Tickets

My tickets were about $125 each. Parking $45. This makes my 10th Dream Theater show since 2005 and my first time at the YouTube Theater. Nice venue.

Dreamsonic

This was promoted as a “festival” but didn’t really feel like one. It also felt like they were trying to recreate the Progressive Nation concept from ‘08/‘09, which I think was better. The lineup was ok. Animals as Leaders is cool, but Devin Townsend has never done anything for me. Maybe I just haven’t listened to the right album yet. Dream Theater’s setlist was a bit disappointing. With a shorter set time compared to “an evening with” show, it was only 9 songs and I only really enjoyed 3: The Alien, Answering the Call, and The Count of Tuscany. The rest are either too slow or I’ve already heard them a thousand times.

The band still performs well. Even Myung with a bump on his head. JLB isn’t in his prime anymore obviously, but the way he approached the earlier material here is appropriate. Rather than try and reach the original notes but struggle or miss, he just used a lower register. I prefer this. This is most evident on Caught in a Web and Pull Me Under. Here’s some footage from my Pixel 6a and the full show audio is here.

Final remark: When it comes to bacon wrapped hot dogs, shop around! There are literally dozens of vendors to choose from. Nobody should be paying $10 for a hot dog.