Concert Review: Murder, Mayhem and Major Key Transitions

Dream Theater returns to Metropolis at the Beacon.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Dream Theater: (l.-r. Jordan Rudess, Mike Mangini (on drums) John Myung,
James LaBrie, John Petrucci) returned to the Beacon Theater on Friday night. Photo by the author.

(This review is respectfully dedicated to my friend and colleague Peter Danish, who got us the tickets. Thanks again, man.)

The progressive rock band Dream Theater has enjoyed its long existence by following two rules: doing what they want to do as musicians and ignoring sniffing rock critics. (Critics have responded to this indifference by pretty much ignoring the band: their reputation rests on word of mouth.) Since I'm a classical music critic, I went to see them (for the sixteenth time since 1993) at the Beacon Theater on a night when the band was celebrating its return to its hometown of New York and I was celebrating my forty-sixth spin around the sun.

Concert Review: You Can Go Home (But You Can't Go Back)

Dream Theater bring Images and Words to the Beacon.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Dream Theater: (l.-r. John Myung, Jordan Rudels, James LaBrie, Mike Mangini, John Petrucci)
in concert Friday night at the Beacon Theater. Photo by the author.

Progressive metal mavens Dream Theater are on tour again, celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of their 1992 album Images and Words. On Thursday night, the Long Island quintet brought their Images and Words and Beyond Tour to their old turf: the hallowed stage of the Beacon Theater. This was the first DT show at that venue since 2011. However, this is not the same band that staked its claim with that record so many years ago.

Images, Words, and Really Complicated Drum Parts

My 5ive favorite Dream Theater shows.

by Paul J. Pelkonen

Dream Theater celebrated twenty years at Radio City Music Hall.
Photo from the live DVD  Score copyright 2007 Atco Records. 

I've been a fan of the progressive metal band Dream Theater since 1992, when I read a Guitar World review of their second album Images and Words. I remember heading out into Manhattan on a cold wet day In December, wanting to give myself the “gift of a new band to listen to” before Christmas. I came back with the album on cassette. I loved it, playing the first side to exhaustion. One morning I put the cassette in on side 2 and heard "Metropolis Part 1: the Miracle and the Sleeper" (hey I didn't title it) for the first time. I was stunned, puzzled, impressed and utterly hooked.

Concert Review: Astounded and Surrounded

Dream Theater plays The Astonishing in Newark.
by Paul J. Pelkonen

Surrounded...by drums. Dream Theater lead singer James LaBrie sings The Astonishing.
Photo from the video of "Our New World" © 2016 Dream Theater/Roadrunner Records.

The gulf  between grand opera and heavy metal seems vast. These two genres of music commanding different audiences that are equally passionate about their artists. And yet, some intrepid bands have thrown bridges across that gulf, writing astounding rock operas that swell and surge with orchestral power and epic, complex storylines as convoluted as the grandest opera. On Wednesday night, the veteran progressive metal band Dream Theater brought their touring version of their new record The Astonishing to Prudential Hall at the New Jersey Center for Performing Arts.