Herman Li interview (excerpt)

Mike: And lastly, name a band that has never let you down.

Herman: Ah, wow. I would say it’s got to be Dream Theater.

Mike: Alright!

Herman: I saw them on this tour, for the The Astonishing, and I thought it was just so amazing. Probably the best show I’ve ever seen them play. The whole thing was incredible. I think the album is amazing. How they managed to come up with a double disc like that? If you give it time and listen to it, I think that is probably one of the best albums they’ve done. And the live show was incredible. And I really enjoyed the show even more because they told people to NOT film the show. It was so great not having to watch the band around people sticking their cameras and phones in the air and ruin the experience.

Mike: You know, that is very true. I saw The Astonishing in Toronto. And I went in not having played that new album at all. And I was worried that they were only going to play the double album and not play their back catalog of music at all. And I walked away feeling the same way. I thought it was a pretty amazing evening. I certainly have played The Astonishing a lot more since experiencing it live.

Herman: I must have heard that album a hundred times before I went to the shows. So that was easier. I just thought “My God”. I couldn’t believe the video and the live presentation being so perfectly in time. That has really inspired me to improve the Dragonforce show. We have videos and things like that, but seeing the way Dream Theater did it, I felt I’d learned something. I actually said to John Petrucci that I was going to get really geeky send him an email and ask him how these videos were done and how they approached them.