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Rating: This is my first review. Seeing that no one had said anything about this concert yet, I decided to step up myself, even though I know there aren't many Dream Theater fans here. I was at the Palalottomatica from 10 with 9 people plus other die-hard fans. The first hour passed quickly, then at 11, they started setting up the barriers, and we moved; I’d say we were in a good spot, sure to be in the first row. Everything was going great; I even managed to get a bit closer to the gates. From 12 to 15, time seemed to fly as I made friends with a couple of people, and we chatted a bit while someone brought a stereo with Octavarium playing. The chaos started from 16 to 18:30, which is the gate opening time. People began to stand up, and I don’t know why the hell they started to push, meanwhile, birds were flying in, but I couldn’t say how many there were, a lot. It was 17, and the crowd was pushing even harder; I found myself pressed against the gate, hoping to get out and thinking, "Do these idiots really have to be at the DT concert?"
The entrance was the worst part, people pushing, they didn’t even tear the tickets, and the police were threatening with batons. Anyway, I managed to get inside, but in the rush, a friend said he lost the banner, and of course, I was really pissed about that. I tried to retrieve it, but it was useless, so I said goodbye to it and ran inside the Palalottomatica, managing to get to the second row, but it was hard to breathe with so many idiotic people pushing. After about twenty minutes, I retreated to the stands, waiting for my brother, and when he arrived, I burst into tears, desperate, the usual imbeciles had ruined my dream of being under the stage, but suddenly, I noticed on the right of the stage, under Petrucci, a bit towards the outside, there weren’t many people, so I left my stuff with my brother and went back down. Leaving the Palalottomatica, I saw there were still people coming in, but it was much calmer, so I asked the police if they had seen the banner, they told me they saw a big banner on the ground, and the cleaning ladies had taken it and put it near the garbage bags. So, I went to check, and believe it or not, the banner was there, so I took it back and ran again inside the Palalottomatica. I met two people I had met outside and saw that many people were still leaving the (pointless) mosh pit in the center. Meanwhile, I raised my banner very happily to show it to the people, and they appreciated it and applauded. I also noticed Halloween pumpkins on Myung and Petrucci’s pedals.
And here comes the music, it’s the music from A Clockwork Orange, it ends, and the lights go out, the magic begins, I start raising the banner. Myung arrives and starts with As I Am; the band is there, but I quickly look at the one nearest to me, Mr. Petrucci with his hair slicked back. Portnoy is the classic monster with his set, new and amazing, the left bass drum is magnificent, it has a very clean sound, LaBrie is on point with his voice, and I look for Myung, but where is he? Incredible, he's on the far left area and upfront. As I Am passes quickly, and on the mega screens, a video from last year starts playing, but it goes back, and doesn’t stop at Wdadu, it goes further back to 1985, twenty years ago, and here comes ANOTHER WON, a fantastic piece, which I didn’t expect to hear, although I must say I preferred Chris Collins singing, not to be harsh, but James just doesn’t fit the songs from the Dominici and Collins era. Moving on to When Dream And Day Unite, with afterlife, I was expecting them to do that, not a piece that drives me crazy, so I stayed quiet and listened and watched while the other idiots below hadn’t stopped moshing yet. And we arrive at Images and Words, with UNDER A GLASS MOON, I opened the banner again, and it seemed like LaBrie caught a glimpse of it. A peculiar thing was that Petrucci’s guitar was out of tune, he was always there giving it a little twist. The piece was executed perfectly, and then James started talking, saying this is the last date of the European tour, and they’re presenting the CDs in order of release to celebrate their 20-year career, and that the next piece from Awake is CAUGHT IN A WEB, executed to perfection, and I don't remember if it was here or not, but it did happen, Petrucci and Myung found themselves face to face and were PRANKING EACH OTHER Petrucci was playing uselessly on the bass strings, and Myung (again him) was detuning the Musica Man’s strings, a splendid moment. And here we move to Falling Into Infinity, the song is PERUVIAN SKIES with Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd and Wherever May Roam by Metallica in the middle, which are very similar to each other. We return to Peruvian Skies, and I raise the banner again, and here's where the most beautiful thing of the entire concert happens. Petrucci sees it, reads it, and points at the banner and me, after two minutes, I put it down again, my throat was tight, and I was about to burst into tears, and maybe a tear or two came out. The piece ends, and James tells us that the next song is a bit special, never made it onto Falling Into Infinity but is well known, and I was already like "No, don’t tell me it’s...” SPEAK TO ME, I almost lost it; it was incredible, I never thought they would play it, it’s a piece I adore, and it was executed perfectly by the five of them. Right after, we move to Scenes From a Memory with THROUGH MY WORDS/FATAL TRAGEDY, I would have preferred something different, like Home Overture 1928 Finally Free or Spirit Carries On, so I resigned myself to it and sang, noticing with dismay that Mike lost track a couple of times and had to stop to find the beat. After Sfam, it was Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’s turn, I thought since in other setlists just before the break, they did About to Crash and Losing Time, but instead, Petrucci came out with the DOUBLE NECK and started SOLITARY SHELL, which I absolutely didn’t expect and is definitely one of my favorite pieces in Sdoit, I was thrilled and jumped like crazy, singing my heart out, Petrucci’s guitar looks stunning live, though it wasn’t played to the end, they stopped at a certain point, but I must say they cut it well.
