Dream Theater were Awesome!
Last Thursday (April 21st), I finally got to see Dream Theater live, at the Utilita Arena in Newcastle.
They were supported by a band called TesseracT, who I'd never heard of before so I was naturally curious about, but kinda just wanted their set to be done with so Dream Theater could come on. That being said, I think TesseracT are the best support act that any of the gigs I've been to (Behemoth comes a very closed second) have had. Their music was awesome so as soon as I got home, I loaded up their setlist of the night into Spotify, which then introduced me to more of their catalogue. These guys have been around for about 20 or so years, so I'm actually a bit surprised I've never heard of them before. I'll be on the lookout for TesseracT touring next year as I definitely want to see them live again!
Now onto Dream Theater! They started with The Alien which is off their latest album A View to the Top of the World, great song to start with! A few songs into the setlist they played Endless Sacrifice from the Train of Thought album, sitting close to the back, I could see the crowd go wild, especially when Jordan Rudess got out the Keytar! I was super happy they included Invisible Monster from A View to the Top of the World in the set. That song is my absolute favourite from the new album, for sure! Towards the end of the set, we got to witness A View to the Top of the World, from, well, can you guess the album? I'm still trying to figure out how John Petrucci can keep all of this information in his brain, whilst still interacting with the audience, that guy is insane!
Their set ended with The Count of Tuscany as the encore from the Black Clouds & Silver Linings album. Fantastic song although I do wish they ended with Dance of Eternity from Metropolis, pt 2 . That's my all time favourite Dream Theater song.
In conclusion, it was a fantastic night! They had changed the configuration of the Arena slightly so our seats were actually closer than they otherwise would've been, which was a bonus! Another bonus was I had 2 empty seats to my left, so I was able to stretch a little, always good for a 3 hour gig!
Much like TesseracT, I'll also be keeping an eye on Dream Theater in the coming years to see when they're next touring, hopefully they can get Dance of Eternity into the set!
