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Queensryche, Dream Theater, and Fates Warning
August 2nd 2003 at The Paramount, Seattle Washington
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First off, let me thank the kind people who assisted me in getting my 3 separate photo passes for his concert: Sefany from KNAC.com, Michelle from Metal Blade, and Jason at Annie Ohayon Media Relations. You folks helped me in getting what I consider to be the best shots I've ever taken and I couldn't have done it without you. Cheers to you all! I showed up at the Paramount 45 minutes before the show was scheduled to begin. After downing my 2 traditional double kamikazes I headed to will call to pick up my tickets and passes. I was quite disappointed by the seats I purchased from one of the artists fan club. They claimed their seats are among the best in the house but in reality they were 28 rows back, next time I'll take my chances with TicketBastard. However, it ended up not posing a problem as I spent the majority of the show right in front of the stage, my favorite place to be!
The bottom line for this show is that it was among the best concerts I have ever seen in my life, and I have seen a lot of them, one that I will never forget. Being able to photograph my favorite band from up close made it even more special and the shots will allow me to remember the great time that was provided by the members of all three bands for the rest of my days.
Dream Theater set list: Queensryche set list: Queensryche Encore: Queensryche/Dream Theater encore: Photos from this show can be found in our Photo Gallery and in the Concert Photos section at http://www.blizzardbeast.com/ |
All contents copyright 2008 by Chris Slack unless otherwise specified. Do not reproduce or use without express written consent. Images are presented in low resolution to deter copyright infringement. If you represent one of the artists or a publication/website contact me for licensing information. I do not sell photographs to private parties..
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The
concert started promptly at 7:30 when Fates Warning took the
stage. I was a HUGE fan of the band through the Perfect Symmetry album
but never paid much attention to the later releases due mostly to the
toning down of their heaviness. Despite that, the 5 piece (including
Frank Aresti on guitar!) put on a solid, though short, set for a crowd
that was slowly trickling towards the 2800 mark. Their stage presence
was definitely unique: they had a subtle "elder statesmen of prog
metal" air about them, but seemed very down to earth at the same
time. Ray Alder did a competent job as front man with his strong vocals
and mobility getting the crowd going for the co-headliners. Jim Matheos
showed his guitar prowess with some blistering leads and Mark Zonder
pounded away on the drums with the greatest of ease. Unfortunately the
quality of the performance was greatly affected by crappy sound. The
kick drums were very low in the mix and the bass was muddy as all get
out. Fortunately it wasn't bad enough to make the band themselves sound
bad, one could easily tell that they were totally on the ball and very
tight as a unit. I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if I was
more familiar with the material but regardless of that I was quite impressed
by what I saw and heard.
I
was looking forward to seeing Dream Theater more than any other
band this evening as they are my favorite band and I had not seen them
since November 15, 1997 when they played the Fenix on the "Falling
into Infinity" tour. The sellout crowd at the Paramount went nuts
as soon as they came on stage playing "Overture 1928" and
didn't calm down at all until the final song, "Pull Me Under"
came to it's conclusion. Unlike other times I have seen and heard their
live performances I couldn't make out a single mistake the whole time,
they were simply on fire. John Petrucci reaffirmed his guitar God status
by showing off some of the best shred work I've ever seen but unlike
many other metal/hard rock virtuosos he was able to slow it down and
make his instrument sing with tremendous emotion and power. It sounded
as though James Labrie had been working quite a bit on his voice lately
as my only complaint about his vocals (trying to
hit notes he couldn't do consistently) had been addressed, he was spot
on for everything and showed a great deal of flair with his facial expressions
and hand gestures. Mike Portnoy and John Myung were equally impressive
but, as with Fates Warning, the low end seemed to be plagues
with muddiness that reduced the clarity of the kick drums and bass significantly.
Since I am so familiar with their music it didn't hurt their performance
much but if someone was new to the band it could have caused the music
to be much less impressive. The high point of the set for me and many
others was their 20-odd minute "instrumedley" that consisted
of instrumental portions from a number of DT classics held together
by segments from "Dance of Eternity". I've seen Dream Theater
3 other times and can honestly say that this was the best performance
I'd ever seen from them, the only things that could have made it better,
apart from the sound issues, would have been an encore and a Mike Portnoy
drum solo. I just hope they don't wait another 6 years before coming
back again!
I
didn't expect much from Queensryche as their material since "Promised
Land" really didn't do anything for me but since this is their
hometown and the last date of the tour I thought I'd give them a chance
and see what they could do. After a very brief changeover they took
the stage to a roar that was slightly greater than that which Dream
Theater received, the Seattle fans were very happy to see their local
rockers on stage again. As I anticipated, they started their set with
"Open", a track off their latest album "Tribe".
While it sounded pretty good and the guys looked and sounded impressive
while playing, it was not the Queensryche that I knew and loved.
Once that was done they got me paying attention and singing along by
playing "NM156" off the "Warning" album, one of
my all-time favorites. It only got better from there as they pumped
out (mostly) classic after classic leading up to the highlight of "I
Remember 
Now",
"Anarchy-X", and "Revolution Calling", complete
with visuals from the Video Mindcrime release and other sources. By
the time they finished up their main set with "Eyes of a Stranger"
my voice was pretty much shot from singing along and whooping it up
after each song. The encore wasn't too band but I would have rather
heard something other than "Walk in the Shadows". The crowd
seemed to enjoy it though and that's what really counts. The band played
like the consummate professionals they should be after existing for
so long, they were right on the money all the time with no signs of
fatigue despite being on the road for a decent number of shows. Michael
Wilton was as impressive as always with his solos and stage movements,
Mike Stone did a great job on rhythm guitar (although it did strike
me as odd that he was wearing the hood of his shirt up through most
of the set) and Eddie Jackson and Scott Rockenfield provided a high
quality rhythm section behind them all. Like Labrie, it seems as though
Geoff Tate had been spending some time with a vocal coach before the
tour as he sounded better than he has for a long time.
Although
I knew it was coming (damned Internet), the crowd screamed louder than
any other time in the night after the cover was lifted from Mike Portnoy's
enormous drum kit and the members of both Dream Theater and Queensryche
took the stage. They began with an incredible cover of Pink Floyd's
"Comfortably Numb" that featured some incredible dual vocals
from Tate and Labrie and ended with an extended jam by the lead guitarists
from both bands. That was followed up by "Take Hold of the Flame"
with the big moment for me being James doing the scream at the end of
the song. Seeing Mike Portnoy on Scott Rockenfield's drum set, Scott
on Mike's and both of them together on Mike's was simply amazing as
well! Up next was the DT song, "Peruvian Skies" a mellower
number that had me and the rest of the loyal fans singing along. The
mega-encore concluded with another cover, this time it was The Who's
"Won't Get Fooled Again". Labrie did a pretty good Roger Daltrie
impersonation and we finally got to see some Mike Stone solo work which
wasn't too bad at all. This final encore was the high point of the entire
evening for me, as it's not that often that one gets to see two great
groups performing together, doing each others songs and looking like
they were having the time of their lives.