Did anyone attend any of the FW/DT/QR shows?

[Silent Spirit]

I was just wondering if anyone here on the forums went to any of their shows. I went to the one in LA, and man, best $50 I have ever spent. Fates Warning was awesome, lots of energy. They played some good ones, a couple from Disconnected, and a few older ones too. But, all of the sudden, in the middle of their set, another vocalist came on-stage and started singing. I recognized the song, but I just couldn't pick my finger on it. All of the sudden it hit me, I was watching and listening to Kevin Moore and Ray Alder sing Shutdown from OSI!! It was crazy, it was the last thing I expected them to do, but in hindsight, it makes perfect sense. Anyway, I couldn't believe they played that song that was a wonderful surprise.

Dream Theater sure was enjoyable too. They played a lot of the great ones, including some good stuff from Scences from a Memory. But man, they had a LOT of distortion, just lots of free floating noise, kinda pissed me off.

I think I enjoyed Queensryche the most, however. They came on last and were WELL worth the wait. Geoff Tate can really sing, forget screwing up in the studio and taking another shot at it, he was dead on the whole night. They played some great ones off Operation Mindcrime, Empire, and Promised Land. An awesome live band!! To anyone who was at any of their shows, or anyone else who would know, what song was that where Tate was painted up, half blue and half green with vampire teeth? It was an excellent song, but I had never heard it before.

And for the encore - Dream Theater and Queensryche took the stage together and played some Pink Floyd and The Who. I've heard very little from those two bands, so the highlight of the encore for me was Geoff Tate singing "Under Peruvian Skies" (alongside LaBrie, of course) and LaBrie singing "Take Hold of the Flame" (alongside Tate, of course). HAHA, during the encore, there was a total of ten musicians onstage!

Anyway, just thought I'd share my thoughts on the exceptional show and see if any of you liked the shows as much as I did!
(I've posted this at a few different boards just to make sure I cover all my bases.)

 

[Wicked Child]

I saw them in San Diego on Friday, and my god, they both ruled. I did think though, that James LaBrie and John Myung lack excitement, sure they performed well, but they just stood there, while Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci were going insane! And i also think Queensryche were the highlight. More audience participation and more exciting. That song that you were talking about, where Geoff had a multi-colored face with vampire fangs on the giant screen, that song is "Screaming In Digital" from their second full-length album, "Rage For Order". For the encore, both bands came on and played "Won't Get Fooled Again' by The Who AND "2 Minutes To Midnight" by Iron Maiden! It was AWESOME!!! I loved the show, it was just amazing. Both bands were incredible.

 

[Psychonaut]

I missed the show but can't stand Dream Theater anyway. It would have been nice to see Queensryche, though. Fates Warning is prety good live although I lost touch with them years ago...

 

[Silent Spirit]

I saw them in San Diego on Friday, and my god, they both ruled. I did think though, that James LaBrie and John Myung lack excitement, sure they performed well, but they just stood there, while Mike Portnoy and John Petrucci were going insane! And i also think Queensryche were the highlight. More audience participation and more exciting. That song that you were talking about, where Geoff had a multi-colored face with vampire fangs on the giant screen, that song is "Screaming In Digital" from their second full-length album, "Rage For Order". For the encore, both bands came on and played "Won't Get Fooled Again' AND "2 Minutes To Midnight" by Iron Maiden! It was AWESOME!!! I loved the show, it was just amazing. Both bands were incredible.

Haha, I agree with you Wicked Child, James LaBrie didn't have too much energy... lol, especially when he came on stage to sing "Life in Still Water" with FW. Haha, he was just standing there tapping his foot a little bit. As for Myung, he probably didn't want to get his hair tangled in his bass. Did you see his hair, man? It was past his ass! HAHA, that was cool.

Thanks for the info about the song, I knew it sounded familiar.

Ah, I wish they would have played 2 Minutes to Midnight at the LA show. Anyway, it was an awesome night, glad to hear you enjoyed it as much as I did!

 

[TheGraveDigger]

I saw the show in Holmdel, NJ on July 10. It was really cool and one of my favorite concerts I have ever been to. I really wish I could have seen them do "Two Minutes To Midnight".

 

[Dreamer Deceiver]

2 Minutes to Midnight!!!??? I would have shit my pants.

 

[DiscipleOfPlato]

I was at the Pompano show in Florida, and I have to agree with the majority of those who attended....it was incredible. Definitely $45 well spent! Fates Warning was great as usual although I wish they would've played longer than 30 minutes. They have plenty of material to cover and it was rather disappointing not being able to hear anything from "No Exit" or "The Spectre Within," two of their older classic albums from the 80s that no Fates show is complete without. But even with the short time-frame, Fates Warning never fails to impress me...
Dream Theater was up next(They were the main reason I came) and for 90 minutes, I was in complete awe while watching some of the greatest musicians of any genre in action. I have to disagree with some of the comments made about James Labrie's performance....are we talking about the same tour!? His performance was flawless and he was definitely the most animated of the group. He was moving around, making funny facial expressions, swinging his arms to the beat of some songs, yelling to the crowd, swinging the mic, etc. Not only that, but it seems he's been going through some vocal training as of late because his voice is as good as the "Images and Words" days. I still can't believe he hit that high note in the middle of "Learning to Live!" It's true that John Myung(the bassist) rarely moved anything but his hands but that's because he's John Myung! He's always like that! Either way, I can't complain.
Next up was Queensryche, a band that despite their recent musical failures(Q2K, anyone?), have always held a special place in my heart. Tonight they surprised me like I somewhat knew they would, and sounded a lot better than I expected to hear them. Although their setlist was unfortunately cut short because of a surprise notice of a curfew around the area, They played a short, solid set of about 50 minutes. Just hearing "NM 156" and "Screaming in Digital" was worth sitting through their set. Like I said, the only downfall was the shorter set, which forced them to cut out "Silent Lucidity," "Speak"(damn, I was really looking forward to that one), and whatever their 2-song encore was for the night. Nevertheless, the biggest surprise of the night was how GOOD Geoff Tate sounded! I expected him to stress a lot like he did on the recent "Live Evolution" and expected high notes in an annoyingly more subdued matter. However, none of that was present at the show I attended. Sure, he wasn't as good as he was in the 80s, but with my low expectations(sometimes a good thing), I couldn't complain.
After that, both Dream Theater and Queensryche performed a double-encore, an extended cover of "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who. It was a thing of dreams....of course, Dream Theater blew Queensryche away, but hey, what are you gonna do?
If anyone else plans on attending this tour, consider yourself lucky.