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Rating: Great evening on October 29, 2007, at the Datch Forum in Assago for one of the 4 Italian dates of the Chaos In Motion Tour 2007/2008. I was there; it was the first time I was going to a concert... then to go to a concert of what is for me the best band ever, even better than legendary bands like Queen and the Beatles, is a double, if not triple, emotion!
My friend and I arrived there accompanied by his father, I bought one of the shirts on sale at the stalls outside (unfortunately there were also those of Tokio Hotel, who would perform there the next day, and trust me, they clashed a lot), and we lined up regularly... at the entrance, we found the stage set up and were clearly mesmerized by the equipment of the various band members, particularly my friend was impressed when he saw Jordan Rudess's continuum ready along with everything else. Among the details of the scenery, we saw a circular sign with the group's logo, some giant ants (and we witnessed the moment they were brought onto the stage), and a traffic light with the discs upside down above the stage.
The lights go out for the first time, and here come the supporters Symphony X... At that time, I didn't know them well, I only listened to "The Divine Wings Of Tragedy" occasionally, but I still followed their 40-minute performance with pleasure. Then, a quarter of an hour break, just the time to go pee. And then the green light of the traffic light comes on, and all the others go out. A summary video of their career, a brief intro played by themselves, and they immediately started strong with "Constant Motion", fresh from the latest EXCELLENT (beyond what the unbearable mass of detractors who often listen to records without criteria says...) "Systematic Chaos" and there it's endless headbanging from my side... and then a roar when they start playing the first guitar peaks of the classic "Strange Déjà Vu" from the masterpiece "Scenes From A Memory" while as for "Blind Faith" from the brilliant "Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence", I swear I never expected to find it in the setlist, but it still warmed our spirits, especially seeing a great Rudess extend the initial intro and the piano melody intervene centrally. Then it's the turn of "Surrounded" from the historic "Images And Words"... Surely we would all have preferred a "Metropolis" or a "Pull Me Under", but the album also became famous for other songs! Here the song was extended to around 10 minutes... between the solo added by Petrucci as an intro and the cover of "Comfortably Numb" added after the second verse.
And then, without interruption, the heavy "The Dark Eternal Night" from the latest album begins, a song I absolutely wanted to hear live, and it's really the end of the world! My head is literally at risk of detaching from my neck during the headbanging on Petrucci's solo before the finale, just like the guy sitting next to my friend, and on the continuum solo in the finale by Jordan Rudess, I insist my friend, who loves this instrument and would be tempted one day to try it, to record it...
Then comes the solo by Jordan himself, who after thrilling us again with the continuum, switched to the keytar, a new instrument in his equipment, and it’s sweet zephyr (as Pellegatti says) for us present... and unexpectedly with these instruments introduces "Lines In The Sand," another classic of their repertoire from the criticized album "Falling Into Infinity", a track that if I'm not mistaken was missing from the setlists for a couple of years (so says my cousin, who knows Dream much more than I do). Then again from the latest album "The Ministry Of Lost Souls", with lighters lit during the slow part and wild during the instrumental part, and the full suite "In The Presence Of Enemies" which, as promised, they perform the suite in its entirety, further testifying that the division into first and second parts on the CD was only due to reasons of homogeneity.
Then the final greeting... already? Then the band returns to the stage (note Portnoy with the Italy shirt)... everyone shouts "Metropolis"... and instead here they propose a medley composed of fragments of final tracks from various albums... It starts with "Trial Of Tears" (last of "Falling Into Infinity"), then "Finally Free" (last of "Scenes From A Memory"), "Learning To Live" (last of "Images And Words"), "In The Name Of God" (last of "Train Of Thought"), and "Octavarium "(last of "Octavarium") to which they even add a sample from the film "The Godfather".
And everyone waves goodbye with the "po-po-po" of the World Cup.
Overall a great evening we all had fun, but there's something to say about the setlist! Definitely too short, I am not used to seeing such limited setlists from them...
Surely questionable is the choice to very willingly leave out of this tour's setlists classics like "Metropolis", "Pull Me Under", "The Spirit Carries On"... Then no track in the setlist from "Awake", which is one of the most important albums of the group, but how can that be! Also neglected was the debut "When Dream And Day Unite".
But honestly, all this matters little. It was a nice evening, we had fun, we returned home happy, and that's what’s important!
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