Dream Theater Puts The Power Back Into Old-Time Rock ‘N’ Roll

New Haven – As Bob Seger, the famed spokesman for Ford trucks, once wondered, “Whatever happened to that old-time rock ‘n’ roll?”

With punks such as Green Day and sensitive balladeers such as Lisa Loeb sprinting up the charts, sweaty hard rock, the kind packed with long hair and guitar solos, could almost be considered alternative. But fear not, spandex hasn’t been replaced by flannel everywhere, as shown by Saturday night’s Dream Theater show at the Palace theater.

With the drum set jacked up on risers and speakers stacked up to the ceiling, the stage looked like a scene from the film This Is Spinal Tap. Only Dream Theater’s songs really go to 11. Although its name makes Dream Theater sound like a Rush cover band, the Boston-based quintet isn’t that limited. They’ve obviously listened to Yes, Genesis and Black Sabbath, too.

Saturday’s show, just its third on a long U.S. trek, centered on the band’s newly released second album, Awake. Nearly every song was an epic, packed with old-school hard rock, bombastic fury, thundering rhythms and rock-star bravura. The heroics earned fist-in-the-air approval from the packed crowd. Most songs had multiple false endings; just as they seemed ready to end, it was time for another solo.

Dream Theater takes itself and its solos seriously. The band actually left the stage during drummer Mike Portnoy’s five-minute exhibition in the middle of ‘Caught In A Web.’ Guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung also showed off flashy riffs that required a degree from the Berklee School of Music to play or appreciate.

Singer James LaBrie boomed the brooding lyrics of songs such as ‘Innocence Faded’ and ‘Lifting Shadows Off A Dream,’ with a voice that glides easily through the octaves. The songs aren’t just heavy, they’re deep. LaBrie bounced around the stage like a bad check, frequently pushing his glistening black hair off his face before striking another Christ-like pose.

The band’s new single and MTV favorite, ‘Lie,’ received the night’s warmest reception, greeted with beers held high, Beavis and Buttheadesque head-banging and, of course, several cigarette lighters. It was a sincere response to a band that works hard to please its fans.

Openers I Mother I also demonstrated in its brief set the importance or being earnest. The band’s songs explore similar progressive-hard rock territory as the headliners, only with an added funk and psychedelic side. The band’s members are just as serious as well, singing portentous songs of environmental degradation. The songs sound as if they could be ripped from today’s newspapers, many of which are also written for a fifth-grade reading level.