Originally published in Classic Rock magazine (UK) 302 · July 2022
London gig review
By London Wembley Arena
Review1 min read
Dream Theater
The progressive-metal kingpins still at the top of their game.
Having served up a delicious progressive banquet back in 2020 via a 20th-anniversary revisiting of their conceptual masterpiece Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory, this evening Dream Theater have more contemporary matters in mind. Promoting their fifteenth studio album A View From The Top Of The World, the American/Canadian quintet elect to celebrate the flip-side of their oeuvre with a thoroughly bruising – though never anything less than virtuoso – display.
After a third nomination, Dream Theater recently won a Grammy, for the new album’s introductory salvo ‘The Alien’, so no prizes for guessing which song begins the show. ‘The Alien’ is one of several truly epic tunes, with the album’s three-part, 20-minute title track closing the set proper in the most dramatic manner possible. Over more than two hours a mere 10 songs are played, including a short solo piece from keyboard wizard Jordan Rudess.
Enhanced by a stunning visual backdrop, the sound mix is simply off the scale. It’s a shame that some areas of the Arena are curtained off. Oh well, maybe perfectionism just isn’t for everybody.
Speaking as a proud veteran of each of Dream Theater’s British tours, your correspondent can confirm that this was a show to rank among their top five UK performances to date.
—Dave Ling