Dream Theater

I'm looking to discover new music, hopefully something similar to Dream Theater. Similar in the sense that the band should have a wide variety of material and their style should range from heavy thrashy stuff to soulful melodious pieces. It doesn't have to be prog as I don't associate DT with prog that much to begin with. High production value is another great bonus. I haven't come across anything quite like that. As much as I've tried Symphony X, they have nice harmony but come across as power metal and overly theatrical at times. Any suggestions?
Oh, another thing. I'm not intersted in DT clones that try to do everything exactly like DT.

Listened to Haken's The Mountain and Seventh Wonder's Mercy Falls. Haken is instrumentally nice and atmospheric but the vocals could be improved, imo. Going to check them out more. Seventh Wonder started out promising but I couldn't finish the album. Strong vocalist, but the instruments are not as intriguing. It sounds very busy and all over the place. SW's albums appear sonically similar to DT's self-titled, which is the most difficult DT album to listen to in terms of sound, imo.

Seventh Wonder would have been my recommendation as well, but other than that my go-to bands are probably Pain of Salvation, Threshold and Redemption. Or Ayreon, if it counts.

Shadow Gallery and Headspace also come to mind, but I don't know whether you'd like those.

If you want something DT-like, but with less wankery, you might try Vanden Plas.

Oh, and if you want to know how "very busy and all over the place" sounds, try these :D
(just for the record, Arctopus is shite, but I actually really like Unexpect)
 
its too bad the floors were sticky from all the beer cause my jaw was stuck there the whole night after they played Don’t Look Past Me
 
My only minor gripe with last night's show is that there were no video screens. I would have liked to been able to see close-up shots during solos and stuff, especially since I was up in the balcony. They had them last time I saw DT in the same venue, so it can't be a venue thing. Have they just not been using them on this tour?

Other than that, it was an outstanding show! :rocker:
 
Yea no screens either. That part was fairly disappointing because they had some cool video productions the last few tours.
 
Oh, that's weird beardless Petrucci right there. Not as weird as the following Petrucci from 2004, though.

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Yea JLB said “see you in 2019” at the end of the show. Makes sense, they’ve been going non stop for awhile now and JP still has G3 and probably a solo album next year.
 
I expect they’ll start working on a new album in the summer to be released early 2019. John will definitely be busy until April, then probably take some time off.
 
So saw the last date of the IAW 25th anniversary tour last night in Dallas TX at the brand new Pavilion in the Music Factory by Toyota and Live Nation (the rest of the complex is still under construction; will have about 25 restaurants when it is finished). This was my son's first time to see DT. I saw them open for Maiden on BCASL tour and also The Astonishing. So this was my first time to see them headline live and play songs from more than one album!

The first set was a perfect performance by all. The one-two punch of As I Am & Breaking All Illusions made my night (not to mention DT handing my ass to me with the opening song The Dark Eternal Night, which was my son's favorite of the night!). The snippet of Enter Sandman at the end of As I Am was a cool surprise. When Jaime introduced John for his bass solo, he mentioned when he first went to audition for the band how he was blown away by John playing Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, and Steve Harris! @Mosh , you lucky bastard got to see Don't Look Past Me! Oh, well; The Spirit Carries On was well received by Dallas and I did enjoy seeing it live for the first time.

Twice Jamie mentioned two years on the road (between The Astonishing and IAW 25th) had driven him crazy and he really needed to go home so I was not surprised when during the first two songs of IAW, Jaime was off key; hitting high notes when he is not supposed to and vice versa. Thankfully he pulled himself together for the rest of the night.

Three hours was long for a progressive metal show and just adds to my respect for each band member that they can perform that fast and well for that long every night! By the end of the second set, after side 2 of IAW (which is by far the more progressive side with several longer instrumental sections), my son was getting tired but I explained to him that ever since I got ACOS in the mail from Columbia Record club as a new release, I have always wanted to see the title track played live in its' entirety so NO WAY are we leaving early (especially since we drove 4-5 hours from Houston for the show). So he said OK and I pulled up the lyrics to the song for him to follow and he enjoyed it. He also liked Take the Time and Pull Me Under. Seeing ACOS live was something I felt very grateful for; as well as seeing IAW in full. Back when IAW was a new release, DT played Houston several times and I wanted to go, but was just not able to make the shows, so VERY glad I finally got the chance to see that amazing CD played live.

I do agree with the earlier posts that say the lack of video screens was a mistake. I guess they were trying to emulate the original tour? I did enjoy the lights however. Bought a cool tour program (DT's amazing programs remind me of Rush's programs). Did not bring my son's mother (not much into metal). However today I played Surrounded and Another Day for her and she liked them, especially Jaime's voice. Wore my Epica shirt last night and found some guys who were at the same show in Houston! For the most part was a friendly crowd.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/drea...-toyota-music-factory-irving-tx-73e00e81.html
 
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