When nostalgia and reality unite – An evening with Dream Theater live at Metro Areena, Espoo 6.11.

When the news about Mike Portnoy returning to Dream Theater came out last year, all the fans were eager not only to hear new music with the classic lineup, but definitely to see the five musicians together on the nearest stage. A year later, the progressive metal band finally started their 40th Anniversary Tour, and luckily Finland was on the map for this special reunion.

The Metro Areena in Espoo, hometown of Finnish band Children of Bodom, was the chosen venue for the show. Gathering thousands of fans, the first sight that each person had upon entering the arena was a huge backdrop with 40th anniversary art covering the entire stage while a nice playlist of songs from all eras of rock blasted through the speakers.

When the clock struck 7:30 p.m., laser lights brought some kind of animation to the backdrop and when it fell, revealed a dream that came true: the five band members once again together!

“Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper” was the right choice to start the night and the first thing everyone noticed was how loud the sound was, but at the same time you could hear all the instruments very clear. After that, Portnoy started the instrumental “Overture 1928”, that through his drums and personality, added even more charisma and excitement to the beginning of the show.

James LaBrie was another highlight, because despite staying at specific moments on stage, his appearances were always energetic and full of happiness, as in “Strange Déjà Vu”. Although in these first songs, his voice had too much reverb, the audio mix gradually got better. In the first dialogue directed at the audience, LaBrie recalled that 31 years ago they performed for the first time in Finland and how good it was to come back in this new phase of the band. The speech was followed by a song that was released three decades ago, the classic “The Mirror”, which had a virtuoso solo of Jordan Rudess on his keytar.

The bass of the introverted and technical John Myung gave life to “Panic Attack”, which after so many years, has LaBrie and Portnoy sharing the vocals again, in an excellent partnership. “Barstool Warrior”, one of the few from the Mike Mangini era present in the setlist, gets a new approach with Portnoy, who delivered a solid performance that made justice to the excellent former drummer.

John Petrucci had feeling and technique in every riff or solo, and this combination of qualities was present during the beautiful intro of the ballad “Hollow Years”, which on this tour has been performed as the demo version from 1996, with more verses and other details. At that moment, it was possible to see the emotion on the faces of many fans, who felt the happiness of witnessing a special event while absorbing the poetry of the lyrics.

The eighth track of the night was “Constant Motion” from their album Systematic Chaos, which had synchronized fists raised in the air from all the hundreds of people who watched standing on the main floor. The lights of the show went through all colors, sometimes a bit excessive within a rainbow of tones, but in some cases it was an excellent addition to the video that each track had, always with elements related to the covers arts of the band’s discography. “As I Am” closed the first act of the night with energy and heaviness, showing how tight and rehearsed those guys were.

Another interesting point to mention is that despite being a tour celebrating the band’s four decades, the setlist had a more nostalgic and focused tone on the Portnoy era, which didn’t seem to bother anyone, since many of these songs were no longer a constant presence in the last decade when another Mike was behind the drums.

After a little over 10 minutes, the lights went out again and a beautiful orchestrated instrumental version sounded as an intro while a 3D animation walked through the band’s discography. But the night wasn’t only about the already mentioned nostalgia, because at the same time the band had already started preparations for the future new album entitled Parasomnia, and the first single from this upcoming work started the second act of the night. “Night Terror” has the Dream Theater DNA, but during its 10 minutes, some fans seemed to be a little bored. The facial expressions happily changed when “Under a Glass Moon” was performed, once again showing the importance of James, who interacted and showed his charisma in each appearance.

“This Is the Life” was the second and last song from the Mangini era performed on that night, which could have easily been replaced by “The Alien”, a track that won the band a Grammy award, but it is important to keep the band’s legacy alive, regardless of the line-up or setlist. Rudess showed a nice stage presence throughout the whole show, always smiling and genuinely happy. The magic skills in “Vacant” only proved why the keyboardist is known as a musical wizard.

In times when it is so easy to find someone extremely talented in a matter of seconds on any social network, seeing the four instrumentalists live was a life lesson, as they showed not only technique, but also a sense of unity, which lacks in this modern world. This sense was definitely seen in “Stream of Consciousness”. Perhaps the best moment of the night was the epic “Octavarium”, which during its 25 minutes gave spotlight to each member, with a special mention for Petrucci + Portnoy, who often stood side by side, showing the respect and friendship between the duo. An interesting and psychedelic animation on the big screen took us on a virtual walk through the green fields of the art cover of the 2005 album. Regarding those video animations, most of the time they added a lot to the band’s performance, but at times they seemed a bit generic, which still didn’t ruin the experience, because the live soundtrack was always exquisite.

After the end of the second act, the encore started with an excerpt from the movie Wizard of Oz on the screen, which was an interesting intro for… “Home”, that had the only moment when we could notice a big mistake in relation to James’ vocals. Throughout the whole set the drummer and vocalist kept the audience interacting whenever possible, but the dynamics of the band didn’t always help in this aspect. Myung is a legend on bass, but his stage presence is non-existent, remaining static on the side of the stage reading his tablet and even Petrucci seemed a bit exhausted, but again, LaBrie always came to the rescue when he had to sing and then interact with all the corners of the venue.

Fortunately the crowd didn’t seem to mind any lack of interaction, because when it was needed, it was the own audience that commanded the show, for example when thousands of phones illuminated the whole venue during the beautiful “The Spirit Carries On”. The final chapter of the long and nostalgic night was their greatest hit, the iconic “Pull Me Under”. The fans and the band gave all they had in those last minutes, even making Myung cross the stage to share a few seconds near his friend Petrucci.

After three hours of a great soundtrack to a practically packed arena, the five musicians said goodbye, not only with a sense of duty accomplished, but with the joy of being together once again. Everyone present that night will never forget the emotion of what they witnessed there. It was more than just a prog metal show, but a musical retrospective of important songs from some of the dearest acts of our own lives.

Words by John Wins
Photos by Andy Johansson

You can listen to Dream Theater‘s latest single “Night Terror” here: