This was for the Systematic Chaos and potentially Watershed albums for Dream Theater and Opeth respectively, though technically Dream Theater was the main event.
Let's start out with the opening bands. Three started first, and if you would've just gone to the concert for Opeth, you would've hated them. I found their musical style to be good but the singer sounded like Geddy Lee from Rush. He had an awkward and kind of lame stage presence, though he was a pretty good player. The vocals were good, he could sing, but it was a questionable sound to go with the music.
Between the Burried and Me offended my ears so badly with their first song that I had to leave. The singer and one of the guitarists looked younger than me and seemed like they'd do better in a skateboard park than on stage - young, skinny, short to practically no hair - they just looked weird in a metal band. The singer had a death metal sound and horrendous stage presence and I wanted to throw things at him. However, as long as I wasn't looking at them and their drummer refrained from going thrash metal, they had a decent sound. It was nothing special and I wouldn't pay for their music, but it was tolerable.
Let's start out with the opening bands. Three started first, and if you would've just gone to the concert for Opeth, you would've hated them. I found their musical style to be good but the singer sounded like Geddy Lee from Rush. He had an awkward and kind of lame stage presence, though he was a pretty good player. The vocals were good, he could sing, but it was a questionable sound to go with the music.
Between the Burried and Me offended my ears so badly with their first song that I had to leave. The singer and one of the guitarists looked younger than me and seemed like they'd do better in a skateboard park than on stage - young, skinny, short to practically no hair - they just looked weird in a metal band. The singer had a death metal sound and horrendous stage presence and I wanted to throw things at him. However, as long as I wasn't looking at them and their drummer refrained from going thrash metal, they had a decent sound. It was nothing special and I wouldn't pay for their music, but it was tolerable.
Mike Åkerfeldt and Opeth
Opeth was next on the venue. Take note that I have been quoted to like Opeth, but I couldn't name more than two songs by them. Opeth is a band I have liked to listen to, but not one I have pursued. Well... Mike Åkerfeldt is amazing to see on stage. He has a beautiful voice when he sings and a terrific sound when he growls. He can do pretty much anything, but I also loved his stage presence. He talks to the crowd, jokes with them, and introduces some of the songs he's going to play; overall he just makes a great show of it. Everyone accompanying him was great and if I wasn't in danger of being entirely destroyed by a mosh pit, I would've liked to be closer to the stage.
Lastly is Dream Theater. DT is another band that I can't say I'm particularly familiar with. I have listened to a few songs here and there and I own Awake and Systematic Chaos (the new CD). I was, not so much disappointed but unimpressed with their selection for the first song - a mediocre tune and in my opinion, the worst song off their new album, that might as well be a Metallica song. What was even more disappointing was that it was the ONLY one they played from Systematic Chaos. I bought the CD in the store and loved it, it's a great selection of mysterious concepts and good music (long songs) and being the tour for the CD I was hoping to hear more of it and I was let down.
Lastly is Dream Theater. DT is another band that I can't say I'm particularly familiar with. I have listened to a few songs here and there and I own Awake and Systematic Chaos (the new CD). I was, not so much disappointed but unimpressed with their selection for the first song - a mediocre tune and in my opinion, the worst song off their new album, that might as well be a Metallica song. What was even more disappointing was that it was the ONLY one they played from Systematic Chaos. I bought the CD in the store and loved it, it's a great selection of mysterious concepts and good music (long songs) and being the tour for the CD I was hoping to hear more of it and I was let down.
Jordan Rudess playing with a clip of his hands on screen overhead.
Jordan Rudess is an unreal keyboardist. He was on a spinning platform and you can hardly follow his fingers with your eyes when he plays with one or both hands. For me, he was the highlight of the show; that and their rendition of the Mario songs with an accompanying video.
James LaBrie has a voice you either love or hate. Well, I love it when he sounds like himself but I hate it when he sounds EXACTLY like James Hetfield (as in the first song). My feet hurt so I retired to the back of the venue after Opeth but I found that for the show, it wouldn't have made a huge difference if he had been there or not. Every song was an extended version of its original form, which if you knew the original, was probably pretty cool, but for me I found it dragging. I'm not talking 5 minutes for a song here, I'm talking 20. I have a pretty good attention span for a good metal show but when I'm hearing unfamiliar music and the song goes on for almost half an hour, I get bored. Even the songs I did know (they played a set from Awake) seemed to drone on. The band seemed more intent on showing off than they did on pleasing the crowd. Don't get me wrong, the music was good, but I would've been happier if they had played some newer songs, played some shorter songs, and at least had some crowd interaction between songs so it wasn't all just one song blurring into the next. They've got great stamina and they can play and they sound good, but in the end, a ten minute solo of anything gets boring when it comes from a progressive metal band.
If you know Dream Theater well and you like their music, go to this show and you'll love it. However, if you're not too familiar with them, then I suggest skipping this one unless you're a big fan of Opeth.
Year: 2008
Who I went with: Michael Widmer, Kelton Earl, Brenden (Kelton's friend), Graham Widmer*, Gianna Romano*
Opening bands: Three, Between the Burried and Me
Location: MacEwan Hall, Calgary
James LaBrie has a voice you either love or hate. Well, I love it when he sounds like himself but I hate it when he sounds EXACTLY like James Hetfield (as in the first song). My feet hurt so I retired to the back of the venue after Opeth but I found that for the show, it wouldn't have made a huge difference if he had been there or not. Every song was an extended version of its original form, which if you knew the original, was probably pretty cool, but for me I found it dragging. I'm not talking 5 minutes for a song here, I'm talking 20. I have a pretty good attention span for a good metal show but when I'm hearing unfamiliar music and the song goes on for almost half an hour, I get bored. Even the songs I did know (they played a set from Awake) seemed to drone on. The band seemed more intent on showing off than they did on pleasing the crowd. Don't get me wrong, the music was good, but I would've been happier if they had played some newer songs, played some shorter songs, and at least had some crowd interaction between songs so it wasn't all just one song blurring into the next. They've got great stamina and they can play and they sound good, but in the end, a ten minute solo of anything gets boring when it comes from a progressive metal band.
If you know Dream Theater well and you like their music, go to this show and you'll love it. However, if you're not too familiar with them, then I suggest skipping this one unless you're a big fan of Opeth.
Year: 2008
Who I went with: Michael Widmer, Kelton Earl, Brenden (Kelton's friend), Graham Widmer*, Gianna Romano*
Opening bands: Three, Between the Burried and Me
Location: MacEwan Hall, Calgary
Opeth opening for Dream Theater
2 comments:
I was at this show and was completely blown away by DT, you see all your complaints of there set are actually the icing on the cake :O DT are not known for short songs, i don't think many of us fans would have been pleased if they played alot of them; my only complaint is they didn't play change of seasons(22 min) - an extended version would have been even better - sorry this is months later but just happened to come across it, lol.
Ah, by all means, I understand, but for me I didn't really like it. I just found the songs to drag on into something that didn't appeal to me at all. I would've been interested to see how differnet the Edmonton show was.
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