Dream Theater with support band Pain Of Salvation blew the roof off the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on Thursday night, December 3rd. It certainly was a huge thrill to see Dream Theater back for a second time on Australian soil, as it must have been for those lucky New Zealand fans that just got to see Dream Theater for the first time.
It wasn't a full house of fans, with quite a range of ages present, but it was obvious which band the majority were there to see, once Dream Theater hit the stage and the numbers soon swelled. Pain Of Salvation put on a fine albeit short show, with just six songs, but with lots of energy and enthusiasm they did a great job, even playing an impressive new track called "Condition" and finishing with "Disco Queen". If only their overall sound was clearer, but luckily things improved for Dream Theater.
At 9.00pm Dream Theater kicked off with "A Nightmare To Remember", Mike Portnoy's vocal passage was pure METAL, in fact Black Clouds & Silver Linings was very well represented with four tracks all up, "A Rite Of Passage" being the next song up. Like their earlier material they played last year, this years selection from Awake and Scenes, were my favorite, still sounding as good as ever if not better. It was great to see and hear Mike Portnoy interacting with the crowd, throwing his sticks in but the return throws were a bit off line and walking around the outside of his kit while still playing. For someone who says he doesn't practice MP's drumming sounded great. Jordon Rudess was as awesome as ever, utilising all his gadgets and taking the time to run around with his Keytar. Next to guitarist John Petrucci and well just like last year at Brisbane's River Stage JP stole the show, the guy is a legend plain and simple. John Myung was his usual bass god self and vocalist James Labrie gave a strong performance, he seemed to spend as much time running off the stage for all the exciting instrumental breaks, as he did around it.
Dream Theater put on an incredible show until 11.00pm, with only a short break after saying goodnight following "In The Name Of God"; of course they returned and finished in style with the epic closer off their latest "The Count of Tuscanny". And then it was sadly all over, with the exemption of a short loss of sound which saw MP throwing in a quick solo while it was restored, their performance went off like clockwork. I can't wait till the next time Dream Theater graces our shores and returns to Brisbane.
Scott Jessup
Setlist:
Pain Of Salvation-
The Perfect Element
Fandango
Ashes
Linoleum
Condition
Disco Queen
Dream Theater-
A Nightmare to Remember
A Rite of Passage
Hollow Years (Extended)
JR Solo
The Mirror
Lie
Wither
Dance of Eternity
Solitary Shell (Extended)
In the Name of God
The Count of Tuscanny
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