Dream Theater On Tour In Scandinavia

What do supercomputer sized brains, Mission Impossible and barfbags have in common? What ultra-innovative pomp metal outfit spews cheap Beavis & Butt-Head lines on the tour bus? What band won the American music industry’s award for best hard rock song in 1992? The answer to all three questions is inevitably Dream Theater.

The Dream Theater story begins on Long Island where friends Mike Portnoy (drums), John Myung (bass) and John Petrucci (guitar) decide to enroll at Berklee’s Institute of Music in Boston. Years of dedicated studies follow resulting, among other things, in acquired skills with instruments such as piano, guitar, cello, oboe... With keyboard player Kevin Moore and vocalist Charlie Dominici Dream Theater is formed in 1987 (the name is adopted from an old Californian movie theatre) after a shorter stint as Majesty.

The debut album, When Dream And Day Unite, is released in 1989. While the press is rather indifferent the underground starts buzzing. This was something new, a band fusing its’ heritage from 70’s greats like Rush and Yes with Metallica, and – kaboom! – a piece of hi-tech for the 90’s. Dream Theater had found their own niche. In a world dominated by Guns n’ Roses- and Metallica-clones, and insensitive death metal, the band is embraced as the new messiah, here to re-introduce finesse.

Small label Mechanic is immediately recognized as an obstacle after not being able to support When Dream And Day Unite properly. And as if that wasn’t enough singer Charlie Dominici was an even bigger issue. No one in the band was particularly happy with the singing on the debut, and in the live environment he was a disaster. Dream Theater needed someone with power and strength, someone who could fully realise the potential of the material. Charlie is out and Dream Theater spends the years ‘89 through ‘91 looking for the ultimate voice.

“We needed a frontman that possessed a voice that could elevate the songs those final inches”, says John Petrucci. “For a long time the prospects weren’t that good. We tried out a bunch of singers, among them John Arch formerly of Fates Warning, but none of them worked out. Until one day when someone suggested the former singer of 24K, James LaBrie, and a couple of years’ problems were instantly solved.”

A hectic period ensued. James LaBrie was introduced to the almost completed material in the summer of ‘91 and Images And Words was recorded at Bear Track Studios in New York.

I must admit I almost gave up hope on Dream Theater after the amazing debut. Not a single sign of life for several years until June last year when I opened an envelope from ATCO. And there, in this mixed bag of records, I found ‘Pull Me Under,’ a preview of the forthcoming album, Images And Words. There is a God! One of the best songs, and choruses, of that year and thus rewarded by the music industry as best hard rock song of ‘92. ‘Pull Me Under’ is far from the only nugget on Images And Words. ‘Take The Time’ is a brilliant thing with some AOR hints apart from the usual Dream Theater focal clarity. ‘Under A Glass Moon’ is filled to the brim with complexity, magnificent pomp rock and hysterical lines and the seven minute song is only overshadowed by ‘Metropolis,’ 9:30 of monstrous madness. An orgy in complicated meter shifts with incredible vocals from James LaBrie. ‘Surrounded’ and ‘Another Day’ are the opposite – rather simplistic, effective creations that complete the picture that is Images And Words.

Dream Theater’s a very democratic band where every band member contribute lyrics and music. They’ve developed a method of rehearsing in which a black board – yes! – is utilized to create arrangements. Every rehearsal is recorded, simply because it would be impossible to remember all the hundreds of notes that, in the end, form a complete song. Sometimes rehearsals can go on for hours with the outcome that maybe just ten seconds is saved for later use, Mike Portnoy explains.

Dream Theater arrives in Oslo surrounded by a cloud of cold breath and bad jokes. It’s taken the band six days to get from Los Angeles, via London, to the royal Norwegian capital. Spirits are all the way up. James LaBrie pulls gay jokes and his wife Karen cheers him on, rather amused. Kevin Moore tells us about his three weeks long hike all by himself in the wilderness of Grand Canyon, accompanied only by a small one-man tent. Let’s see what he contributes to the next record. John Petrucci arrives, newlywed, from his honeymoon in Hawaii. The couple has been together for some four years, but over here John misses his beautiful wife of Spanish/German ancestry. It’s the first gig of the second European tour. Dream Theater’s first goodwill gatherer has paid off. The Rockefeller is sold out. Very clever marketing is part of the success. Not in the regard of trying to sell the consumer a substandard product, far from it! In the case of Dream Theater it’s about reaching the right audience, a task as tough as any. By intense touring the band has charmed both critics and fans, and forced them to listen until the point of surrender. Dream Theater are too good to be rejected. Too good to disappear in the maelstrom of bands. One of the secrets behind the band’s success is not to let people’s enthusiasm die out, John Petrucci tells us. That’s why the band now return for a second tour of Europe and that’s also why the live album, recorded at the Marquee, is released. Not a perfect album – the sound is so-so – but anyways... It’s a document in EP format containing excellent versions of ‘Pull Me Under’ and ‘The Killing Hand.’ What a voice this guy LaBrie possesses! The new instrumental track, ‘Bombay Vindaloo,’ is reminiscent of Rush’s ‘Xanadu’ and even James’ introduction to the songs can be traced to Geddy Lee, circa ‘80. But, hey, it works! I’ll mention it once again just in case: Clever marketing. The band is on their second trip over the world and with every show they grow stronger. Every enthusiastic review increases the record sales and the band’s status. Slowly Dream Theater are on their way to the big breakthrough. In Japan they’ve already been rewarded with awards for best album of 1992 (Images And Words), best vocalist (James LaBrie) and best keyboardist (Kevin Moore). Lots of top scores in polls are the evidence that Dream Theater now occupy the territory left no-man’s land since Rush went mainstream.

