Dream Theater

SEC Armadillo, Glasgow

23/02/2020

U.S. prog-metallers relive Scenes From A Memory

Rating: 3 out of 5 (Good)

The Dream Theater live experience too often finds itself caught between prog-rock and a hard place. Although the Boston quintet’s virtuoso compositions hinge on their trademark metallic edge, their meticulous approach to performance tends to feel too sterile to ever really satisfy the horn-throwing masses. Beneath the grand, tiered roof of the SEC Armadillo, however, with 2,000-odd fans perched on the edge of their upholstered seats and a video-laden production stacked several layers deep, they find the sweet spot between skilful showing-off and absorbing theatricality. Forgoing support, we get a 40 minute ‘Act One’, with fresh cuts ‘A Nightmare To Remember’ and ‘Pale Blue Dot’ showcasing their most serrated and epic tendencies to dazzling effect . It’s after an interval, as they pile into a (slightly belated) 20th anniversary run-through of sprawling 1999 masterpiece Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory, that things really take off, mind. Delving into themes as complex as past-life regression and cyclical reincarnation, everything from ‘Overture 1928’ to ‘Finally Free’ takes Glasgow on a transcendental trip. And as head-smashing encore ‘At Wit’s End’ brings things to an almighty conclusion, it feels like, tonight. DT have rocked their way to victory.

—Sam Law