Dream Theater Plans New, Revamped DVDs

Despite being off the road, Dream Theater has another opportunity for fans to see the progressive metal act in a live setting. Two previously released video collections will be packaged as a double-DVD and arrive in stores July 13 via Rhino Home Video, while a DVD of new concert material is due in the fall.

Tentatively scheduled for an October release is a three-CD/two-DVD document of the band’s April 26 show at Tokyo’s Budokan Hall, according to drummer Mike Portnoy.

“Images and Words: Live in Tokyo” and “Five Years in a LIVEtime” comprise the double-DVD. Originally released in 1993 and 1998, respectively, as a set the DVDs contain more than three hours of footage that has been remastered in Dolby 5.1 surround sound.

“Our fans have been asking about it for years,” drummer Mike Portnoy says of reissuing the longform “Tokyo” and “LIVEtime” videos. “I think anything that’s been on home video in the past on VHS is slowly starting to be re-released on DVD. It’s inevitable. We’re glad it’s finally happening, because we been wanting to get it done for many years.”

“Tokyo” captured the band when it performed in the Japanese city during its 1993 Music in Progress world tour. It also boast three videos from the band’s 1992 breakthrough album, “Images and Words,” interviews and behind-the scenes footage.

“LIVEtime” boasts live performances captured during the 1994-95 Waking Up the World and 1997-98 Touring Into Infinity tours. The disc is rounded out by three more videos and studio films reflecting the making of the Dream Theater albums “Awake” and “Falling Into Infinity.”

“It’s kind of interesting hearing our take now on a lot of the stuff that was, in some cases, over a decade old,” Portnoy says of new commentary the band recorded earlier this year for the reissues. “We did them right before we filmed the Budokan DVD. So we were in the same place with the same fans, but 11 years later.”

“The thing that struck us the most was just [our] hair -- it was unbelievable that we looked the way we used to look and dress the way we dressed,” he says with a laugh. “We’ve become completely different people in the past 11 years.”

Despite a 20-year career, the six videos included in the “Tokyo/LIVEtime” set are all the band has made. “I think it makes sense for a band like ours [that] can’t count on MTV play,” Portnoy muses. It’s kind of pointless to spend $100,000 to make a promotional video that nobody’s gonna see.”

“We would rather take a budget like that and put it towards a home video or a DVD,” he adds, “something that the fans can actually own and have something to show for it.”

Dream Theater is taking most of the summer off from its Train of Thought world tour, with plans to support Yes on the road beginning in September.