18th of June of 2009 is a date to remember in my musical calendar. Of course, in a few years, I will have probably forgot the date itself, but the event will linger on in the memory.

18th of June was the day Dream Theater came to Portugal, Lisboa (thank goodness and finally!), to Coliseu dos Recreios, in a tour “ preceding ” their new album Black Clouds and Silver Lininigs. And I was there.

Pendragon

The opening of the concert, that started a bit late on schedule, nothing out of the ordinary, was made by the band Pendragon. A band with a name of its own, although not very popular around here, have a sound that reminds, more times than not, Marillion. Their contact with the audience was short lived, as they played only 40 minutes (after all, they were the opening band). The song Master of Illusion was one of my favourites but, as someone that came with me said, the problem of these progressive rock bands that no-one knows or few know, is that we don’t know the musics. Sometimes I felt bored instead of enjoying their sound. Yet, their sympathy won my respect, and that drummer couldn’t stop smiling the entire time. A good concert, in a overall.

The down part of that concert was the back-vocals being turned off.

Ladies and Gents, Dream Theater

My first contact, in the end of the night, with DT live was, I’ve to say, a bit disappointing. (oh my gods, I didn’t wrote that down, did I?! Yes, yes I did!) Now this is the moment I should start running before the blind-fans come to knock me down, but give me a chance to explain. (and I do like to start from the bad to the good, weird thing me) I don’t watch dvd´s or even videos of a band. Usually I just grab the cd, put in my mp3 player, and listen on. That means I never know how a band act on stage.

Dream Theater played, as I have been told after, like they always played. With “little” contact with the public.

Mind you, they are very nice! In the few moments they actually contact with the audience, they are contacting with us. There is not a single doubt about that. But I would have preferred more… and you know why? Because it was an AWESOME concert! If it wasn’t for the horrible heat inside the building, it would have been one of the best concerts I’ve assisted in my life, so far (I intent to go to many more). And I like to feel the band is also with us, instead of being with one another most of the time. (bad habits of other great bands I had the pleasure to see live).

A part of that little, tiny detail (really little for me, too), the concert was breathtaking, and not only because of the heat. Jordan Rudess, John Myung, John Petrucci, Mike Portnoy and James LaBrie ruled the night with a very secure hand and great music.

The voice of LaBrie was amazing live. That man can sing! I don’t fancy all that must his voice sometimes, but live, that man is a show man. *laughs* Simply amazing, running everywhere, with this impeccable way of singing, coming in and out of the stage, he was, and I don’t like to use this word, but ok, perfect. LaBrie was the showman of the night.

What to say about John Myung? Ever you ever listen carefully want he plays? Petrucci may play a “billion notes per second” but Myung rules the bass. Very concentrated in what he is doing, quietly he moves around, in a zen world only he and the rest of the DT can see. Myung was the zen master of the night

John Petrucci plays, boys and girls, the man can play! From speed to slow, from high to low, a strong presence, an excellent gentlemen on the guitar (loved loved loved the “ Pink Floyd” moments! Thank you Petrucci!!!). Not a dull moment when Petrucci is around, that is for sure. The duel between Petrucci and Rudess will remain in my mind. Petrucci was the perfect gentleman of the night.

Portnoy is the face of the band. The smile behind the drums. The constant energy. Seeing him play drums it comes impossible not to laugh at some point. All that energy goes to the drums and comes out. The “lama” is the centre and heart of the night, giving a show that only can be experienced live, fully experienced. Portnoy was the heart of the night.

Finally, but certainly not the less important, my favourite of them all, the grand Mage of Keyboards, Jordan Rudess. The mary-go-round of the band, always walking in circles, playing like a madman, I was totally in heaven in the moments he and Petrucci were “solo” playing, in many of the "intros" and instrumental parts. A thousand rich sounds coming out of that keyboard, a presence that is impossible to go unnoticed, he captured most of my attention. But then, I prefer keyboards in top of many instruments. Rudess was the mage of the night.

