Dream Theater

Wembley Arena, London

Prog metal masters extend their appeal

Rating: 8 out of 10

For Dream Theater, their aptly named 2011 album A Dramatic Turn Of Events was more successful than the band could possibly have hoped. Debuting without Mike Portnoy on drums brought a first Grammy nomination and the arrival of newcomer Mike Mangini helping to transform DT into what singer James LaBrie has called "a more free-thinking, positive-spirited, camaraderie-based band than it’s ever been." But how would they fare after the honeymoon period? Last year’s self-titled 12th album wasn’t as universally popular as its predecessor but tonight at Wembley it’s business as usual for the US/Canadian prog-metal behemoth, now headlining this place for a fourth time. Sure, a small section of the venue is curtained off but this remains the perfect setting for Dream Theater’s masterclass in arena rock presentation. This is not a concert for the fainthearted or casual fan. They play for a whopping two and three-quarter hours, many of their songs lasting for eight, nine or, in the case of the new record’s, five-part ‘Illumination Theory’, 22 minutes. However, for all of the group’s jaw-dropping musical expertise there’s also melody and another of the new album’s defining moments, ‘Along For The Ride’, sternly rebukes those who say that Dream Theater cannot do short, commercial songs.

It really is a beautifully presented show, with cinematic back projections, lasers and, best of all, amazing, pinpoint-sharp sound. If someone dropped a plectrum, you’d have heard it – quite a feat at a cattle shed like Wembley.

The set is broken down into two halves, the first of which being based upon new material. During its second portion they focus on the Awake album, which is now 20 years old, using an encore to revisit a large chunk of their celebrated conceptual piece Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory, itself now a decade and a half old. During a 15-minute interval, the video screens show a variety of hilarious spoof adverts, doctored video footage and goofy crank calls that suggest that despite their muso-geekiness, though they hide it well, Dream Theater do have a sense of humour after all.

—Dave Ling