Progressive Nation Tour
By Rei Nishimoto
Progressive rock music is a genre that has been overlooked by the mainstream but still attracted a fan base unlike other styles of music. Since its earliest acts in the 1970s, such as Kansas and King Crimson, musicians have been keeping the spirit of progressive music alive through various forms.
Dream Theater has been one of the biggest bands to fuse progressive rock influences with heavy metal and fusion to create some of the most exciting sounds that fans have grown to love. For almost two decades, they have created music that incorporates concepts from mystery stories to various theories that is played along to occasional instrumental jam sessions.
Tonight's set was a condensed version of what Dream Theater fans expected from the band. An exciting video intro that flashed a computer animation of an ant that set the tone for the evening, giving fans the feeling of the musical journey the band was taking the fans on.
Keyboardist Jordan Rudess set the tone for the band, bringing the crowd into each song. His swiveling keyboard dome was set up to give a Sci-Fi like feeling when on stage, and somewhat like the Master of Ceremonies like persona throughout the night. But, drummer Mike Portnoy is the star of the band, with his rock n'roll personality behind his two dimensional drum kit, switching kits in between each song. His energetic style kept the crowd excited for more, and his arms waving to keep the crowd participating throughout the evening.
While frontman James LaBrie's role live was minimized, as the band incorporated more instrumental jams than songs with vocals. While his vocals are in no way a weak point within the band, Dream Theater fed off of the crowd reactions to the instrumental portions of their set.
By Rei Nishimoto
Progressive rock music is a genre that has been overlooked by the mainstream but still attracted a fan base unlike other styles of music. Since its earliest acts in the 1970s, such as Kansas and King Crimson, musicians have been keeping the spirit of progressive music alive through various forms.
Dream Theater has been one of the biggest bands to fuse progressive rock influences with heavy metal and fusion to create some of the most exciting sounds that fans have grown to love. For almost two decades, they have created music that incorporates concepts from mystery stories to various theories that is played along to occasional instrumental jam sessions.
Tonight's set was a condensed version of what Dream Theater fans expected from the band. An exciting video intro that flashed a computer animation of an ant that set the tone for the evening, giving fans the feeling of the musical journey the band was taking the fans on.
Keyboardist Jordan Rudess set the tone for the band, bringing the crowd into each song. His swiveling keyboard dome was set up to give a Sci-Fi like feeling when on stage, and somewhat like the Master of Ceremonies like persona throughout the night. But, drummer Mike Portnoy is the star of the band, with his rock n'roll personality behind his two dimensional drum kit, switching kits in between each song. His energetic style kept the crowd excited for more, and his arms waving to keep the crowd participating throughout the evening.
While frontman James LaBrie's role live was minimized, as the band incorporated more instrumental jams than songs with vocals. While his vocals are in no way a weak point within the band, Dream Theater fed off of the crowd reactions to the instrumental portions of their set.
Their overall show was very energetic and the fans loved every moment of the night. But one downfall was that they cut out long time favorites such as 'Pull Me Under' from their setlist, which was a surprise. Whether this will be a move that will continue onto future tours will be seen when they come back through.
Swedish progressive doom metallers Opeth have come a long way since their underground death metal days back in the early 1990s. Since that time, they have been through numerous lineup changes and have traded Pink Floyd-like parts in place of simple blasting drums and roaring guitars.
Frontman Mikael Akerfeldt is the sole original member of the band, and his vision of creating music that fused death metal and progressive rock has began to take on a life of its own. Much of their songs they performed still have the heavy guitar tones, rooted to their death metal influences. But they have cited influences such as Uriah Heep and worked in swinging guitar melodies to alternate with the heavier parts and keyboard parts to compliment the rest of the music.
Akerfeldt mainly belted out raw, guttural vocals throughout the set, but on occasional moments, there are some cleaner vocal parts that have drawn in new fans over the years. Songs like 'Wreath' had won over fans over the past few years, and the fans singing along with them proved that metal fans are not the only ones who have grown to appreciate Opeth's music.
Between the Buried and Me is part of the new wave of neo-progressive metal/rock, and their exciting sound incorporates thrashy guitar parts with guttural vocals, that fans of modern heavy metal and metallic hardcore have grown to love. While much of their sound is on the metallic side, they have a slowed down progressive style that are equal parts ISIS as much as Porcupine Tree. While they appealed more to the younger fans, Between the Buried and Me are definitely an exciting band to watch out for.
Show openers 3 played a brief set of traditional progressive rock music, featuring two drummers, a bassist, a guitarist and a vocalist who also doubled on guitar. They brought a modernized twist to progressive rock while bringing their own fresh approaches to their sound. Frontman Joey Eppard fused lots of energy into their sound and gave the people in the crowd a taste of a new generation of progressive rock.
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