Venue: YouTube Theater, Inglewood, CA, USA

Date: 27/07/2023

Support: Devin Townsend, Animals As Leader

Prior to parting ways with Mike Portnoy in 2010, Dream Theater spent two years curating adventurous tour packages under the moniker Progressive Nation. This saw the group pause their marathon ‘evening with’ performances to share the stage with Opeth, Between The Buried And Me and Zappa Plays Zappa.

After Portnoy’s exit, though, it seemed as if the concept was toast – until this year, when Dream Theater announced the inaugural Dreamsonic tour of North America, which they pledged would be a “recurring musical event that will deliver history-making nights of amazing music for many years to come”. A lofty (and verbose!) goal to be sure, but given the two support acts who received tour invites – virtuoso trio Animals As Leaders and the inimitable Devin Townsend – one that seemed tantalisingly possible.

Tonight’s crowd continue to file in midway through Animals As Leaders’ opening set, causing Tosin Abasi – looking impressively buff, having apparently taken to John Petrucci’s manly diet of meaty meat – to quip at one point, “I hope everyone’s finding their seats okay.” The group’s rhythmic, chunky take on heavy prog is more riff-driven than many of their instrumental peers, but it’s still not enough to escape the same thought that applies when watching similarly gifted acts – the talent is obviously there in spades, but a hook or two certainly wouldn’t hurt. Nonetheless, it’s impressive to watch Abasi sweep-pick prodigiously on ‘CAFO’, but it’s Matt Garstka’s percussive flurry at the end of the song (on par with his earlier standout performance during ‘Physical Education’) that leads to a standing ovation – at least from those already in their seats.

“The idea tonight is to try to be happy,” Devin Townsend tells the crowd during a typically sardonic introduction, during which he also playfully mentions “yak’s balls” (the first of several testicular references). Indeed, it’s impossible not to smile over the course of his 55-minute set, which feels like the culmination of the charismatic Canadian’s three-plus-decade musical metamorphosis from Steve Vai-nurtured curiosity into one of the genre’s most adventurous and visionary talents. Interestingly, fellow Vai alumnus Mike Keneally flanks his left on guitar and keyboards, an endorsement that carries more weight than any critical praise. Highlights include ‘Dimensions’, which kicks off with Townsend interacting with his $400 “Uma Theremin”, and the cinematic and dynamic ‘Deadhead’, the lone Devin Townsend Band song in tonight’s setlist. While banter about swollen genitalia admittedly isn’t for everyone, Townsend succeeds in demonstrating that prog and humour aren’t always mortal enemies, and that it’s not a crime for the genre not to take itself so bloody seriously.

In their 30-plus-year career, Dream Theater have set an impossibly high bar not only for others to be judged against – hello, Grammy Award! – but also themselves. Much as it’s not entirely fair to judge their latest oeuvres against milestones such as Images And Words and Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes From A Memory, it’s similarly unfair to judge the band’s live performances against those by their younger selves. While James LaBrie might no longer be able to still hit the stratospheric high notes of ‘Pull Me Under’ or ‘Caught In A Web’, seeing Dream Theater perform live remains akin to watching one of art’s great masters paint in real time.

As they blitz through those 90s classics and others from the 21st century (including a goosebump-worthy ‘The Count Of Tuscany’), it’s more than clear that the band have become elder statesmen of the genre they pioneered, but while they’re still the reigning kings, they’re admirably using Dreamsonic to help nurture its future. To that end, the encore performance of ‘Act II: Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On’ – still the most poignant song in their catalogue – sees them welcome Abasi and Townsend back to the stage. Better yet, both are given spotlight moments, with Townsend’s chameleonic vocals adding both gritty heft and soaring power. As Petrucci finishes the song’s knockout solo, Abasi and Townsend imitate Wayne’s World’s “We’re not worthy” bows of worship, but their inclusion here proves otherwise.

—Clay Marshall