Dream Theater opened up a whole new realm of music to me back in 92 and set me on the path to the bands I love (and come to PP every year to see) today.
I still go to shows.
I still buy the discs.
I still support them.
What they have done in their career is undeniable and so is their talent.
I will not shy away from the fact however that the band today is not the band I fell in love with. Truthfully when I mention DT, in my head I think of DT from When Dream and Day Unite to Scenes From a Memory. THAT period.
Rudess is talented as hell. But I miss the Moore and even Sherinian days. I miss more than two people writing all the lyrics (the odd Myung songs are among my favorites - Lifting Shadows off a Dream - amazing)
Hell one of my fav tunes of the band is the EVE instrumental and that was mostly Kevin Moore.
I understand the negativity leveled at them by some and that is any music fans right as an individual. (just as I do not care for a handful of bands mentioned regularly on this forum)
In the end, whether you like them or not, for what they have accomplished, especially in the musical wasteland of the mid to late ninties, they deserve respect.
IMHO, Black Clouds was the first serious step in the right direction in many years although there are still things that bug me about the album. Whether you can deal with the lyrics in Count of Tuscany or not, you cannot deny Petrucci's playing on that tune, especially the moody slow portion near the end. Just top notch emotional playing.
But I have conditioned myself to the fact that I won't ever get 'that band' back - the one that I initially became such an insane fan of.
Anyway, just 2 cents from an observer.