LIVE: Dream Theater @ the Palace Theater, 10/15/11

Despite loads of distracting personalized equipment and video projections, progressive metal band Dream Theater still managed to put on a great, albeit rather long show at the Palace Theatre in Albany last Saturday night.

While not providing much stage presence, opening act Periphery more than made up for it with musical prowess and power. The crowd didn’t necessarily seem to agree, however, seeing as most of the audience remained seated throughout their performance.

Periphery played seven songs during their 45-minute set, including their two best known tracks, “Jetpacks Was Yes” and “Icarus Lives!” as well as their longest number, “Racecar,” noting that it was inspired by Dream Theater.

With A Dramatic Tour of Events in support of their new album “A Dramatic Turn of Events,” Dream Theater started off their two-hour show with “Bridge in the Sky,” one of the new album’s songs. They also played five other songs from it throughout the rest of the night.

New member Mike Mangini joined Dream Theater only about six months ago, replacing long-time drummer Mike Portnoy, but they still excelled in musical talent. Mangini even banged out a perfectly set-up and worked-out drum solo early on in the show. About halfway through, the show slowed down with the ballad “Wait For Sleep,” in which lead singer James LaBrie and keyboardist Jordan Rudess were the only two playing on stage together.

The rest of the night was spent playing a mix of new songs and old classics before wrapping up the performance with “Pull Me Under,” their first big breakthrough hit.

The crowd was up on its feet for almost all of Dream Theater’s show, and the response was always one of awe, even if the audience was a bit smaller than one would expect for a show of such magnitude.

Review by Lakota Ruby-Eck, a freshman at Hudson Valley Community College. This is his first review.

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DREAM THEATER SET LIST
Bridges in the Sky
These Walls
Build Me Up, Break Me Down
Endless Sacrifice
(Drum Solo)
The Ytse Jam
Wait for Sleep (acoustic)
Far from Heaven (acoustic)
Outcry
On the Backs of Angels
Caught in a Web
Through My Words
Fatal Tragedy
Breaking All Illusions
ENCORE
Pull Me Under