So we move on to Train Of Thought, and a downside for me because they played IN THE NAME OF GOD I thought "for fuck’s sake, third time seeing them, third time they play it?” but during Petrucci’s final solo, I reconsidered and thought it fit perfectly. James says they will take a short break and will be back. The lights come on, and I go look for my scattered friends; I see they were in the stands, I tell them to come down, but they didn’t know which way to go, so I ran to get them and brought them down. They left the audience for the same reason as me, but while doing all this, I was thinking, "Could it be that Dream Theater will now play all of Octavarium back to back?” The lights turn off and THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL starts, the third mega screen rises, the cloth falls, and there you have it, the big Iron Maiden style backdrop of Octavarium, yes, the whole CD was now being played back in full, what about the song? Fantastic track, very metal, I easily lift the banner again thanks to my friends, and we proceed to THE ANSWER LIES WITHIN, and I got to rest a bit, it’s not a song that drives me crazy, but it sounds a bit better live. And we get back to the charge, and we move to one of my favorite tracks, THESE WALLS; there is no more doubt, Octavarium is being performed entirely, the banner is up again, but we soon put it down to jump, surely a song that gives a lot of energy. I WALK BESIDE YOU was executed perfectly, with Myung still moving across the stage, even running, and playing tag with Petrucci, I killed myself laughing, even more when a bra landed on the stage, and James put it on Mike’s drum set, on the official fan club forum, there was a rumor that the bra belonged to (I really hope it isn’t true) Loredana Lecciso. And now it’s PANIC ATTACK, incredible how much energy and urge to jump this song brings live, the solo is executed fabulously, and I shout to John "how much of a GOD are you?" A small mosh pit was created in front of us, in which I participated willingly. NEVER ENOUGH was well appreciated during the chorus. My friends and I hugged each other and started jumping, James saw us, and I got a big chill down my spine, and he didn’t know I was the same person he saw on April 20th at the Qube, six minutes of chaos as they say, the idiots in the center still hadn’t stopped moshing, maybe they didn’t realize they weren’t watching Slayer or Iron Maiden. And here we are at SACRIFICED SONS, but I was only waiting for the next song, so I didn’t fully enjoy it. Here we are OCTAVARIUM, I knew in that piece it was Jordan to lead the intro with his new “gizmo” and I knew he would extend it, so I sat down and listened, finally, the band started, Petrucci returned with his Double Neck, both he and James sat on the stools, a truly beautiful sensation, we moved to the tougher part and the mid solo is spectacular, full of technique and virtuosity. And we reached the part of Octavarium I prefer, the scream of James was approaching, another two verses, one, and TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUM YEAH, TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUM YEAH, TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUM YEAH, TRAPPED INSIDE THIS OCTAVARIUM YEEEEAAAAAAAAAHHHH. I may have killed four or five people, but it was worth it, Petrucci ended wonderfully with the final solo, positioned himself in the center of the stage and reached the peak, holding a note for about twenty seconds with his head up and eyes closed, (I must say at some moments it felt like I was seeing Dave Mustaine, I swear). And there’s the classic fake ending, Dream Theater walks off, I start the chant, out out, and here comes Jordan along with John to play something unknown, an intro in short, I expected the same song from Milan and Bologna, which was Learning to Live, and instead, James starts singing THE SPIRIT CARRIES ON. It was eight fantastic minutes, I had thought of everything, everything but the song that introduced me to Dream Theater, and my favorite song, unfortunately, the song is so beautiful that it flies by in an instant, and I see Myung still shaking on stage, in 13 years, John had never done so much. TSCO ends, and this time too I expected Learing to Live, it would have been the ultimate, but here appeared the burning heart and PULL ME UNDER, the crowd was in ecstasy, and I created the ultimate mosh pit, but here there should have been the instrumental part of Pull Me Under, but what happened? They kicked off METROPOLIS, and here comes Myung TO THE CENTER and played his part, the crowd went wild, there was the classic break in the dark, and I saw that Jordan was up to something, the lights came back on, and I saw everyone with HALLOWEEN MASKS, Mike's is so cool, and then Petrucci in Dracula version. And LaBrie came back for the final piece, a friend asked me, "why doesn’t he have a mask?” and I replied "because he doesn’t need one”.
Everything ended, the Dreams bid farewell, thanked, and we lifted the banner again, and Petrucci pointed at it again and applauded us. The classic bow, Mike’s farewell, and everything ended; right after, I bought a cool wristband, which cost me 10 euros, but, damn, it’s really cool. So it all ended. I said goodbye to my friends, went back to my brother, and headed home, knowing I had seen a fabulous concert, even though some song substitutions could have been made.
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