Queen’s A Night at the Opera Pink Floyd’s The Wall and RUSH’s 2112 are rock opera classics, I wish I could say the same about Dream Theater’s latest release The Astonishing. The 34 tracks spread over 130 minutes had me bored to death in less than 15 minutes. This would probably also explain the less than 300 people in attendance at tonight’s gig that quickly dwindled to less than a handful post intermission.
With hand picked security jumping on any cell phone camera wielding fan and lighting that made it almost impossible to pick out any semblance of detail, the show quickly spiraled into a cure for insomnia.
The album and thus the show itself is centered around a Star Wars like future, where a band of rebels try to overthrow the mighty oppressive empire. Unfortunately, there are too many choir moments, the dominance of acoustic guitars supported by a full orchestra and not enough head banging or axe shredding for this fan. The songs themselves individually are masterpieces of lyrical quality and inspiration, but when combined over the course of the roller-coaster of a show, there are too many lows and not enough highs to keep you interested curtain to curtain.
It’s been 15 years since the release of their classic Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory and the true fans have hung in, but this show was way over the top and will fail to draw any new members to their base of support. This was a night to remember and quickly forget……alas I know the real Dream Theater will come back soon and this nightmare will have ended.