The dressing room at the Rockefeller in Oslo is surprisingly orderly, considering the fact that a rock band is doing their business there, with all that follows. John Myung is changing the strings on his bass, by himself (that’s $100 a gig!) and James LaBrie is warming up with Uriah Heep’s ‘Stealin’. Kevin and John Petrucci are going through some critical transitions in the new set list. A lot has changed since last time around. Four new ideas for songs are tried and tested and some of the old songs have been changed around. It’s a bit of a shame, in my opinion, that both ‘The Killing Hand’ and ‘A Fortune In Lies’ have been replaced by the weaker ‘Afterlife’ and ‘Only A Matter Of Time.’ The good news are rather good, on the other hand. ‘Barfbag’ came to John Petrucci during his flight from Hawaii – it’s an instrumental with some jazz-rock influences. ‘Puppies On Acid’ is pure heavy. Even a part of the old Majesty song ‘March Of The Tyrant’ is performed, mostly though for the few fans on the Europe mainland that have got some of the old demos. At 9:30 sharp Dream Theater take the Rockefeller stage. The Oslo audience clap and sing along but the spark won’t really ignite. The band is a bit out of shape after a longer break. James does some enormous amounts of work and finally succeeds in getting the band and 800 people in the audience going, but afterwards the guys are quite disappointed. And these guys are hard to please! But if the audience is happy, they’re happy.

“We do play first and foremost for the fans, and not for ourselves”, an exhausted Mike Portnoy tells me after the gig. The new songs were appreciated, especially ‘Barfbag,’ and as usual ‘Take The Time’ and ‘Pull Me Under’ almost tore off the roof.

There is a Dream Theater tradition of partying on the tour bus after the first show of a tour. One crate after the other with beer and other alcoholic beverages are loaded onto the bus and everyone parties til dawn. Even though some of the band members don’t drink they’re around for the unprintable tour stories. Right now the band is obsessed with Beavis & Butt-Head, more so than yours truly. Kevin Moore is the man. When the silent one, John Myung, has long ago gone to bed, he’s cracking joke after joke with a perfect emulation of the two losers’ voices. The whole entourage is laughing themselves silly.

In Stockholm we’re awakened by the nice sound guy Vinnie. The bus is parked outside Hotel Karelia, where the band is staying. The guys seem to have slept well after all the partying (Kevin and John Myung don’t drink) and are refueling at Burger King. John Petrucci wants to go for a walk so we’re heading for Gamla Stan (The Old Town), having a discussion of cuisine. John prefers properly made food, preferably meat, but during the tours he mostly has to settle for fast food. John Myung intensely studies the Stockholm part of his European guide book and is impressed with the narrow, rock-laden alleys. John Myung doesn’t talk all that much but when he says something it’s usually about something that will make the other band members listen carefully. Silence is golden, they use to say. We stop at a small café, John Petrucci is hungry and I suggest oxjärpar with potatoes and gravy. He finishes his meal in about three minutes – yet another one won over to the Swedish cuisine!

Kevin Moore and I head for Storkyrkan, the main church in Stockholm and one of the most beautiful in the world. This spring Kevin was promised that on his return to Sweden he would get to play the big organ. The precentor explains, in broken English, that the organ was built in the 18th century, that it’s 50 ft wide and contains around 3500 pipes. Kevin is flabbergasted. The organ is enormous, magnificent and Kevin barely dares to sit behind the keyboards. When he finally starts playing it’s like he’s never done anything else in his life. After a slight hint of hesitation he performs Bach, Beethoven, Mahler and some of the other masters that are regularly heard here. His fingers playfully wanders over the ivories, fugues and preludes echoing nicely between the church walls. I now know what Kevin can do to support himself when, eventually, Dream Theater retires.

The expectations for the Stockholm gig are tremendously high. Last spring The Melody was two thirds packed and the people present were left open mouthed by the fantastic show. Since then the word around town about the mighty Dream Theater has spread and, not surprisingly, Gino is sold out to the last inch. I think there probably were another couple of hundred people crammed in above the limit of 750 that the fire regulations would allow. Musicians and fans packed like sardines waiting with trepidation for the intro to ‘Metropolis.’ The stiffness of the Oslo tour premier is gone with the wind. Dream Theater came on and did theirs to the fullest, eagerly cheered on by a boosted Stockholm audience. James LaBrie was even drowned during the chorus to ‘Take The Time,’ not to mention the singalong when he happened to mention his wife Karen’s birthday. The new songs worked out well even though Kevin Moore’s keyboards were giving him some trouble, causing irritating noise, especially during the sombre keyboard piece Eve. Gino got collective goosebumps when John Petrucci went into ‘Pull Me Under,’ which already must be characterised as one of the classics of the 90’s. The finale, eleven minutes of ‘Learning To Live’ is in my opinion something of an anti-climax of an, otherwise, perfect night. Okay, even the sun has its’ dark spots. The hard-to-please musician’s elite of Stockholm got something to think about anyway. Dropped jaws and raised foreheads abound, just like any old Dream Theater show I suppose. Until next summer, when the next album is due for release, we have to try not to pull our hairs in desperation for new music from Dream Theater. That could easily mean the big breakthrough for this New York bunch.