(and I’m a total fan-girl of Rudess! *laughs*)

The concert started with Psycho… and the set list was the following:

1. In The Presence Of Enemies
2. Beyond This Life
3. Panic Attack
4. A Rite Of Passage
5. Hollow Years
6. Constant Motion
7. Erotomania
8. Voices
9. Solitary Shell
10. The Spirit Carries On
11. As I Am

Encore:
Metropolis Pt. / including Learning to Live & A Change of Seasons

And I had thousand things I could say about the concert, but I gave an overall, of each one of the members.

It is not a concert for everyone that is for sure. And more than being a fan, you need to keep your cool and open mind when going to a Dream Theater concert. They surprise. As their album do.

(note: "As I am" was a very nice surprise for me and the encore was great!)

Dream Theater next concert?
I will be there! For sure.

Hopefully this time in with a cooler room.

In one word: Awesome.

5 stars and all that!


_{Side-note-to-the-mega-fans-and-eternal-critics: this is my opinion. Mine mine mine. So don’t shoot me on sight. We all have different ways of seeing things.}


For my night companions, thank you. You were the best company a DT fan can have on the first concert.

Cya soon Dream Theater.
And cya soon people that survived reading all my babbling!






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--> Flickr: [link] -> Check it out! All photos, one place.

... is over.

And I can't think of a better ending for it.

I can't say it really totally surprised me because I did discuss it before with friends and I was almost all right in my assumptions (that I'm not stating because I don't want to ruin no one ending! See for yourself!). But it did, in the same way, the wicked way of Ronald Moore incredible talent of surprising.

Thank you Ronald Moore for this. (although you aren't reading these words. )

It was the best drama sci-fi serie I saw till today.

Let us hope, in a optimistic way, that what happened will happen again. And soon a "battlestar galactica" will rise with other name, other faces and other story, but the same deep talented way of telling a tale and sending out messages.

The proof of my admiration is writing a journal. *laughs* But in 25 years I hope I see this serie again and it will strike me as it it did now.

A tale of Mankind.
No.
A tale of Humanity.

And the law of surprise and probabilities may proof itself right... If a machine does the same program over and over again, eventually, by mathematics, something new will arise...





_{My gallery is Copyright ©Filipa Nunes/Thalassy. All rights reserved. All the materials contained in my deviantart gallery may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my written permission. My images/texts do not belong to the public domain. I compromise myself that all texts and images are mine UNLESS stated otherwise.}

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As I log in today I had a note of a moderator saying [link] was changed from her category (street) to Urban & Rural-> Miscellaneous!

What happened?!!?

I already changed the category AGAIN, so to the mods and volunteers that are catching this "faults" don't dare say it is in the wrong category again because you don't know what it is!

I put in street because that IS a street! Just because you don't see the name on the wall (it is behind the metal constructions) don't go all fuzzy and reporting my deviations to the mods for changing galleries because it is ridiculous.

But that is ok, I accepted your suggestion and changed to urban & rural -> industrial.

Because if you want to move a photo around, don't go and put it in miscellaneous! I think you should talk with the artist and ask, give him/her the change do move the deviantion.

But nooooooooo.
You grab them and put them where you think it sees fit!

Almost in 5 years of DA and I never saw this happening to me. Did it happened to you?

(sorry, I'm a bit pissed off with this. I actually know what I'm doing when I put a work in a gallery )



<sub>You are here, you are taking!


Another amazing saying we have when we are mad. Basically, it means if you keep doing what your doing, the person that is saying that will probably smack you in the face. We use it to frighten little children.



My gallery is Copyright ©Filipa Nunes/Thalassy. All rights reserved. All the materials contained in my deviantart gallery may not be reproduced, copied, edited, published, transmitted or uploaded in any way without my written permission. My images/texts do not belong to the public domain. I compromise myself that all texts and images are mine UNLESS stated otherwise.

Other art-works from me->



Stock:


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