Originally published in Arizona Republic newspaper · March 2002
Dream Theater Strives To Surprise
News2 min read
Michael Senft
Dream Theater fans in Barcelona, Spain, received a special treat on Feb. 19. During its concert, the veteran prog-metal band performed the Metallica album Master of Puppets in its entirety.
Of course, covers have been part of Dream Theater’s repertoire for several years. The band’s 1998 live album, Once in a Livetime, featured snippets from such classic rock tunes as Freebird sprinkled throughout the band’s prog epics, and in 1995 DT surprised fans at a London fan-club gig by performing an entire show of members’ favorite cover tunes, from Tori Amos to Led Zeppelin – with such guests as guitarist Steve Howe from Yes joining the band. But Barcelona was the first time the band actually performed someone else’s album in full.
“It was an idea I had,” drummer Mike Portnoy says in a recent interview. “Any time we’re doing a two-night stand in the same city, at the same venue, on the second night we’re going to cover an album in its entirety, in addition to our regular set. So the fans got two hours of Dream Theater, plus Master of Puppets.
“I’ve already got the next five albums we’ll cover figured out, but I’m not telling what they are. It’s a surprise.”
Dream Theater probably won’t do anything that unusual when it performs in Phoenix tonight. But even without a Metallica album, DT finds ways to make its Valley stops special. The last time the band visited, in August 2000, Portnoy surprised the audience by joining opening act Spock’s Beard for a number. He came onstage wearing a Kiss mask, a tribute to one of his favorite bands.
“In my heart, I’m an 8-year-old kid with Kiss posters on four walls, going to concerts and collecting bootlegs,” he says. “When I look in the mirror, I see that kid.”
On this tour, however, Dream Theater will not have an opening act. With the critically acclaimed double CD Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence hitting stores in late January, the band has an abundance of material to feature on this tour. Expect three-plus hours of fleet-fingered keyboard solos, furious fretwork and sweeping operatic vocals from the New York quintet. And unlike the last tour, when the set was almost exclusively drawn from the concept album Scenes From a Memory, Dream Theater is planning to include plenty of classic tracks.
“On this tour we’re doing two sets every night, with an intermission. And every night we’re doing completely different sets,” Portnoy says.