After a quick, undemanding, noisy fix? If so, then stay the hell away from Dream Theater’s upcoming UK tour. This is musicians’ music; long songs full of complex tempos and virtuoso performances; but more often than not the Long Island quintet hit the perfect blend of raw power and technical ecstacy. You know what to expect when the two and a quarter hour set kicks off with a solo intro from keyboardist Derek Sherinian, and the other instrumentalists lock together into a completely unhurried, totally unified, state of grace. John Petrucci leads from the front with his emotive, daring guitar work, while the keyboards of Sherinian simultaneously soothe and probe.

If there’s a better rhythm section than bassist John Myung and drum maestro Mike Portnoy, I’ve yet to hear it. And if James LaBrie seems to be singing in a slightly lower register on newer material like “Hollow Years” and “Burning My Soul”, there’s a good explanation - DT wish to distance themselves from heavy metal’s cheesier protagonists.

But this sold-out crowd know quality when they hear it, and although the band don’t deliver the anticipated set-list - their best-known album, 1992’s “Images and Words”, is largely ignored in favour of the new “Falling Into Infinity” - the Forum responds with enraptured appreciation. With this much ability, musical variety presents no problems whatsoever, and Dream Theater glide between moments of atmospheric simplicity (“Peruvian Skies”) and dense, Metallica-style riffing (“Pull Me Under”, “Metropolis, Pt. 1”), also satisfying the trainspotters with brief solo spots.

If this all sounds self-serving and po-faced, proof of the existence of a sense of humour arrives in the swapping of instruments for a more than creditable encore of Deep Purple’s “Perfect Strangers”. In short, Dream Theater’s talent knows no bounds.

8/10 Dave Ling