ruddess kicking ass on his keyboards. Myung did his job excellently as always, the only problem was that for some stupid reason the only solo he had in the concert (in "learning to live") was omitted, and the sound engineers decided to turn down his bass, making it almost impossible to enjoy.
Yeah I know. I always have something to complain about.
This is the second time I see these guys perform, and really, I believe they should learn to interact with the public. That goes specially for LaBrie. Yeah yeah, he knows how to sing, but hell! Say something else besides hello! I think it would be helpful. Also I wouldn't mind if they played a little with their songs. Make them grow, don't play them EXACTLY as they are on the cd. In my humble opinion I believe THAT is what makes interesting a concert. But that's just me.
Sadly they only played for exactly ONE lousy hour. But man, it was enough for me to sing,
jump, pretend to play air drums, and wanting to jump on stage. Damn rockstars, they do get
all the fun. It really makes you think about your life. He he.
They played at least a song from each of their studio albums (except from When dream and
day unite and Awake), but my small, sad life was filled with songs like " Stream of consciousness" (from their album Train of thought); "Misunderstood" and "Solitary Shell" (from six degrees of inner turbulence); "The spirit carries on" (from Metropolis pt2: Scenes from a memory); "Trial of tears" (from Falling into Infinity); and "Learning to live" and "Metropolis pt1" (from Images and Words)
I have NO idea in what order they played them. Yeah! Sue me! I'm not a reporter dammit!
And I don't have a good recollection of things! Be grateful I even remembered what I did last night! But the last song (this one I remember), was "Metropolis Pt1". Oh. My. God. Pure , absolute bliss.
So that was it. Dream.. was over and the stage was being prepared for YES. Now, I know what
I'm about to say will probably get me a death warrant or a weekend at a "Kick Ms. Mysterious stupid head" camp. But I declare myself ignorant. I only know like eight songs from YES, yet I admit they are Gods. I know Fragile and Closer to the Edge are classics. Even masterpieces. I know that without these British guys that have like 35 years of career, progressive rock would not be what it is today. I know that all of them , Anderson, Squire, White and Howe look like your average grandfather, but they all (specially Howe on guitars) can play like if their life depended on it (leavin us bleeding on the ground, dying from disgrace for ever thinking these old guys can't play anymore).
By the way, something I loved from YES is that they really take the time to bond with their audience. They joke, they talk and even play a little with their songs. And yes, Jon Anderson is so positive, always saying things such as "Life is beautiful", "All you need is love" yadda yadda yadda that at times I felt I was watching Barney (you know, purple annoying dinosaur) singing I love you, you love me lalala....Ok. I admit my blasphemy. It's late. I beg for forgiveness.
Anyway, check their official sites (not Barney's):
www.dreamtheater.net
www.yesworld.com
Ok, enough has been said. Let us rest now. Take out your favorite CD's, order a pizza and
choose you favorite capital sins. I recommend gluttony and sloth... (sure I would love LUST
but SOMEONE is SOMEWHERE far far away!) *sigh* Bring on the pizzas dammit..
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