Dream Theater

The Marquee, London

Tuesday, March 30

Rating: 3 out of 5 (Stable)

“Oh, they’re not too bad,” smiles one spectator, while applauding Dream Theater with demonic gusto.

He is, of course, understating his case. This man seriously believes Dream Theater to be gods.

In terms of proficiency, they most certainly are. Bassist John Myung holds his six-string (count those tuning pegs) instrument in that special way which real musos do.

He’d probably show Billy Sheehan a run or two, and then they could have great fun mutually fiddling away till the cows come home .

Only five songs in, Mike Portnoy launches into an almost surreal drum solo. it’s likely that no one’s entirely sure what he’s trying to achieve with this, but the eager audience nevertheless write it off as a work of genius that can’t be fully comprehended by human ears.

Tonight, the Marquee is chockfull of the faithful. In this environment, if the faithful envisage Dream Theater as the musical equivalents of the great long-gone philosophers, then that’s what they become for an hour.

Touted as a cross between Metallica and Queensrÿche, the reality is that only Dream Theater’s excellent US radio hit, ‘Pull Me Under’, truly capitalizes on those wonderful possibilities. Apart from that, the quintet generally inhabit that oft-traversed Rush/Genesis/Yes ballpark – albeit playing the game with a slightly modernised rulebook.

As part of the New Wave Of Prog Rockers for the ‘90s, Dream Theater certainly excel. As revolutionary crossover kings, they’ve merely commenced a long journey.

And who knows if they even want to complete it?

—Jason Arnopp