kelly
Herr Babelfish der Übersetzer, he wore a whipped-cream-covered tutu for this title.
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2002
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The Venue - NextStage
These guys stopped by Dallas last night and played at the Grand Prarie NextStage--June 25, 2003. I've gone on and on to compliment this venue in other threads but let me reitterate that if you're seeing a concert in Dallas, this is THE place. Other Dallas venues like Smirnoff (was Starplex, I call it Smearplex), Reunion Arena and American Airlines all have horrible acoustics and ill-mannered staff. NextStage is like a movie theater with only slightly overpriced food and drinks, stadium style seating and friendly staff. It's new and built to sound good. It only holds about 6200 people, all of whom are aimed at the stage instead of being stuck behind it or off too far to the side like at other venues. "There's not a bad seat in the house."
Fates Warning
If you've been reading my other posts from way back, you already know what a fan I am of this band. These poor guys have been putting out killer prog rock for a long time but the closest they've ever gotten to airplay was a video to "Through Different Eyes" that got onto HeadBanger's Ball on MTV half a dozen times total. It'd almost be sad except that these guys are true artists and sometimes you can't measure success by fiscal means alone. If you haven't heard Fates Warning, do so. If you like Rush at all, you'd be happy to know that Terry Brown (who produced almost all of Rush's good albums) has produced all of Fates Warning's later albums, including the incredible Pleasant Shade of Grey.
Fates didn't get a lot of time at this show. They started at 8pm and the whole show had to be over by midnight. NextStage staff wouldn't let anyone into the concert hall until 7:30 and said that it was at the band's request because they were setting up equipment. Fates is known for being very anal about the way their equipment is set up. Since they're almost always the first opening act, they take a little more time with that than the bigger bands can afford, but it pays off. From the first note, everything was perfect and at this venue, they actually sounded good too. Despite Fates best efforts, there's only so much they could do when they were playing concrete rooms in clubs and such.
So in their short set, they managed to get in a couple of tracks from Pleasant Shade of Grey, "Pieces of Me," "Eye to Eye," "Monument," "Parallel Lives" and "Still Water." I dug the set a lot but I'm sure some people were disappointed to not get their usual dose of "Through Different Eyes" and "Eleventh Hour." Literally, my ONLY complaint was that the set was so short. You guys know me well enough to know how much I nitpick and what an extreme compliment to the band this truly is.
(This was my fourth time to see Fates Warning live. Side note: Do NOT buy their live DVD.)
Dream Theater
As far as I'm concerned, Dream Theater never disappoints. I think honestly I could watch any one member of this band and be entertained but all of them together is just incredible. It's like a rock orchestra.
The time around, they seemed to have a more impressive drum kit and of course sounded great. The first song was a little rough as James LaBrie's voice was breaking in and the mix guys were trying to get the levels right. After that it was smooth sailing.
Lukewarm DT fans would be happy to hear that they played "Pull Me Under" and actually ended their set with it. The more hardcore fans might be happy to hear that too since I don't think they've played that in six years and it's basically their only radio hit. I guess since they were opening for Queensryche they had to sell to that audience a little bit but judging from the audience in Dallas, there were a lot more people there to hear Dream Theater than Queensryche--and for good reason.
The focus of their show is still on Scenes from a Memory which I guess means that either they or their fans agree with me that it's the best album (I'd go as far as to say it's the best rock album of all time, from any band, but I digress). My friend was with me seeing Dream Theater for the first time and I think it was their performance of "Home" that really won him over to the band. How could it not? And I swear the guys keep getting better.
"Under Peruvian Skies" and "Under a Glass Moon" kept their older fans happy and they took "Misunderstood" (of course) from the newest album. For those of you accustomed to Dream Theater's longer headlining shows, "Caught In a Web" was a notable absentee. Again, my complaint here is only that I wish they'd been able to do a longer set. Nevertheless, they played long enough to give you the feeling that you'd really seen a good concert. I could have left then and gone home happy...
(This was my fifth time to see Dream Theater live.)
Queensryche
...but no, I had to stay for the headlining act and I've been a Queensryche fan since the EP days, so I had to hear them... whatever the consequence.
The sad undeniable truth is that Queensryche is the epitomy of metal has-beens. Queensryche has lost most of their fans, but on different albums. For me, I was with them through the hit-laden Empire and even the experimental Promised Land, but the albums that followed and marked Chris DeGarmo's departure as guitarist and songwriter really sounded hollow and empty. The songs lacked lyrical substance and musical coherence. It was no longer believable that this was the same band who did Operation: Mindcrime.
And that sentiment really marked the entire show. I think both guitarists are no longer original members and if that's still their old drummer, he's really lost his edge. The bassist was the only guy getting it right through the entire show. Everyone else was completely off and Queensryche sounded like a cover band.
Surprisingly, Geoff Tate's vocal abilities actually seem to have grown. The guy is able to hit notes like he never could before. But unfortunately, his operatic lounge singer stage persona really gets in the way of a good performance. Tate is all about the act and this time he came to the show sporting a slickly shaven head and an open chest black button down with a gold chain. He was a cross between Larry from Three's Company and Mr. Clean.
