concert reviews page 2

On Friday my gal and I caught a train to San Francisco to see Dream Theater. I have never been to the Warfield although I own recordings that have been made there. This is a classic scallop shell theater that holds about 1500 folks. It used to be a movie house but now its one of the best rock 'n roll venues in the city.
It was damn cold in the city, and a good-sized line formed up to be let in. This neighborhood is where there are many strip clubs and other funky shops... Easy to enjoy canniboids too...!
As soon as I got in I ordered whiskey and tequila! We arrived into our seats about five seconds before the band came on. There were no opening acts. While we ordered drinks and were escorted to our seats, the stage boomed Dream Theater medley on sound track and three movie screens showed a hodgepodge of documentary types of footage and psychedelic visuals.
It got quiet when the stage went dark and the murmur of the crowd built to loud cheers when the spot lights came on while the drummer climbed up to his kit that stood atop a large riser. The guitarist made his way to the front of the stage to the right were he stayed for the whole show. The keyboardist also hopped up to his riser that had a large keyboard mounted on a podium-like stand that could rotate 180º. The singer came out and said hello to San Francisco. Then the long-haired bassist sprinted out and took his place in the stage front and center. The plaster reverberated with the ominous drone of their Sabbath-like intro to "As I Am," the crowd surged with hollering energy and the music built up into a massive wall, crushing all before it with the slamming chords and the song just took off. Very impressive. They all wore black, some leather and overall understated fashion for a rock-band.
Being new to Dream Theater I cannot place all songs correctly with their respective albums, but they opened with "As I Am" and closed with an encore of "In The Name of God." In-between was stuff from Falling Into Infinity, Awake and some unknowns to me. Their set had hardly any breaks with the songs running together in a seamless fashion. They played for 90 minutes and then there was an intermission. Then another 90 minute block. Three quarters of the show was from "Train Of Thought."
I was surprised at the basic and normal stage setup. I thought they would have sound booths, stacks of keyboards, specialty equipment and do-dads all about, but they reproduced their music with the basics. Truly astounding, because the whole concert was a double onslaught of harmonizing vocals and musical synchronicity that washed over everybody in massive waves without pause.
I saw a small maush-pit near the front of stage, Ha! People were definitely banging their heads that night. During the show, the three movie screens, above and behind the players showed visual references from "Train Of Thought" and other cool artistic motifs. The experience was all music though, with each player highlighted at certain points and each delivering with enthusiastic professionalism. The tunes that they do are so full, and cover such a wide gamut of style, all I can say is that the show was like their albums, only enhanced by the live experience-absolutely no disappointments...this is a band of extraordinary talent and depth and they seemed to really enjoy being on stage. Do yourself a favor and check 'em out, you won't believe your ears!