Originally published in press release · 1998
Dream Theater
News2 min read
James LaBrie – Vocals
John Myung – Bass
John Petrucci – Guitars
Mike Portnoy – Drums, Percussion
Derek Sherinian – Keyboards
Dream Theater are calling Once In A Livetime, the fifth album from the Long Island legends, the ultimate gift to their fans. The double live opus, recorded in Paris in June of this year. will be accompanied by the long awaited home video, 5 Years In A Livetime, that features rare footage of the band taken over the last five years.
“I’m a Dream Theater fan myself,” laughs the group’s co-founder, drummer Mike Portnoy. “So I know what they are looking for in terms of material from us at this point in our careers. I follow all the DT websites very closely, and I remember the bands that I followed, and the kind of stuff I wanted to see from them. This was really a labor of love for everyone in the band.” Dream Theater’s fans are a unique breed throughout the rock world. The group’s epic storytelling and breathtaking musicianship inspires the kind of audience that knows each guitar lick, collects every set list, trading secret factoids about the band throughout computer screens on the myriad of DT sites around the globe. It was a rare bond that formed from the very start. From the group’s 1992 breakthrough release, Images And Words, which featured their hit “Pull Me Under,” to 1997’s critically acclaimed Falling Into Infinity, Dream Theater has maintained a delicate balance of passionate playing and thought provoking, literate lyrics that transcend the hard rock genre. Once In A Livetime is the perfect DT time capsule, capturing forever the essence of the band’s charisma and their raw, unbridled, live prowess.
“A live Dream Theater show is really the only way to understand and experience what this band is all about,” says Portnoy. “Besides actually getting to see us play, you become part of a society or a secret club which is exclusive to all our great fans, who have become in a way, absolute fanatics. The songs represent a spectrum of our ten year recording career, as well. I think we struck a great balance between the real popular songs and cult favorites.”
The songs included on the double CD were culled from the final headlining show of their “Touring Into Infinity Tour.” The group showcases such classic tunes as “Pull Me Under,” “Hollow Years,” and a four part rendition of one of their most requested songs, the epic “Change Of Seasons.”
The home video, 5 Years In A Livetime, is the ultimate companion piece to the record, including rare footage from fan club shows, and exclusive backstage footage from behind the scenes of the band’s 1994-1995 “Waking Up The World” Tour, as well as their more recent “Touring Into Infinity” world tour. The video, sure to be a collector’s item, also includes never before seen footage of rare studio recording sessions with the band.
“You get the best of both Dream Theater worlds here,” says Portnoy. “Great underground stuff, and in many ways we are still an underground band, and you get the complexities and ‘progressive’ aspect that makes the band so unique. We’ve never cared about trends. To our fans we are the only band that matters. This is a way of letting them know how much they matter to us.”