“This is history, tonight” says front man James Labrie of Dream Theater as metal fans from across the globe gather at London’s O2 to witness what could be the biggest event in prog since Pink Floyd reformed for a one-off show back in 2006. The triumphant return of drummer Mike Portnoy is cause for celebration and this momentous show will undoubtedly be referenced as a landmark moment in Dream Theater history.
The venue filled, we all had a little sing-along to ‘Rooster’ by Alice in Chains and then the Psycho theme played, much like on the Chaos in Motion tour in 2007, which killed the lights and summoned the band. It’s hard to fully express just how emotional the first minute of the show was as a long-time Dream Theater fan but once the opening notes of ‘Metropolis Part 1: The Miracle and The Sleeper’ began, one thing was abundantly clear: Mike Portnoy was exactly where he was supposed to be.
Given this was a 40th-anniversary set, this whole set was three hours of greatest hit (and 17 other pretty cool songs). Whatever your favourite era of Dream Theater is, this set was full of it. As someone who spent the month leading up to this show predicting what would be on the setlist, I stand thoroughly satisfied by the inclusion of fan favourites like ‘Constant Motion’ and even a few Mike Mangini-era tracks in the form of ‘This is the Life’ and ‘Barstool Warrior’.
It will be interesting to see how drummers will compare and contrast the nuances of Mangini and Portnoy’s approaches to these songs but from a cursory glance, they’re both incredible drummers that have done amazing things with the Dream Theater sound. While some have criticised Mangini, the man did wonders for Dream Theater and got them through a dark time that could have signalled the end so for that, we can only thank him for his contributions and wish him well in his future endeavours.
Everyone in the band sounds perfectly in sync, it’s almost like the band has been playing together for years behind the scenes. The on stage chemistry is still brilliant and it was a heartwarming moment seeing James Labrie and Portnoy give each other a fist bump at the end of ‘Strange Deja Vu,’ it’s wonderful to see them all together again. The bangers continue with the devastatingly heavy classic, ‘The Mirror’. Surely there will be drummers out there more learned than I who will be able to talk about the meter changing during the intro, I wouldn’t even know if that’s accurate to describe it but you can feel the band doing something really interesting and engaging with the rhythm section. By this point, I’d guessed they’d play ‘6:00’ based on how much I’ve seen Portnoy play the fill on ‘Drumeo’ but there’s plenty of time for that in the future.
The first set was largely metal with the breakneck intensity of ‘Panic Attack’ filling the set before slowing down for the arena rock majesty of ‘Hollow Years,’ the latter of which included one of John Petrucci’s best guitar solos of the night. Signalled by John Myung’s bass harmonics that could shatter glass, ‘As I Am’ was the closer of the set and you could make the argument that this is Dream Theater’s best song. James Labrie is utilising his mid-range metal voice and making use of as much of the stage as he can as he stomps in between all the instrumentalists while spinning with his mic stand. It’s a tremendously heavy track that should be on the playlists of all prog metal fans.
The second was for the prog fans, the brand new single ‘Night Terror’ sounds exactly like it does on the record and hearing that percussive picking sound on the solo through gigantic speakers is magical. ‘Under a Glass Moon’ is one of the best solos ever written and it’s always a treat to see Petrucci rip through it, easily worth the price of admission to see a group of legends perform something this grandiose in a gigantic venue with so many other proggers, which actually included Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree.
The set included a rendition of ‘Vacant,’ performed beautifully by James Labrie. It genuinely feels like he’s accepted his limitations as a vocalist and made an effort to find the most tasteful solution, it’s not always possible but with that said, he’d have time for a break as the band started to play ‘Stream of Consciousness’ for the first time in 20 years. If you were to look up any best guitar solos of the 2000s list, you’d likely find at least 5 entries included on this set: ‘As I Am,’ ‘The Spirit Carries On,’ ‘Under a Glass Moon’ but the most underrated inclusion is ‘Stream of Consciousness’. Petrucci’s solo work is blinding and his work trading off with Jordan Rudess, who also performs magnificently on this track that mere mortals wouldn’t dare attempt.
I had spent the entire set trying to work out what the epic would be. It would have to be a Portnoy epic and it would have to be something special and as the time grew closer and the lights went down, Jordan Rudess took to the continuum and everyone in the venue collectively lost their damn minds as they clocked what it was. For the first time in full, in 18 years: ‘Octavarium’.
Spanning a gargantuan 24 minutes and boasting some of the most mind-bending musicianship to come out of the modern prog scene this century, the band perfectly replicated a track that seasoned musicians have struggled with since its release. Everyone sounds perfect on this track, even James Labrie is bringing out his A game as he brings an almost Megadeth-inspired snarl following his serene vocals of “Someone Like Him”. John Petrucci’s alternate picking runs sound brilliantly percussive as he hits the speed of light. As a side note, John Petrucci putting his foot up on a box as if to say “Something crazy is about to happen now” is one of my favourite moments of the show.
John Myung smooth bass lines fill out the slower segments and add a much needed groove as he matches Portnoy’s energy. Jordan Rudess would also provide this much needed sense of foreboding dread with his continuum before harmonising with Petrucci later in the song. ‘Intervals’ is almost indescribable, the intensity the band put into this short section is phenomenal. This song couldn’t have been performed without Portnoy’s backing vocals as Labrie gives one of the best performances I’ve ever seen him do. The song ended with that scream “trapped inside this octavarium”, followed by one of Petrucci’s best guitar solos. I thought to myself “How the hell do you even follow that?” knowing I’d felt the most transcendent live music experience of my life. I can die now.
The encore included ‘Home’ and ‘The Spirit Carries On,’ a study in contrast. ‘Home’ has a dark and heavy drop D riffing with one of the best wah riffs outside of Metallica’s discography. It’s a winding bit of aggression that had to be included in the set considering how long we’ve waited for Portnoy to come Home. ‘The Spirit Carries On’ was an emotional moment, James sounds fantastic at times, the band is on fire, the whole building is full of phone lights and it’s just an overwhelming sight that you’d be hard pressed not to tear up at. ‘Pull Me Under’ ended the night and while this may be an overplayed track, it’s wonderful to hear it again with the classic lineup.
It’s hard not to feel emotional about the band’s 40th anniversary signalling the return of someone we’d previously thought would never come back. I’d spent most of the night in tears knowing I’d be one of the thousands of lucky people in London who would get to say, for the first time on stage; welcome home, Mike Portnoy.
