The New York group performs successfully for the second time at the National Auditorium; offer 150 minutes of music

By Juan Carlos García

Mexico City (March 5, 2002) Dream Theater raised the curtain on its dreams once again in Mexico City. On Sunday night, before almost 10,000 spectators who attended the National Auditorium, they selected a repertoire that showed their virtuosity on the progressive rack, even though their sound engineer was not the best of their allies.

With Mike Portnoy on drums and John Petrucci on guitar, the group formed in New York stated that the leadership does not necessarily fall on the person who sings, as they both excelled during the almost three hours that the show lasted.

With only a few empty seats, the forum brought together the most select fans of non-commercial rock and with classic themes from its more than 10 years of history, Dream Theater managed to involve its audience in an act of auditory aesthetics in the hands of musicians consecrated to the alternative genre, as Petrucci himself defines the field in which they operate, after explaining that, although they do neo-progressive, he explains that music becomes “alternative” from the moment it is not part of the commercial circuit and does not have all the presence in the mass media as the best known.

With “The Glass Prison”, the first song of the night and their new album, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, the lineup anticipated what would be more than 150 minutes of concert: a mixture of natural capacity for the rack with a monotony discrete generated by the bases of the themes, which seem at repetitive moments.

After the song that lasts 13 minutes and 53 seconds, Portnoy and Petrucci, along with James LaBrie, Jordan Rudess and John Myung greeted the Mexicans who, after all, were not disappointed because there were euphoric, calm, dedicated and peaceful moments.

“Strange Deja Vu”, “Burning My Soul” and “The Killing Hand” were other songs that with each phrase of LaBrie before the microphone, aroused the most fervent applause and attention from the audience.

With sound effects in some arrangements of the guitar and keyboards, as well as Portnoy’s powerful drums, Dream Theater gave the extra flavor to its representation, which had nothing but instrumentation and talent on stage, because the videos on screen or visual work was almost nil.

They did not make great fuss or give great speeches, the five of the clan dedicated themselves to playing for those who wanted to surrender to their inspiration, and they did so chanting “Through My Words” and “Fatal Tragedy”.

The second time that the group arrived at the Paseo de la Reforma property, there were the hardened fans who would have wanted an endless night, but also those who, after two hours and a face, chose to leave.

“Blind Faith” and “The Great Debate”, from their most recent album, were the ones that gave the show freshness, although no one could resist the melodious interpretation of “Another Dimension”.

In some moments, the sound seemed not to matter to the crowd, but in others, it sounded so stale that the same vocalist waved his hands and asked for applause to counteract the bad effect.

There were just a few colored lights, some greetings in Spanish, and various guitar and bass changes in front of the floodlights during the show, which saved the best for last with “Lines In the Sand” and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.”

The thanks were mutual, between artists and public, when the last two songs were played with the maximum delivery of the artists. “The Spirit Carries On” and “Take the Time” announced the closing of the curtain definitively.