On Monday, Dream Theater came to Buffalo for the first time in 13 years. After that show, I think it's safe to say that the wait for their next show here will be much shorter. Bringing along Redemption and Into Eternity, they packed the UB Center for the Arts to the gills. It was certainly a night to remember.
Into Eternity opened with a furious set of "extreme progressive death metal," as they call it, which didn't go over all that well. I saw IE a couple years ago when they opened for Opeth and Nevermore at Showplace, and that was more their type of crowd. There were a lot of older proggers there who probably couldn't wrap themselves around IE's crazy vocals. Redemption drew a better reaction. A highlight of their set came just before their final song, when the bassist announced that it was vocalist Ray Alder's birthday, and Mike Portnoy came out with a cake and promptly smashed it into Ray's face.
Finally, the moment all had been waiting for: the traffic light above the stage changed to green and the guys slammed into "Constant Motion." I had intentionally avoided spoilers about this tour, and it was a good thing because they haven't been changing the set lists so much on this tour. I was really pleased with the set list, though. The new version of "Surrounded" was great, especially when Jordan Rudess pulled out his new keytar and came to the front to take a solo. "Blind Faith" was another highlight, as the Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence album is a very sentimental one for me. In the spirit of "Octavarium," there was a new cartoon on the video screen during the instrumental section of "The Dark Eternal Night." I really hope they put it on the next DVD, as they did with the "Octavarium" animation. Finally, "In the Presence of Enemies" was just amazing. I get goosebumps just thinking of it. :) My only wish is that they would have played "The Ministry of Lost Souls," which is probably my favorite of the new songs. I'm guessing that they're saving that for the next North American leg of the tour, in the spring.
I don't know if I can say that this was better than the Cleveland show last year, but it was definitely no worse. Easily worth the price of admission, and even better that it was right in my backyard for once! That spring tour can't come around fast enough.
SET LIST:
1. Constant Motion
2. Strange Deja Vu
3. Blind Faith
4. Surrounded '07
5. The Dark Eternal Night
6. Endless Sacrifice
7. I Walk Beside You
8. The Spirit Carries On
9. In the Presence of Enemies
--encore--
10. Shmedley Wilcox
i. Trial of Tears
ii. Finally Free
iii. Learning to Live
iv. In the Name of God
v. Octavarium