2019-2020 tour program essay

As time rolls on, the familiar feels new again.

We cycle back towards the beginning but with the perspective, wisdom, and experience of the journey. In some respects, Dream Theater conjured a similarly cyclical spirit by way of their new album Distance Over Time and the current live production.

Sure, this tour celebrates 20 years of Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory. Of course, its story still certainly beckons a level of hypothesizing and fan detective work that could only happen before the dawn of band social media accounts. Not to mention, it maintains the same requisite mystery, mystique, and marvel that it did in 1999. However, the tour also earmarks the start of a bold new chapter.

Yet to turn the page and to ostensibly leap forward, the progressive metal pioneers had to look back...

Longtime Dream Theater crew scouted out a place in Upstate New York about 132 miles from their native Long Island. The five-acre spot known as the Yonderbarn previously operated as a fully equipped studio, but was completely empty and barren now. Dream Theater certainly had enough gear to transform this place into a de facto creative hub, and that’s exactly what they did as Spring turned to Summer in 2018.

As serendipity would have it, the last time the boys lived together, wrote together, and recorded together was during the sessions for Scenes From a Memory. This time around, the songs didn’t weave a tangled web of time travel, tragedy and second lives though. Rather, the record would pick up no thread other than that of the actual process itself.

For Distance Over Time, a concept wouldn’t serve as the story, but the actual creation itself would.

The members of Dream Theater did what felt natural. They got into a room, plugged in, and just jammed – for hours upon hours. Long jam sessions were bookended by barbecues, bottles of bourbon and wine, and late night bonding over memories and stories – some recollected together and others shared for the first time. It would be fair to say the setting itself doubled as a sixth member for the sessions.

As a result, the music carries the distinct energy of this locale as if bottling a piece of it and committing it to the tracks. Those memories, feelings, and experiences deepen both the lore behind Distance Over Time and also the energy surrounding it. It’s as urgent as anything the band has ever done, because it’s the result of five musicians playing in the moment. That moment would be captured on tape within the album’s ten tracks.

Now, the energy transfers to the stage and the production of this tour, which would simultaneously celebrate the past as it paved the future’s path. Fans enjoy the opportunity to experience the music from Distance Over Time at its purest and most powerful performed live and loud. At the same time, they revisit what will continually be a contender for favorite Dream Theater album, Scenes From a Memory. These nights will come to life in two forms: an emotional theatrical trip on one hand and an energized rock ‘n’ roll gig on the other. Ripe for pondering and headbanging, this might just be the most quintessential Dream Theater tour ever, and you’re here.

Most importantly, it all feels as fresh as ever, whether it’s your first time ever seeing Dream Theater, first time in twenty years, or twentieth in one year.

Distance Over Time and Scenes From a Memory co-exist at a singular nexus in the band’s history. They connect at a cyclical crossroads. Both records were built as the guys cohabitated. Additionally, both make a case for the sheer force of their musical exposition. Simultaneously, they serve as linchpins on two opposite ends of the spectrum Dream Theater cast a shadow over.

These nights might just make you feel like you’re in the Yonderbarn, under the moonlight, intoxicated by the Upstate air, and enmeshed in a brotherhood that only grows stronger over time. You’ll also feel like you’ve fallen into a new place yet again with Dream Theater.

For as familiar as it might be, it’s Dream Theater’s future... and it’s only getting brighter.

— Rick Florino, January 2019