Dream Theater - Hammersmith Apollo, London.
Dream Theater
Hammersmith Apollo, London
21/02/23
By Paul Davies
To sleep, perchance to dream wrote the bard of Stratford Upon Avon. Well, as everyone in the rock fraternity knows, there is no sleep until Hammersmith as Dream Theater shook the very foundations of this venerable venue to its historic core on this final night of their Top Of The World Tour show. The sight of fleet-fingered Jordan Rudess' rotating keyboard as the distinguished bearded John Petrucci and hair to his waist John Myung conjoin on guitar and bass front of stage to rip out mellifluous notes is a sight to behold and especially hear. Together, they delivered a masterclass of musicianship to an astonished, but by no certain means sold-out venue, audience most of whom knew every word the highly affable James LaBrie sang. And there are plenty of words to match the epic proportions of this complex music.
LaBrie's friendly and inclusive onstage demeanour clearly respects the community that the band's fans have created around this monolithic Progressive Metal musical entity. Even the big of beard side of the stage security guard was visibly enjoying every nuance of the show when not distracted by his duties. With his huge percussive kit reassuringly set upon a drum riser, Mike Mangini infectiously roamed around his assembled surroundings like a man(gini) possessed. Driving the songs through undulating musical terrain replete with plenty of sharp chicanes, twists and turns of complexity, both he and the whole band fully deserved their end of set onstage champagne. In getting there, including opener The Alien they played four songs from the 'new' album. But they satisfyingly travelled back in time to pull a few rare rabbits out of their magical musical hat with Pull Me Under from their early classic -and James LaBrie’s first DT recording - Images And Words release. Also, 6:00 and Caught In A Web from the early 90's Awake album. A Dramatic Turn Of Events' Bridges In The Sky was welcomed like an old yet ageless returning friend. However, in an evening of many, many high points a beguiling suite of three tunes - Solitary Shell, About To Crash (Reprise) and Losing Time/Grand Finale - from Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence probably edged ahead of a highly competitive setlist. Then again, at just short of sixty minutes of sonic sorcery, with the final three songs Pull Me Under, A View From The Top Of The World and encore exemplar The Count Of Tuscany to savour total sensory overload was magnificently achieved. This evening’s two-hour set included a backdrop of visual thrills of ice mountaineering, mystical Mayan montages, space shots, air ballooning, skydiving and Tuscan country landscapes… complimenting the dramatic music on show.
It'll probably be another couple of years until DT return with new songs to insert into an already peerless genre set. Nevertheless, there’s a shared iron belief and tight bond between the band and their fans and a near unparalleled recording catalogue to sustain a famine of live shows until the next time.
Photo: Rayon Richards