Dream Theater full of surprises at the Palace

By Faith Eileen Montaperto

Not surprisingly, the seats at New Haven’s Palace Theater were empty again Saturday night. Why? Because all the “real” Dream Theater fans were standing up as the quintet took the stage.

Dream Theater opened its 90-minute set with ‘Pull Me Under’, the breakthrough hit off its album, Images And Words.

Immediately, the crowd was immersed in the band’s mind set, one full of energy and conviction. A few showgoers began mashing in the aisles. Most of the people left, kept inconstant rhythm by headbanging and singing along.

The dark lyrics and dense sound projected in the music of Images And Words was completely darker and richer as Dream Theater introduced some songs off its new album, Awake.

‘Mirror’, a song about the bittersweet agony of betrayal, seduced the crowd into an emotional frenzy. Moving on into ‘Innocence Faded’, the audience was treated to a fantastic display of James LaBrie’s vocal abilities, from his raspy tenor-like tones into his long held higher notes.

A highlight in the evening was bassist John Myung’s solo in ‘Take The Time’, a song off the first album. Along with spectacular lighting effects, the music was played with knuckle-bruising emotion, that left me in anticipation of what lie ahead.

Behind the group, movie screens flashed lifelike scenes of the album covers on Awake and Images And Words, the lighting was cued perfectly to reflect the mood of each song; sometimes dark and mysterious and then all at once reaching into a new atmosphere full of rich bright scenes.

Dream Theater went on to play old favorites such as ‘Another Day’ and ‘Learning To Live’, complete with sledgehammer riffs and distinct feeling not found in many stage performances.

One disappointment in the show was that ‘Surrounded’ and ‘Wait For Sleep’, two great songs, were excluded from the program.

No matter, Dream Theater put on an invigorating show, full of surprises, that surpasses its albums.

It’s great to see a show where the album doesn’t rock harder than the musicians. If everything just keeps sounding better with these guys – then I can’t wait to see what they have planned for next year!