Dream Theater – Season’s Greetings, and a Flurry of Side Projects

Dream Theater have made something of a holiday tradition out of their year-end mini-tours, splashing down in a handful of cities and offering their fans a gift from the band – a night of Dream Theater-lite, exploring their roots, offering nods to their favorites, and playing without the structured rigidity of a full-scale tour. For New York City’s Irving Plaza Dec. 29 – the third of four clubs to host the band’s year-end hop, skip and jump – that meant two hours of music, which followed a 90-minute “Director’s Cut” of their current home video, Five Years in a LIVEtime. That’s over 3½ hours of Dream Theater, and with the exception of those who were caught by surprise by the lack of heavy-hitters like ‘Pull Me Under,’ ‘Take the Time’ and ‘Caught in a Web,’ few fans were ready to go home at the end of the night.

“We had planned for this to be acoustic, very intimate, and a close, soft evening,” affirmed vocalist James LaBrie backstage after the show. “Unfortunately, not all of the promoters were advertising it as that.” Even so, there was no room for complaint. On a stage fitted with candles, a sofa, and a life-size cutout of Austin Powers, Japanese B-side ‘Speak to Me’ broke the ice, offering a steady rumble not far from the more radio-friendly strains of U2, a band whose wares were showcased in the encore, when LaBrie, backed by a dead-on accompaniment, fronted a numbing rendition of ‘Bad.’ Almost as inspiring as the cover itself was the response from the crowd, which stood in awed silence.

“Believe it or not, every U2 song we’ve done, we’ve gotten an incredible response. We’ve also done ‘Red Hill Mining Town,’ said LaBrie, who credits U2 frontman Bono as being one of music’s most charismatic and intense presences. Also covered were Rush, in the form of a ‘Different Strings’/’The Analog Kid’/’La Villa Strangiato’ medley, Pink Floyd’s ‘Hey You’ and Led Zeppelin’s ‘Since I’ve Been loving You,’ as well as the traditional holiday classic ‘Oh Holy Night’ as the evening’s closer. “These shows are a good opportunity for us to play covers of songs that we totally relate to, and of bands that influenced us. In this atmosphere, we can toss a few here and there,” the singer continued.

Keyboardist Derek Sherinian gave LaBrie a short rest on the couch, stepping to the mic for a lighthearted dash through Van Halen’s ‘Ice Cream Man’ and ‘Hot For Teacher’ before guitarist John Petrucci shred his stuff through ‘Mean Streets.’ “I always sing in the dressing room when John’s playing Van Halen to warm up, and now they’ve got me doing it onstage,” the keyboardist smiled, laughing as he added, “I’m trying to destroy that perception of Berklee people being pompous, stuffy, and self-important. I resent that, I’ve never been stuffy in my life!”

January provided the band with some time off from Dream Theater, but not from music. Sherinian and bassist John Myung used the month to prepare their side-project Platypus for live dates (including one at NAMM, which will be featured next issue). “It’s an awesome opportunity,” said Sherinian of the quartet, which was Myung’s idea, and is rounded out by King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor and former Dixie Dreg and Winger drummer Rod Morgenstein. “We basically recorded the entire album last February in about two weeks, at Rod’s house in Long Island [New York]. The outfit combines the sound of King’s X with jazz and rock fusion and obvious Beatles influences on their Velvel release, When Pus Comes to Shove (see review in Playback). Still being considered at press time was a tour that would team Platypus with Liquid Tension Experiment, the side project of Petrucci and Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy, who have a sophomore release due in spring. Also on the way from Sherinian is a solo album slated for spring release through Magna Carta Records. Expect a diversion from his hard rock notoriety – “I’ve been practicing a lot and taking more jazz and classical lessons – the album will be very progressive, with no regard for commerce.”

LaBrie completed a solo album of his own in January, also aiming at a spring release. “Musically, it’s progressive and moody,” the singer offered of the yet-untitled quintet – himself, drummer Mike Mangini, guitarist Mike Keneally, bassist Bryan Beller and keyboardist Matt Guillory. “They’re all intelligent players – I had a lot of fun getting to write with other musicians.”

And back on the Dream Theater front? LaBrie said that there are already new ideas floating between the members, and without rushing things, a fall release could be possible. Not like there’s not enough on the table already – between LaBrie’s solo-debut, Platypus and Liquid Tension Experiment, and the phenomenal Once in a LIVEtime and its video companion, there’s more than enough material to satisfy the diehards and attract a few new fans along the way.