Dream Theater played this past Saturday at The Beacon Theater, and it was a special concert for many reasons. First, it was in their "hometown" of New York City; second, it was their first show in over three years here because of COVID; and third because there was a special guest in the crowd that most of you already know (spoiler – it was Mike Portnoy).
I arrived at the venue before 8pm and was struck by how beautiful the theater is. The Beacon Theater was opened for the first time in 1929 and still conserves its looks really well from those years. At 8pm, the lights went down and the openers Arch Echo went up to the stage. I'd never heard them before, but I enjoyed their show a lot – they were five guys having a lot of fun on the stage playing progressive rock, and they were a perfect band (musically speaking) to keep the people entertained before Dream Theater. I highly recommended check their last release Red Letter.
After Arch Echo finished their set, I was walking to the bar to grab a drink when I saw a bunch of people taking photos with someone. As I got closer, I saw Mike Portnoy and I couldn't believe it. I remember seeing a photo on social media of him and John Petrucci together a couple of years ago, and knowing that they're all getting along now just made me happy.
At 8:50 sharp, the lights went down and Dream Theater kicked things off with "The Alien" – one of my favorites of the album. The sound was phenomenal as usual for a Dream Theater show, and the visuals were too. Then they play "6:00" from one of their classic albums Awake, which was a big surprise for me, and then "Awaken the Master" from the last album. At this point I'd finished up with my photos and got to enjoy songs like "Endless Sacrifice" and "Bridges In The Sky" from my seat. After "Bridges In The Sky," vocalist James LaBrie paused to start chatting with the crowd, asking everyone how we all are doing and mentioning that he was looking for somebody tonight. "Mike Portnoy! Where are you?" he said, and everyone stood up and started clapping. It was an emotional moment for most of us, as we all love and appreciate Mike's work with Dream Theater.
After this unexpected but happy moment, the band continued with the show, playing "Invisible Monster," "About To Crash," "The Ministry Of Souls" and then "A View From The Top Of The World" and "The Count Of Tuscany."
In conclusion, it was a solid show and a great set list. If you have the chance to go to see this tour, I guarantee you are not going to be disappointed.
