Dream Theater
Live at Budokan

Rome, July 4th... A day with infernal heat... I find myself in the capital of my country with my lady and a great friend of mine who’s a guitarist. We are all in eager anticipation after a long journey from Modena (a full 4 and a half hours!) to witness the show that the theater of dreams has once again decided to grant us.
We arrive, after having admired the historical beauties of the capital during the afternoon (but always with the colossal drum kit of that monster named Mike Portnoy and his acrobatic feats behind the skins in mind), around 9 PM, at the Foro Italico of Tennis.
The place, though very beautiful, is not that big, but it doesn’t matter; the first notes of Glass Prison open the evening, and those of In The Name Of God close it... All in all, the concert wasn’t bad, if only the expectations weren’t completely different from what had been announced to us...

One could perhaps say the same for this nth live performance of the most loved/hated band I know on the face of the earth. The 5 New Yorkers, it’s known, have not been playing since yesterday, so one does not expect a product full of errors or studio remakes, because they don’t need it at all; instead, perhaps the few smudges present make the listener understand that it is not a best of, but a live performance, also given the bland participation of the public (but it’s known that the Japanese watch while seated in strict silence... bah! what strange people!).
The setlist proposed by the group, however, remains in my opinion the biggest flaw of this discographic release. Focused more on the recent discography and little proposed rather than on the last album of original songs Train Of Thoughts, with the exception of the overly known (and let’s be honest, we’re sick of it...or not?) Pull Me Under, and a few episodes from Falling Into Infinity (such as New Millennium, Trial Of Tears etc.) which were also poorly delivered.
At least at the Rome concert and even better in Bergamo, where the theater was supposed to propose pieces from their entire repertoire (the concerts were named An Evening with DT but in reality, they could have said they were continuing the Train Of Thoughts tour... bah!) some songs from Awake and even from When Dream And Day Unite were proposed, such as The Mirror and A Fortune In Lies, none of which were seen here.

Another big failure of this live is the disappointing performance of LaBrie, who has told half the world on every possible occasion that he has resumed vocal studies, but on several occasions here he suffers from bad mishaps and is honestly sometimes really annoying due to a nasality of voice and gratuitous aggression truly out of place (the only good thing he manages to bring out is a few vocalizations which, however, during the live Scenes From New York, he still managed to do with ease). There is no need to talk about sound and audio quality because everyone knows that even DT bootlegs are magnificent in this respect, thanks to the miraculous team of technicians that our guys bring along, which makes the live performance identical to the studio one (I keep wondering how they do it... incredible!).
As for the performance of the five, even if I didn’t want to, I couldn’t not say that despite the impressive skill of all, the DT's live situation presents itself once again as usual: Portnoy is overflowing everywhere and is in such good shape as to allow himself a solo performance with Ruddess practically all stuffed with double bass drum at terrifying levels, Petrucci barely manages to play 4 notes not at the speed of light, and even rhythmically he proves precise and incisive, Ruddess is the true revelation of this live (although I still think Kevin Moore is unattainable) because he is witty, not necessarily acrobatic, and a crazy improviser (brings the pieces live!), I’ve already spoken about Labrie and I can add, however, that he lacks that charm in the lower parts which once distinguished him from other prog singers... and then who remains... Oh yes, Myung... as usual, even if a little less than in previous live performances, in second... um, what am I saying, third, fourth... no let's say backstage... (except obviously for the Metropolis part 1 solo present in the piece Instrumedley, a sort of medley of various DT instrumental tracks including Erotomania, Change of Season, Ytse Jam, and the LTE records).
Regarding the booklet, I don’t think there’s a need to talk about it as it’s a live, except that the idea of making the cover look like the Japanese flag by placing a red-tinted concert photo of DT at the center of a white background and the writings in pseudo oriental is truly horrible... but besides this, the DT don’t care...

DT have turned out this good product, perhaps more than anything else to make a favor to the most ardent fans, perhaps to prove once again what they are made of (although I find it hard to believe there’s anyone who doesn’t know...) or perhaps for a simple commercial action...
For those who do not yet have a DT live, I wouldn’t know whether to recommend it or not... I’m very attached to Live at the Marquee even though it’s very different. The fact remains that this is a good product, not easy to listen to given the complexity of the prog metal proposed by this New York band, but undoubtedly good music although frequently and willingly a bit sterile and self-serving.

Recommended for fans, for those unfamiliar with DT, it’s better to start with their masterpieces Images & Words and Awake, for others I would suggest spending your euros on other bands such as first and foremost the emerging Pain Of Salvation, Flower Kings, or the great yet underrated Fates Warning... they will have much more to tell you.

The tracklist of the 3 CDs - not having found information on freedb.org - is as follows:
CD1: 'As I Am', 'This Dying Soul', 'Beyond This Life', 'Hollow Years', 'War Inside My Head', 'The Test That Stumped Them All'.
CD2: 'Endless Sacrifice', 'Instrumedley', 'Trial Of Tears', 'New Millennium', Jordan Rudess keyboard solo 'Only a Matter Of Time'
CD3: 'Goodnight Kiss', 'Solitary Shell', 'Stream Of Consciousness', 'Disappear', 'Pull Me Under', 'In The Name Of God'