Tate has no respect for cadence and timing. This is really annoying for the fans who really know the albums and are trying to sing along (either aloud or in their heads). Tate adds Captain Kirk-esque dramatic pauses and changes the way he sings certain lines with no regard to his fellow bandmates. It's as if without DeGarmo to keep him in line, Geoff Tate has no respect for the material.
The only exception to this was their performance of "Best I Can" which I think Tate may have written. This song her performed just like the album. Everything else... butchered.
The fan in me wanted to celebrate their "NM156"/"Screaming In Digital" combo, but I just couldn't. It was recognizable, but it wasn't Queensryche and by the time they got to their Mindcrime set, it was just awful. I've heard drunk friends at parties pull off a better rendition of "Speak."
Thankfully, they only did two songs from the upcoming album and seemed to forget (selective memory?) that they'd released Q2K.
If you'd like to hear me rant more about QR, email me. I can talk about the way he seemed to not even understand what the lyrics were about and such too.
(This was my seventh time to see Queensryche live. Believe it or not, they were one of the best in 1990.)
the grand finale
With both drumkits left on the stage throughout Queensryche's performance, you had to wonder if something was up.
Indeed, when Geoff was through torturing us, the guys from Dream Theater came back out on stage and both bands launched into an awesome cover of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."
It was amazing how with all of the timing problems QR seemed to have that they were all doing so well with this jam session. Dream Theater must have made them practice their asses off.
Both singers traded off lyrics and occasionally sang together. The same was going on behind them with the drums and that was really awesome. So yeah, maybe it took two living drummers to best cover the works of Kieth "the animal" Moon but it was truly worthwhile.
conclusion
To be honest, that last performance, despite being so great, was almost like sitting through both a crappy movie AND the crappy movie's credits just to see the funny thing they stuck at the end.
I'm equally saddened by the direction Queensryche has taken as I am in awe of the performances given by Dream Theater and Fates Warning. I'm sure most people would enjoy the QR show more than I did. The fewer times you've seen them, the less you have to compare against. I'm sure if I judged them fairly compared to other bands, they weren't even that bad. But compared to their former selves... and having to follow Fates Warning and Dream Theater, it was just pathetic.
The good news? Chris DeGarmo is coming back to Queensryche. There is yet hope for the band. Unfortunately, I'm not sure his raw talent can calm Tate's ego. I guess we'll see.
Do see this show if you have a chance. At full ticket price, the first two bands make it more than worthwhile. Keep your expectations low for the Ryche and you'll be fine.
Thanks for reading.
These guys stopped by Dallas last night and played at the Grand Prarie NextStage--June 25, 2003. I've gone on and on to compliment this venue in other threads but let me reitterate that if you're seeing a concert in Dallas, this is THE place. Other Dallas venues like Smirnoff (was Starplex, I call it Smearplex), Reunion Arena and American Airlines all have horrible acoustics and ill-mannered staff. NextStage is like a movie theater with only slightly overpriced food and drinks, stadium style seating and friendly staff. It's new and built to sound good. It only holds about 6200 people, all of whom are aimed at the stage instead of being stuck behind it or off too far to the side like at other venues. "There's not a bad seat in the house."
Fates Warning
If you've been reading my other posts from way back, you already know what a fan I am of this band. These poor guys have been putting out killer prog rock for a long time but the closest they've ever gotten to airplay was a video to "Through Different Eyes" that got onto HeadBanger's Ball on MTV half a dozen times total. It'd almost be sad except that these guys are true artists and sometimes you can't measure success by fiscal means alone. If you haven't heard Fates Warning, do so. If you like Rush at all, you'd be happy to know that Terry Brown (who produced almost all of Rush's good albums) has produced all of Fates Warning's later albums, including the incredible Pleasant Shade of Grey.
Fates didn't get a lot of time at this show. They started at 8pm and the whole show had to be over by midnight. NextStage staff wouldn't let anyone into the concert hall until 7:30 and said that it was at the band's request because they were setting up equipment. Fates is known for being very anal about the way their equipment is set up. Since they're almost always the first opening act, they take a little more time with that than the bigger bands can afford, but it pays off. From the first note, everything was perfect and at this venue, they actually sounded good too. Despite Fates best efforts, there's only so much they could do when they were playing concrete rooms in clubs and such.
So in their short set, they managed to get in a couple of tracks from Pleasant Shade of Grey, "Pieces of Me," "Eye to Eye," "Monument," "Parallel Lives" and "Still Water." I dug the set a lot but I'm sure some people were disappointed to not get their usual dose of "Through Different Eyes" and "Eleventh Hour." Literally, my ONLY complaint was that the set was so short. You guys know me well enough to know how much I nitpick and what an extreme compliment to the band this truly is.
(This was my fourth time to see Fates Warning live. Side note: Do NOT buy their live DVD.)
Dream Theater
As far as I'm concerned, Dream Theater never disappoints. I think honestly I could watch any one member of this band and be entertained but all of them together is just incredible. It's like a rock orchestra.
