I enjoyed it. It wasn't the most amazing thing I've ever seen but it was a lot of fun. My opinion on the album pretty much stands: first half is awesome and the second half drags big time. Could've easily been a solid single album. The performance itself was great, LaBrie was fine and everyone else was in top notch form. As usual, Petrucci blew my mind. I was on Myung and Rudess' side for the concert this time so I got to appreciate them a bit more. I have to say Rudess is really the MVP of this album.
Backing tracks: The complaints are over exaggerated. First of all, there is no pretend happening, nobody is miming parts. I heard JP singing on one song, but like Knick said there are usually other tracks going with them. The backing tracks overall were also mostly mixed pretty low, it sounds like 5 guys playing for the most part. My personal preference would be for them to drop the backing tracks entirely, but I understand that isn't what DT is about. They want to be as faithful to the album as possible, which is fine, and it would be impossible to do that without some backing tracks.
BTW, if anyone thinks DT is bad, go find some live footage of Devin Townsend. I joked about Petrucci miming solos earlier but there's actually one recording of Devin doing a song with a guitar solo and the guitar solo is on the backing track! He has 3 guitarists and nobody actually plays the solo. That one still boggles my mind. It's also why I haven't bothered to see him live despite him coming through my area at least 3 times since I've been a fan. I love his work but that's where I draw the line on backing tracks.
As for the production, it honestly seemed a bit cheap. I'm not going to fault them for this because they probably did the best they could on their budget, but this thing really deserved more than that. The videos didn't really enhance the story all that much, which was a bummer. But the stage design was neat. I would love to see this sort of thing on Iron Maiden's budget.
The guitar solo at the end of A New Beginning delivered big time. It was my personal highlight.
Also, after seeing Maiden just a couple weeks ago, seeing them back to back with DT was really eye opening. The performances are polar opposites. It's actually pretty funny to think I saw both bands together a few years ago. At a Dream Theater concert, everybody sits until the encore and they're quiet for the most part during the songs. The energy brought by the two bands is totally different. With Maiden, even though they bring these elaborate stage shows, the band is still the most visually captivating thing. With DT, it's like they want you to ignore them while instead focusing on the lights and the videos. Musically Maiden is much more raw, you get lots of mistakes and every show is a bit different despite the same setlist every night. DT perfects their performances down to the atom.
Both have their place for me though.
Backing tracks: The complaints are over exaggerated. First of all, there is no pretend happening, nobody is miming parts. I heard JP singing on one song, but like Knick said there are usually other tracks going with them. The backing tracks overall were also mostly mixed pretty low, it sounds like 5 guys playing for the most part. My personal preference would be for them to drop the backing tracks entirely, but I understand that isn't what DT is about. They want to be as faithful to the album as possible, which is fine, and it would be impossible to do that without some backing tracks.
BTW, if anyone thinks DT is bad, go find some live footage of Devin Townsend. I joked about Petrucci miming solos earlier but there's actually one recording of Devin doing a song with a guitar solo and the guitar solo is on the backing track! He has 3 guitarists and nobody actually plays the solo. That one still boggles my mind. It's also why I haven't bothered to see him live despite him coming through my area at least 3 times since I've been a fan. I love his work but that's where I draw the line on backing tracks.
As for the production, it honestly seemed a bit cheap. I'm not going to fault them for this because they probably did the best they could on their budget, but this thing really deserved more than that. The videos didn't really enhance the story all that much, which was a bummer. But the stage design was neat. I would love to see this sort of thing on Iron Maiden's budget.
The guitar solo at the end of A New Beginning delivered big time. It was my personal highlight.
This sums it up for me. The DT12 tour was better, but this was still worth seeing.
Also, after seeing Maiden just a couple weeks ago, seeing them back to back with DT was really eye opening. The performances are polar opposites. It's actually pretty funny to think I saw both bands together a few years ago. At a Dream Theater concert, everybody sits until the encore and they're quiet for the most part during the songs. The energy brought by the two bands is totally different. With Maiden, even though they bring these elaborate stage shows, the band is still the most visually captivating thing. With DT, it's like they want you to ignore them while instead focusing on the lights and the videos. Musically Maiden is much more raw, you get lots of mistakes and every show is a bit different despite the same setlist every night. DT perfects their performances down to the atom.
Both have their place for me though.
