Originally published in Arizona Republic newspaper · March 2002
3 Reasons To See Dream Theater
News1 min read
Michael Senft
A decade of constant recording and touring is paying off for Dream Theater. Its critically acclaimed album, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, debuted among Billboard’s Top 50 albums, and the band recently completed a sold out tour of Europe. Now the progressive-metal veterans from New York City open their U.S. tour with a gig at the Web Theatre on Thursday. Here are three reasons to catch the show.
1 Prog rock is cool again – Thanks to Grammy wins and critical acclaim for Tool and Radiohead, the oft-maligned genre is making a comeback. Dream Theater has unapologetically blended technical virtuosity and bombast into potent prog sound for more than a decade, and critics suddenly are noticing.
2 Virtuosity – Fans of prog rock and metal are always concerned about the instrumental prowess of a band. Guitarist John Petrucci joined the ax-handling elite when he toured with G3 last year and Mike Portnoy has topped Modern Drummer magazine’s best drummer poll for seven consecutive years.
3 Surprises – Dream Theater is known to throw a few surprises into its live shows, trying to make each one special. During DT’s Web Theatre gig in August 2000, Portnoy joined opening act Spock’s Beard dressed as a member of KISS. And at the last show of its European tour two weeks ago, the band performed Metallica’s Master of Puppets album in its entirety.