Well, Aaron (a co-worker of mine) and I went to the Dream Theater, Queensryche and Fates Warning concert last night. We ran into some heavy rush hour traffic when we got down to Cincy. It took us 40 minutes to move 5 miles on I71.
We ended up getting to Annie's a little before 7pm and Fates Warning was already on stage—which sucks cause the ticket said they go on at 7pm. By the time we got in to the the stage area, we only go to see about 2 minutes of their last song. They were off the stage by 7:20 or so. Although I got to hear a number of there songs while waiting in line to get in, I was disappointed not to see them. One of the main reasons I really wanted to see this show was to see Frank Aresti back with the band and to see Nick Di'Virgio (of Spock's Beard) playing Mark Zonder's drum parts. Anyway, they sounded really good—Ray's voice was as strong as ever. (Although I'm didn't like the dyed green hair...)
Queensryche came on next and they were a pleasant surprise. They only played one song from the post "Empire" area, which is what they opened up with—it's a tune on the new album. They sounded pretty decent, but Mike Stone can't even hold DeGarmo's jock strap. He really massacred Chris' guitar solos. With DeGarmo back in the band, I was hoping he was on tour with them. Stone didn't play any of DeGarmo's solos correctly. When you've listen to the album Mindcrime as much as I have (and most QR fans have,) it's like blasphemy not to stick to playing the solos note for note.
QR played a lot of really great tunes. My only real complaints were w/Tate using his "DJ voice" when talking with the crowd and of course with Mike Stone's guitar playing.
Dream Theater came on last. They were fantastic. I think that was the tightest I've ever heard them. They were dead on all night. James looks like he's lost some weight and toned up, and it sounded like his voice has benefitted from whatever exercise he's doing. His voice was really strong last night. These guys are so awesome live. It's unbelievable how tight they are. When they did Pull Me Under, they kept speeding up and slowing down, like you were speeding/slowing down a turn table. It was really incredible how tight they stayed while doing this—they did it subtly as well. Those guys all just kick ass.
Anyway, here's the set list from the best that I can recall:
Fates Warning:
Queensryche:
Dream Theater:
Dream Theater then came back on stage with Queensryche and they played the following songs together. Considering how many musicians were playing on the stage, they were unbelievably tight.
Dream Theater/Queensryche Encore:
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