yeah, It was a great show. I was them at the Vancouver stop.
also,the DT keyboardist is known Jordan Ruddess.Kevin Moore was replaced by him a while back
I knew that...I was really tired last night when I wrote that. Not sure why I said Moore.
How much of Mike's annoying banter was in evidence?
I find Mike's banter pretty funny.
I guess I'll toss my review of the show in there.
Rosemont Theatre: B+
First time ever going to a seated venue. I liked it a lot better than some of the standard massive room venues. Only downfall is it's hard to get close to the bands in theatres like other venues.
My seat: C
I was directly in the middle right underneath the balcony. It looked a hellava lot closer in the picture when I ordered them. Oh well.
3: B
I didn't know any of their songs at the time. However one of my friends that came with me has been a fan of theirs for a couple years now so he helped me out. Very interesting music to say the least. The only problem I had with them was that annoying keyboardist/percusionist in the background acting like a dumbass. He was acting like he was playing with the drum beats, but stopped every two seconds to figure out where the fuck he was in the song. Was an eye-sore.
Between The Buried And Me: C+
The only material of theirs that I was familiar with was Alaska, and of course they didn't play anything off of it. Like I mentioned earlier, they played the last 4 songs off of their latest album Colors. It was pretty meh up until the last song, White Walls. Very, very, proggy song (14+ minutes long). The only beef I had with the band is the vocalist, but only because of his monotonous mid-range growls. He's got some killer screams for sure, gave me the chills a couple times hearing them live.
Opeth: B+
I'm sure some of you are wondering why I gave Opeth, the band you all assume is my favorite (which they are) a B+. Well two things, only one of which was their fault:
1. Their sound. It was pretty reminiscent of the first time I saw them back in '06. During the first 15 seconds of Ghost of Perdition there were no vocals. However, last night, the guitar tone was too low, the drums and bass were too loud. They shitty sound techs didn't fix it until halfway through Wreath, which was the one song I've been wanting to hear live for the longest time. I was pretty pissed off, but what can you do right?
2. They opened with Master's Apprentices. I don't have a problem with Deliverance at all. It's probably my 3-4 favorite Opeth album, but why this song? I heard setlists from other shows that they opened with Demon Of The Fall. I've grown so tired of hearing Master's Apprentices. Once they hit those first two chords my Opeth experience kind of went downhill a bit. I really wished that had switched Master's Apprentices and In My Time Of Need out for another song. Perhaps like Godhead's Lament, or something a bit, you know, better that people haven't heard live in a long ass time. Regardless, I was really looking forward to seeing Opeth again, but in all honesty, I went to see Dream Theater. Opeth is better doing headlining tours where you can get right up front against the railing and just headbang your ass off.
Dream Theater: A+
The highlight of the night and my year. Surpassing the night of drinking I had with Robert Mathis of the Colts. When DT came out, their sound was spot on from the get go, and twice as loud as Opeth's. Whenever Portnoy played his doublebass groves, it felt like someone was punching you in the chest, hard too. It was fucking amazing! Labrie sounded
phenominal. I've heard stories of him fucking up live, but I honestly though he sounded better than some of the albums he's recorded. That was icing on the cake. He was wailing his balls off too, and didn't puss out on some of the high notes. As for the setlist, I loved it. There was one thing I thought that was hilarious. I sang through nearly all of their songs while everyone else just stood there and headbanged a bit. But once they started playing As I Am, everyone went fucking nuts and was singing and stuff, while I was standing there because I didn't know the lyrics.
I just found it funny because you could tell most of those fans only listen to a few of their albums. But whatever.
The thing that got me was how much heavier their songs sound in concert. Like, a couple of the songs they played really aren't heavy at all on the albums, but fuck they were tearing my face off.
Lastly, and most ironically, Portnoy was a bit sloppy for most of the show. He was trying to do some stick throws, and kept missing them. I noticed he missed and either changed or fucked up on a few fills. From what I've seen of them live he is usually flawless. Everyone is intilted to their off night every once in a while I suppose.
