Dream Theater live in Manchester 2012

Rainy day in Manchester on Thursday (9 Feb 2012), but the day was going to be good anyway. Manchester had as guests the progressive metal Gods: Dream Theater (DT). The O2 Apollo Manchester (known as Manchester Apollo, or as just The Apollo) is a nice old fashion theatre (was a movie theatre at some point in history), second time I see DT in this venue. This time I was in lateral balcony on John Petrucci (JP) side. Awesome view... amazing actually!

Support was Periphery, very cool band I think... I mean if you can take some growls it is ok... I have to say that some 5 or 10 years ago I could not listen to growls, now I can and do think that they can add something if they are used in a smart way. Anyway Periphery was over and time for the good stuff!

DT on this tour “A Dramatic Tour of Events” in the European leg at least are playing two alternative sets per night. However it is not a total rule, in fact they were supposed to play set B the previous night in Glasgow but they changed to A and consequently I got to see set B.

Setlist (9 Feb 2012 Manchester):
1. Bridges in the Sky (BITS)
2. 6:00
3. Build Me Up, Break Me Down (BMU, BMD)
4. Surrounded
5. The Dark Eternal Night (TDEN)
6. Drum Solo
7. A Fortune in Lies (AFIL)
8. Outcry
9. Wait for Sleep (WFS)
10. Far from Heaven (FFH)
11. On the Backs of Angels (OTBOA)
12. War Inside My Head (WIMH)
13. The Test that Stumped Them All (TTTSTA)
14. The Spirit Carries On (TSCO)
15. Breaking All Illusions (BAI)
Encore:
16. As I Am (AIA)

For you who are not detailed DT followers, the set A is mostly the same only that instead of TDEN they plat “The Root of All Evil”, instead of WFS the play “The Silent Man”, instead of FFH, they play “Beneath the Surface” and the encore changes from AIA to “Pull me Under”. Both are awesome setlists, but at the end I was happy that I got to see TDEN as only during that song the Wizard (Jordan Rudess) is using the Zen Riffer, and that is an awesome part of a DT show.

The production is awesome, best ever of DT history, with the already used 3 screens but this time they have a shape that produces a cube effect. Cool stuff! Anyway you probably have seen the youtube videos from the tour, but nothing like being there. I love the cartoons intro! The setlist flows like drinking a shot of water... it starts and you are in AIA and it feels like the fastest 2 hours in your life. The only slow moment is during the ballad time WFS and FFH, beautiful and soft passage to relax (and be able to shoot a video that is not shaking... well at least not that much...).

As usual, all the guys were on fire...Mike Mangini drum solo deserves special attention just ridiculous... somebody has to check whether him and the Wizard are actually humans or some kind of ethereal musical creatures that have arrived to the world to entertain us (or at least the privileged ones who listen to them). James Labrie voice is in great form... has matured but still one of the best voices in rock ever. JP and John Mying (JM) just perfect as usual...

My highlights: BITS (probably my favourite of the latest album), TDEN (this song has grown on me so much and live with the Wizard and Zen Riffer is amazing!) the instrumental part of Outcry (total progressive kick ass of the highest level you could possibly imagine), WIMH/TTTSTA (one of my favourite passages of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence) and AIA (I love this song). Do not take me wrong I loved the whole show... but during those tunes I was in a trance...

All the songs from “A Dramatic Turn of Events” sound awesome live... and I am very happy of having seen 6 of them. About the previous songs, for those (as me) who were a bit worried... There is nothing to worry about; JP is doing an awesome job singing the aggressive vocals during TDEN and WIMH. The funny voices during TTTSTA are the recorded tracks... so that thing is also solved.

This was my 6th DT gig, and as usual with DT... you leave the venue doing some thinking... “OMG what the hell was that? Was that real?!!!” Well the good part is that it was real... I recorded a couple of videos but only uploaded WFS. But anyway I posted here some awesome videos by others.

DT do not change setlists in a crazy way like in the Mike Portnoy times anymore, but still at least they change the set from tour to tour (counting the last summer tour as a different tour) and even from leg to leg a bit... and a bit of alternation from night to night... so the setlist rotation is not like in the old days, but still it is way more than the average band. So let’s just keep watching them as much as we can!!!

The Spirit Carries on definitively!

We will see what happens tomorrow 12 February in LA at the Grammy’s ceremony...

Follow me @aramirez1979

Pictures Gallery (click here)

May give problems to people who is not friends with me in facebook (fb)... (it is supposed be a public, but something weird is happening with fb public pics...)

Videos

Wait for sleep (my own footage)


Videos added by others:

On The Backs of Angels / War Inside My Head / The Test That Stumped Them All


Mike Mangini drum solo


Outcry (not complete but anyway with the whole instrumental part)



As I am