Dream Theater

On three dates, the band play 1999’s Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory in full.

American/Canadian progressive metallers Dream Theater use their latest UK visit to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory – their concept album about a man who visits a hypnotherapist and discovers that in a previous life he’d been a young woman from the 1920s who was brutally murdered – and also their current, fourteenth, studio set Distance Over Time. We catch up with frontman James LaBrie.

Dave Ling: Dream Theater are currently on tour in Brazil. After all these years are you still surprised by the enthusiasm and sheer volume of your South American fans?

James LaBrie: Yeah, we’ve done four shows so far and the band has been talking about the response and their involvement in the show. They sing at the top of their lungs and jump up and down. It’s pretty incredible to come down here and receive such a reaction after twenty years. Those people are uninhibited, and in their own way quite unique. Nobody’s there for the pose, they want to be a part of the show.

DL: Are Dream Theater unfairly accused of being a bit too serious?

JL: Oh, absolutely. That’s always been a very big misconception. People probably assume we’re this bunch of boring, serious, book-reading nerds. And I am one of those, I admit it. [laughs] But if they come to a show they’ll see that we enjoy ourselves and have fun. When I talk to the crowd I’m always goofing around. And even within our music we can let down our hair and experiment in a funny way. Look at ‘Viper King’ [a bonus track from the current album Distance Over Time] – that’s our nod to a band like Deep Purple. People who think that way probably don’t know our band too well.

DL: How are you enjoying playing the group’s conceptual album Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From A Memory in its entirety?

JL: Oh man, it’s amazing. The fans that saw it on the original tour are telling us that we’ve brought that album to another level. As our first conceptual piece, it’s an album that we’re still incredibly fond of, and performing it again feels really, really great.

DL: Do advances in technology now enable the band to present the album live in the way you always intended?

JL: Yeah, that’s very true. The visuals we’re using are spectacular. The combination of Steve Baird, our lighting director for the past twenty-four years, and the video screens has taken things to a whole other level compared to what was possible twenty years ago. I look out at the crowd and it’s obvious that they’re transfixed by what’s going on. All of us in the band have discussed that there are times when we wish we didn’t have to have our backs to the screens. [laughs] Scenes From A Memory takes up part two of the show.

DL: Does the first half vary, or is it set in stone?

JL: There are two songs from the new album that can be swapped around, but we pretty much play the same songs each night. We try to keep things as tight as possible. And we’re shooting a live DVD over both of our nights in London, so it’s going be killer.

DL: What does the rest of this year hold for Dream Theater?

JL: After our tour of Europe we’re off to Asia and the South Pacific rim – Australia, India, Dubai and all over – which will take us to the end of May. At the moment there’s some talk of taking the summer off. It’s possible that we could do something in the fall, though right now that’s up in the air. If there isn’t another leg [of the current tour] then we might decide go back into the studio in late 2020 or early 2021 to start the writing of a new album, but obviously time will tell.

—Dave Ling