The main guy of the latter band, Neal Morse, even joined Mike Portnoy on his prog rock project Transatlantic. During the European Transatlantic tour, Pain of Salvation’s Daniel Gildenlow was asked to help them out. Who knows what might happen in the future… So, what about their show? Well, they were scheduled to begin at 8pm. I arrived a little bit before that time and they were already playing. Turned out they began around 7.30pm already.

As you might guess I can’t say much about the show because of that. The songs I saw were ‘Beyond the Pale’ of the latest masterpiece ‘Remedy Lane’. The last song was ‘Inside’ from the second album called ‘One Hour By The Concrete Lake’. What a killer track. Daniel didn’t play the guitar during this one. Which is no surprise if you know the song. The last minute features a complex moment of singing. Daniel totally got into it.

All the guys are into their music and it shows during the live performance which is filled with energy. The backing vocals of bassist (and brother of Daniel) Kristoffer Gildenlow and guitarist Johan Hallgren (who is running and jumping all over the stage) are not simply ‘backing’ vocals. They are a part of the music, they don’t just add to it.

Pain of Salvation’s music is very complex and it takes one a lot of listens to truly comprehend them. If you liked what you’ve seen and heard, make sure to check out all their albums. And get to know a band that has the capacity to do something totally new in the prog metal scene.

Dream Theater
I was somewhat depressed that I missed most of the Pain of Salvation show. I couldn’t wait to see them for the second time. Still, I enjoyed the songs I did see more than I can say. And when the lights went out and Dream Theater got on stage, there were no bad feelings on my mind.

Dream Theater is finally back! It has been well over two years since they released their great work of art ‘Scenes From A Memory’. The tour that followed it turned out to be a big succes. And by the looks of it, the new tour ‘World Tourbulence’ will be even more succesfull. The venues are bigger and almost each show has been sold out now. Including the one in Amsterdam which means 5500 saw Dream Theater give one hell of a show.

Let me begin with saying something about each of the players. From where I was standing (up front) I had a good view on bassist John Myung, the silent man of the group. He doesn’t interact much with the crowd. Instead he lets his bassguitar do that. Damn this guy can play. He might not really stand out, but when you pay good attention to him you can see that Myung is one of the best bassplayers out there. He wants to play as perfect as possible and he sure does that.

After the show was over, you could see how much he does appreciate the fans. A warm smile and applaus from him made sure he’s very aware of what’s going on around him even though he’s totally concentrating on his guitar during the show. What a guy!

Next, Jordan Rudess. What can be said about this one… Without a doubt one of the most technical keyboard players. From jazz, classical piano, orchestral sounds to metal, he can do it all. The new released ‘Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence’ is the second Dream Theater record with Jordan Rudess and the new tour also meant his second tour. He fits in with the rest easily and hopefully he will remain with Dream Theater forever.

On this tour, Jordan uses a keyboard stand which he can use to turn his keyboard around. This meant that everyone in the crowd was able to see him play in different positions which turned out to be very cool.

John Petrucci. Holy shit. It was the fifth time for me to see them live and it was my favorite show yet. Part of this was because of John Petrucci. He played flawless and nailed each and every guitarsolo. My mouth was on the floor the whole time. I think the American G3 tour with guitar legends Joe Satriani and Steve Vai has helped him improve a lot. John Pettruci is a guitar legend already in my eyes. The apprentice has become the teacher…

Do I even need to say something about drummer Mike Portnoy? This guy has totally lost it this time! As always, his drumkit was covered before the show started. When he got on stage, he uncovered it and… whoah. His drumkit was HUGE and it reminded me of the huge drumkit of Terry Bozzio. To use his own words, he had to grow a second ass for this one since he has two seats now! I don’t have to say how much he rules on the drums, since he always does that.

He’s also a big showman, always getting the crowd going. The fans love him and he loves the fans even more if possible. There’s a big chemistry between him and the fans and he knows how to make good use of that. When the show was over, he thanked the Dutch crowd, mentioned how Holland is one of the best places to perform and he thanked Mark Bredius (the webmaster) and the rest of the Dream Theater fanclub which is located in the Netherlands. He held out the famous Dutch flag that says ‘Theater of Dreams’ (the name of the fanclub) which was sown next to the American flag. A nice gesture!

Last member is of course singer James LaBrie. A couple of years ago, he had a rough time singing the older songs. During the last two years, his voice has improved majorly. His solo work (the two Mullmuzzler albums) and other projects (Leonardo) must have helped with that. Tonight he was once again incredible. His voice cracked up a few times at first, but it didn’t take long before his voice was the way he wanted it to be. He sang all the old songs like it was a piece of cake.

Which brings me to the setlist. The show started with the heaviest Dream Theater track to date, ‘The Glass Prison’. This song was inspired by a Pantera concert the guys visited the day before they recorded it. It has all the agression. Over 10 minutes of pure prog metal at its best! Other songs from the new album were ‘Misunderstood’ and ‘The Great Debate’. The latter one had all the samples that are on the album and was performed great. I think this one could become a Dream Theater classic.

The biggest surprise of the night was the stunning live performance of a true classic; ‘The Killing Hand’ from the very first Dream Theater record ‘When Dream and Day Unite’. James did an excellent job on this one. The middle section had been rearranged. It sounded very Pink Floydish to me, it could have been a cover.

Another surprise was ‘Burning My Soul’. Well, maybe that wasn’t the surprise, but the sudden performance of ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ was! Petrucci once again showed his skills with a great guitar solo during this (in my opinion) underestimated song. After that the song continued in the last section of ‘Burning My Soul’.

Speaking of guitarsolo’s, my favorite one was probably during ‘Lies’. Also from the ‘Awake’ album were ‘6:00’ and the epic ‘Scarred’. A Dream Theater concert isn’t complete without at least one song from the ‘Images and Words’ album. ‘Surrounded’ was yet again a nice surprise. Dream Theater’s best known song ‘Pull Me Under’ ended the show.

But of course, they had to come back after a roaring applaus from the audience. And they sure came back! ‘Home’ was the first encore. Fifth time I’ve seen that song live and it still rules. Even though James forgot the lines at one point! You should have seen the look on Petrucci’s face. It only proves that they’re still humans. If you’ve ever watched the Dream Theater DVD or if you’ve ever been to one of their shows, you might know how magical ‘The Spirit Carries On’ is.

Many people held out their cigarettelighters and the guys were truly impressed by this. The show could have ended right here, but no. There was still one song left; ‘Take The Time’! James stood behind Mike at first and he let Mike sing the first few lines. It was funny to see and hear him sing that and how he at the end of the lines said ‘James’ real quick since he had to take it over. James put up his thumb to Mike for doing a good job and once again the crowd cheered and applauded.

I haven’t even mentioned yet that they played two Rush covers! Parts of ‘By-Tor & The Snow Dog’ were played and so was the ending of ‘2112’. Another highlight was when Jordan had to repeat on his keyboard what Petrucci played on his guitar, supported by grooving drum and basswork from Mike and Myung. You could see how well these outstanding musicians can play together.

Dream Theater has been my biggest inspiration for getting to love music so much. Seeing them live once again (for 2,5 hours!!!) reminded me why they have. Thanks guys!

(Review: Frank Alders
Pics: Sebastien Sam)