Iron Maiden and Dream Theater - 6/17/2010
Concert Review

Release year: 0
Reviewed by Crash

Today is the day… I said to myself. Today I will meet Mike Portnoy. This was the main attraction of the day. After all, I had already seen Dream Theater five times prior to this and it would be my third encounter with the Iron Maiden.

Dream Theater is by far my favorite band of all time. Being introduced to them my freshman year of high school with Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence a new window was opened for me in my musical endeavors. Every single album holds a piece of my heart and I completely admit my addiction, being that I gather as much information as I can from them, going as far as to read old set lists, listen to old demos, and reading their biography. I even got the DT knot tattooed on my leg when I was finally old enough at age eighteen. This is why I wasn’t terribly excited to “see” them play that night. I knew they’d be great. I was finally going to meet one of them!

And not just one of them mind you, but the figurehead of the entire band. Being a guitarist, most people think that I would idolize John Petrucci. And I do. But Mike Portnoy has had such a huge influence on my life outside of his music that he is the real hero of the band for me. Just from looking at his favorites lists since the sixties has altered my perception of music and art to immeasurable degree… yada yada yada…. Enough hero worship. It actually wasn’t that exciting. I went, I stood in line, and I waited for an hour and a half and got twenty seconds with the man, who was happy enough to sign my book, take a picture, and sign my tattoo (which unfortunately didn’t get inked on) all without knowing my name or who I am. Such is life.

The show started at seven thirty and I had made plans to leave my place at six thirty with girlfriend and old DT buddy in tow. Unfortunately, the lady was fifteen minutes late and by the time that the venue was within sight my buddy had begged me to stop for him to get beer and a sandwich.

Fine…

Cut to ten minutes later and we are running through the parking lot shotgunning Coors light with one hand while grasping our scalped tickets (at a cheaper price mind you. Fuck Ticketmaster’s service charges.) in the other. I tucked my flask of Jagermeister underneath my balls and walked through security into the venue to discover that *gasp we had missed two of Dream Theater’s songs. Luckily, the two songs were As I Am which I had seen live about four times and A Rite of Passage which was far from my favorite song off of the new album. We stood in the grass section, jamming out with old friends to our favorite band as they played old classics and sounded better than ever. I’m serious when I say that. The band has never been tighter on a musical standpoint. Sure, the intimacy of their prior tours is lost now that they are playing in arenas vs. small clubs but James Labrie seems to be able to do the unheard of and actual sing every note. No long do I have to say, “He sounds better on cd.” To my girlfriend. It was a great show. The only problem is that being the opening act, they only had about forty five minutes to play. Especially since they had passed up Phoenix on Prog Nation twice in a row and hadn’t been here in three years. You guys owe us a full set extra, DT.

As I Am, A Rite of Passage, Home, Constant Motion, Panic Attack, Pull Me Under

My girlfriend and I started switching strategies for sneaking up into the pit. By now, it had become dark and what would have been impossible during Dream Theater was not only a matter of careful execution. I had snuck into the pit at this venue twice before, once for a DT show and the other for the last time that Iron Maiden was in town. Go figure.

After outrunning a few fat security guards and my lady “convincing” a few guys to distract the security guard, we had made our way. I had seen the band twice before. Once I had been upset, as they only played material from their first four albums whereas most of my favorite material is from albums five until Bruce’s departure. This left a sour taste in my mouth until I had seen their Somewhere In Time tour which was more or less a greatest hits show. This time however, they played almost nothing but their last four albums.

Don’t get me wrong. I think that all of those new albums have some great material, and A Matter of Life and Death is up there in my favorites for the band on an album scale, even if it doesn’t have any “hits”. But let me tell you, nothing will make you think that Iron Maiden songs sound alike more than going to one of their shows. By the eleventh… count em… eleventh… song in a row that featured a clean intro, mid tempo riffage, and clean outro, I had started to experience massive déjà vu. There is nothing wrong with wanting to play your new stuff, but to completely deny two decades worth of material just because you’re bored with it isn’t fair to the fans. Mix it up, Maiden and do both. They did manage to play some old favorites like Number of the Beast but by this time it was too little too late. It was like taking a girl out on a fancy date only to cup a feel and get a weak handjob after listening to her talk about her cats for three hours. In the end ya still got what ya came for, but damn does it leave a hollow feeling inside after.

So I met Portnoy, saw my favorite band for the sixth time (albeit a short set) and a weak, but still well performed set from Maiden. Considering that I paid only twenty bucks I guess I have nothing to complain about. But if you are expecting the show of a lifetime for either band you’ve either missed out on your chance, or you better pray that they have something awesome in store for the future.

The Wicker Man, Ghost of the Navigator, El Dorado, Some new song, Dance of Death, Reincarnation of Benjamin Breeg, These Colours Don’t Run, Blood Brothers, Wildest Dreams, No More Lies, Brave New World, Fear of the Dark, Iron Maiden, Number of the Beast, Hallowed be Thy Name, Running Free

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