Venue: Terrace Theater, Long Beach, CA, USA

Date: 05/10/25

It’s rare enough for a band to endure for more than four decades. It’s rarer yet to find one still making music that ranks among the top tier of their catalogue, and for whom it wouldn’t rate as a disappointment if they devoted nearly half of their concert performances to spotlighting fresh material over the classics.

Then again, Dream Theater have never done things by the book, so why start now? The path of least resistance after reuniting with drummer Mike Portnoy would surely be to roll out ‘Pull Me Under’ and ‘The Spirit Carries On’ every night and ride off into the sunset together. Instead, the group – currently in the midst of their 40th-anniversary tour – not only released one of the most vital records of their career earlier this year in Parasomnia, but subsequently challenged themselves to perform the “thematic concept album” live in its entirety. Naturally, this being Dream Theater, they manage to pack another 90 minutes of material into their nearly three-hour performance tonight, which features their most impressive North American live production to date.

The cinematic presentation of Parasomnia – which mixes lasers, smoke cannons and old-school stage props with vivid video-screen accompaniments – suits the album’s material perfectly. At times, it recalls the group’s front-to-back performances of their 1999 album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From A Memory, albeit with far better technology. But strip away the bells and whistles and you’re left with the music, and, with the exception of 2003’s Train Of Thought, Dream Theater have never sounded heavier or hungrier than they do on ‘Midnight Messiah’ or ‘Dead Asleep’. The former features an irresistible groove and a thrashy chorus that makes it feel like a pumped-up version of longtime live standard ‘As I Am’, while the latter lumbers its way into a sneering, lip-curling riff that belies its title.

It’s difficult to call out specific musical highlights along the way, as the album’s material features a number of hyperspeed solos by John Petrucci and myriad jaw-dropping duels between him and keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Perhaps most impressive, though, is how comfortable the band seem to be together, and how fluidly Portnoy and his typically over-the-top triple-bass drum kit have fitted right back in.

Credit where credit’s due to vocalist James LaBrie as well. While he hasn’t always been the most consistent live performer, tonight he sounds just like the record – the highest praise a singer can receive. Although it’s encouraging to hear how the top end of his range has improved, the moodier ‘Bend The Clock’ sees him convey a wounded vulnerability that packs even more of an emotional punch than his soaring highs.

The 20-minute ‘The Shadow Man Incident’ closes the first act of tonight’s show with a kitchen-sink performance that includes creepy video footage, a rumba-like midsection and a giant inflatable monster. If the show ended then and there, fans would have got their money’s worth – but when the band return after a brief intermission, the riches continue. ‘The Enemy Inside’ is the lone inclusion from the Mike Mangini era, but its performance tonight is just as inspired as the rest of the set. It’s also great to see the group resurrect ‘Peruvian Skies’ and its clever nods to Pink Floyd and Metallica, while the epic outro of ‘Take The Time’ – peppered by Petrucci’s most heroic gonzo solo of the night, as well as a bucketlist cry from Portnoy of, “Scream for me, Long Beach!” – is proof that DT could moonlight as the best jam band on the planet if they chose to.

Tonight’s encore is the ultimate cherry on top – the seven-part, seize-the-day epic ‘A Change Of Seasons’, performed in its 23-minute entirety. It’s always a delicate dance for veteran acts to find the right balance of old and new, but ‘...Seasons’ complements Parasomnia superbly – the rare rosebud that continues to flourish.

—Clay Marshall