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Rating: Ascoli Piceno
June 22, 2005
The Dream Theater are back in Italy. After the "Train of Thought tour 2004" (February '04) and the "One off Italian Show" (July '04), it's time for the "Octavarium tour 2005".
The album, worked on last winter, is released in conjunction with the start of the tour. Everything happened very quickly, maybe too quickly.
Octavarium is an album different from the previous ones.
It's not new that the 5 diversify each album to make it unique. Certainly, their latest work has already been reviewed many times on this site, so I don't want to dwell on whether or not the album is successful.
Let's move on to the concert.
Wonderful day, sunny and warm.
We leave by bus from Portocannone, rented for the occasion.
To grab the front rows, or almost, we arrive in Ascoli at five.
We already find guys who have been there since the morning.
Piazza del Popolo is beautiful, with the arches surrounding it and the balconies of the ancient buildings overlooking it.
As we already knew, this is not an "An evening with", meaning the Dream Theater will not be the only ones on stage, but two support bands will warm up the audience before the actual concert.
The first are Labirinth, an Italian Metal band. In my opinion, they are very good, but unfortunately less known than Angra. The latter come from Brazil and were the second support band of the day.
Finally, evening comes, and with the lights off, the intro tape begins.
The atmosphere changes, the audio is much clearer than the previous sounds.
The adrenaline rises and explodes in screams and jumps when the first piece arrives: "Metropolis pt.1".
The band returns to Italy still in great shape, noticeable from the energy with which they perform this piece.
After a "Buonaseri Ascoli Piccenno," James announces a piece from the new album "The Roots of All Evil".
It is a very powerful song already in the studio, but I assure you that live it delivers even more.
As the song ends, it extends with Mr. Rudess's mog sounds, introducing a sweet About To Crash.
Following is a return to the origins with Learning To Live performed in grand style with the addition of an arpeggiated solo, which I dare say is a bit bizarre in context.
Another new song and more metal power, this time it's Paniac Attack, the true Dream piece of Octavarium, with odd times and acidic riffs engaging the crowd.
With a roll of Tom Tom, Mike heralds the arrival of Just Let Me Breathe, a live staple from '98's "Falling Into Infinity".
Without rest, we move to the power of Lie, which like the other tracks of Awake, never disappoints.
Again, Train Of Thought and the initial arpeggio of Endless Sacrifice, an ever-growing song that gets all of us bouncing as if we were at the stadium.
The last of the three new pieces is Never Enough.
The only songs from Octavarium that they wanted to offer, behind our full appreciation, are the heaviest ones from the new record.
Finally, something from "Scenes From A Memory" arrives, specifically Home and a thrilling The Spirit Carries On, which as always leaves room for lit lighters.
After this union between Spirit and audience, we start again with three pieces from "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence", in order: Solitary Shell, About To Crash (Reprise), and Losing Time/Grand Finale, which inseparably bring the concert to a close. The lights go out and the 5 bid farewell.
As usual, the fans' acclamation brings Dream back to the stage, and Myung's bass surprises us with the intro to As I Am followed by a never-before-seen version of Pull Me Under, accelerated to the extreme and then slowed down towards the end until the explosion of the last note.
In conclusion, we can say that even though the last album was released a bit too quickly and the Tour started without having time to absorb it, the Dream chose, at least for the first dates, to propose only three new pieces, certainly the most powerful.
The setlist was really well distributed, touching a bit on all the albums of their career, making more and more young fans who flock to their concerts discover who Dream Theater really are.
You can find photos of this and other concerts on the website ytsejamportocannone.interfree.it, by going to the Metal Milizia Forum, where you can leave a message if you want.
Thank you and until next time.
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