The time around, they seemed to have a more impressive drum kit and of course sounded great. The first song was a little rough as James LaBrie's voice was breaking in and the mix guys were trying to get the levels right. After that it was smooth sailing.
Lukewarm DT fans would be happy to hear that they played "Pull Me Under" and actually ended their set with it. The more hardcore fans might be happy to hear that too since I don't think they've played that in six years and it's basically their only radio hit. I guess since they were opening for Queensryche they had to sell to that audience a little bit but judging from the audience in Dallas, there were a lot more people there to hear Dream Theater than Queensryche--and for good reason.
The focus of their show is still on Scenes from a Memory which I guess means that either they or their fans agree with me that it's the best album (I'd go as far as to say it's the best rock album of all time, from any band, but I digress). My friend was with me seeing Dream Theater for the first time and I think it was their performance of "Home" that really won him over to the band. How could it not? And I swear the guys keep getting better.
"Under Peruvian Skies" and "Under a Glass Moon" kept their older fans happy and they took "Misunderstood" (of course) from the newest album. For those of you accustomed to Dream Theater's longer headlining shows, "Caught In a Web" was a notable absentee. Again, my complaint here is only that I wish they'd been able to do a longer set. Nevertheless, they played long enough to give you the feeling that you'd really seen a good concert. I could have left then and gone home happy...
(This was my fifth time to see Dream Theater live.)
Queensryche
...but no, I had to stay for the headlining act and I've been a Queensryche fan since the EP days, so I had to hear them... whatever the consequence.
The sad undeniable truth is that Queensryche is the epitomy of metal has-beens. Queensryche has lost most of their fans, but on different albums. For me, I was with them through the hit-laden Empire and even the experimental Promised Land, but the albums that followed and marked Chris DeGarmo's departure as guitarist and songwriter really sounded hollow and empty. The songs lacked lyrical substance and musical coherence. It was no longer believable that this was the same band who did Operation: Mindcrime.
And that sentiment really marked the entire show. I think both guitarists are no longer original members and if that's still their old drummer, he's really lost his edge. The bassist was the only guy getting it right through the entire show. Everyone else was completely off and Queensryche sounded like a cover band.
Surprisingly, Geoff Tate's vocal abilities actually seem to have grown. The guy is able to hit notes like he never could before. But unfortunately, his operatic lounge singer stage persona really gets in the way of a good performance. Tate is all about the act and this time he came to the show sporting a slickly shaven head and an open chest black button down with a gold chain. He was a cross between Larry from Three's Company and Mr. Clean.
Tate has no respect for cadence and timing. This is really annoying for the fans who really know the albums and are trying to sing along (either aloud or in their heads). Tate adds Captain Kirk-esque dramatic pauses and changes the way he sings certain lines with no regard to his fellow bandmates. It's as if without DeGarmo to keep him in line, Geoff Tate has no respect for the material.
The only exception to this was their performance of "Best I Can" which I think Tate may have written. This song her performed just like the album. Everything else... butchered.
The fan in me wanted to celebrate their "NM156"/"Screaming In Digital" combo, but I just couldn't. It was recognizable, but it wasn't Queensryche and by the time they got to their Mindcrime set, it was just awful. I've heard drunk friends at parties pull off a better rendition of "Speak."
Thankfully, they only did two songs from the upcoming album and seemed to forget (selective memory?) that they'd released Q2K.
If you'd like to hear me rant more about QR, email me. I can talk about the way he seemed to not even understand what the lyrics were about and such too.
(This was my seventh time to see Queensryche live. Believe it or not, they were one of the best in 1990.)
the grand finale
With both drumkits left on the stage throughout Queensryche's performance, you had to wonder if something was up.
Indeed, when Geoff was through torturing us, the guys from Dream Theater came back out on stage and both bands launched into an awesome cover of The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."
It was amazing how with all of the timing problems QR seemed to have that they were all doing so well with this jam session. Dream Theater must have made them practice their asses off.
Both singers traded off lyrics and occasionally sang together. The same was going on behind them with the drums and that was really awesome. So yeah, maybe it took two living drummers to best cover the works of Kieth "the animal" Moon but it was truly worthwhile.
conclusion
To be honest, that last performance, despite being so great, was almost like sitting through both a crappy movie AND the crappy movie's credits just to see the funny thing they stuck at the end.
I'm equally saddened by the direction Queensryche has taken as I am in awe of the performances given by Dream Theater and Fates Warning. I'm sure most people would enjoy the QR show more than I did. The fewer times you've seen them, the less you have to compare against. I'm sure if I judged them fairly compared to other bands, they weren't even that bad. But compared to their former selves... and having to follow Fates Warning and Dream Theater, it was just pathetic.
The good news? Chris DeGarmo is coming back to Queensryche. There is yet hope for the band. Unfortunately, I'm not sure his raw talent can calm Tate's ego. I guess we'll see.
Do see this show if you have a chance. At full ticket price, the first two bands make it more than worthwhile. Keep your expectations low for the Ryche and you'll be fine.
Thanks for reading.
