Dreams are made of this

One of the best-loved progressive metal bands in the world and still going strong after more than 30 years, Dream Theater dropped into Thailand on Wednesday night to the delight of its legions of Thai fans who packed into Thunder Dome, Muang Thong Thani determined not to miss an all-too-rare opportunity to hear the band live.

Back in this part of the world on their “Images, Words & Beyond” tour, Dream Theatre first came to the kingdom back in 2006 and returned two years later as they celebrated the 15th anniversary of “Images and Words”, the band’s only album to be certified gold by the RIAA and which remains their best-selling album to date, selling more than 600,000 copies.
A decade later and this time marking the 25th anniversary of that milestone album, the band was visibly pleased at the warm welcome from Thai fans. Indeed James LaBrie even told the audience that he was happy with the way they sang along to the hook of “Pull Me Under”, the single that earned the band considerable commercial success and appeared in the 2008 video game “Guitar Hero World Tour”.

Divided into two acts with 20-minute break in between, the concert’s first half comprised eight songs, including a cover of Jaco Pastorius’ “Portrait of Tracy” performed by bassist John Myung, from “Falling into Infinity” in 1997 to “The Astonishing” in 2016. Screams erupted as they swung into “The Dark Eternal Night” from “Systematic Chaos”, “The Bigger Picture” from “Dream Theater” before slowing down in “Hell’s Kitchen” featuring John Petrucci’s melodic guitar solo. They followed up with “The Gift of Music” and “Our New World”, from their second concept album “Astonishing".

Fans roared their appreciation as the first notes of “As I Am” from “Train of Thought” were played and reached a crescendo at an excerpt of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, the single that propelled Metallica to worldwide fame. The first act closed with the stunning song, “Breaking All Illusions”, a showcase for Petrucci’s nimble fingerwork and Jordan Rudess’s majestic keyboard.

After the intermission, the progressive metal quintet came out on stage and took the audience back to 1992 playing the entire “Images and Words” album. The set opened with “Pull Me Under”, and followed up with “Another Day” featuring a tight bass solo by Myung, “Take the Time” with Petrucci doing the solo honours  and “Metropolis Pt 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper” with Mike Mangini, who became the band’s permanent drummer is 2011, giving an exuberant demonstration of his prowess with his massive kit. Rudess performed a keyboard solo in “Wait for Sleep” and the band closed out the concert with “Learning to Live” and “Under a Glass Moon.”
Back on stage for an encore, the band performed the 23-minute track “A Change of Seasons”, a fitting end to a fond farewell.