YTSEJAM Digest 3411 Today's Topics: 1) Hartford Concert Review (SPOILERS) by Jeremy Aaron Smith 2) Magellan by "George Szumski" 3) Hartford Concert Review 2 (SPOILERS) by Jeremy Aaron Smith 4) Re: YTSEJAM digest 3409 by Brian Larkin 5) Re: Show by email_address_removed (Mitchell Foy) 6) FII/rock on the radio by Pat Sullivan 7) 4 Month anlysis & Album sales(DTC) by Steve Godbout 8) Re: YTSEJAM digest 3410 by Lars Hellsten 9) Re: YNM on VA/WashDC radio... by belhai1 10) Re: YTSEJAM digest 3410 by Graham Boyle 11) Other Hartford Comments by "Fillmore, Mitchell" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 18:53:12 -0500 (EST) From: Jeremy Aaron Smith To: email_address_removed Subject: Hartford Concert Review (SPOILERS) Message-ID: Hey 'jammers! Here's my review of the January 2 Dream Theater concert in Hartford, CT. I just want to preface it by mentioning that I heard JLMB on the radio last night! It was played by Dr. Metal (who is thanked in the I&W liner notes) of WHJY-FM here in Rhode Island. Anyway, this was one of the best shows I've seen them do. The whole band seemed to be in a good mood and enjoying themselves throughout the show. This was my seventh time seeing DT (I've seen them at least once each year since 1993) and the second time on this tour (I was at the 10/29/97 Toronto show). Since they had cancelled the January 3 show in Providence, this was the next best thing. The drive was only about an hour-and-a-half, so it wasn't really a big deal anyway. I got to the Webster Theatre around 8 p.m. and talked with Pat Sullivan, Joe Christina, Skadz, and D-Man for a little while. Pat, Joe, and I waited in line for tickets for a little while, and then I went inside and joined Skadz and D-Man while the others waited for a couple of friends. By the way, my ticket said 991 on it, so I'm guesstimating there ended up being 1500-2000 people at the show. We sat in back making fun of Big Wreck while they played (I actually think they're OK, but they're still fun to make fun of). The band joked around too, playing a few bars of Smoke on the Water and the singer belting out "Teenage Wasteland!" at the end of "The Oaf." :) They played about seven songs, and then we moved up toward the front to join a few other 'jammers (hi Erica, Sarah, Mike, and whoever else was there!). They played some Liquid Tension stuff and the standard FII demo songs before the show, and then on came The Rooster. It seems like there were a lot of hardocre DT fans there, since a huge cheer erupted when that came on since people know its significance by now. Then came the music from A Clockwork Orange, and then Derek walked on stage. Here's a rundown of the concert itself, song by song. Lines in the Sand: Derek started into it, doing his shaking and shimmying and generally getting the crowd hyped up. He had the lava lamps going again, too. The rest of the band came on stage and were pretty fired up. James started in, but his microphone wasn't working right for a few seconds. He made an annoyed face, looked like he flipped a switch on the mike, and sang the rest of the song without a hitch. Sometime during the song, Mike hocked a big loogie clear across to the front of the stage and sent the crowd into hysterics. :) (hey, I want to make this detailed...) Burning My Soul: James announced it as the first single off of FII after doing the "Hellooooo, Hartford!", "We just released a new album...", etc. A mosh pit broke out right next to us a few seconds into the song. Skadz and D-Man were right on the edge of it and grabbed a couple of kids and had a few words with them. Most of the crowd seemed to also be getting pissed with the pit, and it stopped a little while later. Meanwhile, James was running around the stage, twisting and turning along with the song. Voices: The band started with a slow intro, and when I heard Mike play on the blocks (might've been cowbells), I screamed out "Oh my God!", thinking they were going to start into Trial of Tears. The others seemed to think the same thing, as they had looks of disbelief on the faces. But then DT broke into Voices, and we felt a bit sheepish. Not that Voices was really a downer, just that it would've been cool to hear ToT since I haven't heard them play it live before (I guess they've only done it a couple of times?). Actually, Voices kicked butt as usual. This led into... The Silent Man: They played the electric version, pretty much the same as the times they've played it before. I like the jazziness of it, but I can't say for certain whether I like it better than the acoustic version. Under a Glass Moon: Same as usual, except they broke into sort of a swing beat for a few seconds right before "beneath a summer sky, under glass moonlight..." I think they might've done it before, but I'm not sure. Kinda nifty. You Not Me: Finally, a song I hadn't heard live before. :) Not one of my favorite DT songs, but it was a decent live song. I think the pit started up for a bit here too but subsided quickly. By the way, this one has been getting some play on the radio here lately too. Hollow Years: Another one I hadn't heard live before, since they had played Take Away My Pain instead when I saw them in Toronto. Pretty mellow, and much of the crowd was singing along. I dug in my pockets for my lighter, then remembered I don't smoke. :) One of these days I'll have to pick up a lighter just to bring to concerts for songs like this (I don't know if anyone else had theirs out, but it seems to fit this song). A Crack in the Mirror/Puppies On Acid: This got the crowd pumped again, and I think there was a bit more pit action. The segue into PoA with JP's sweep was tres cool, and the crowd went ballistic. As has been the case recently, they didn't go into The Mirror from here (they had gone into part of A Change of Seasons in Toronto), but instead started into... Just Let Me Breathe: This song kicks my ass hard every time I hear it. James had the megaphone out for "Big machines will take care of you..." (and it worked this time, unlike in Toronto). However, halfway through the song, his mike died again. He looked really pissed, signalled at the sound guy to fix the problem, then tried using JP's mike, which also didn't work! James looked really flustered, then started laughing. Meanwhile, Mike seized the day :) and sang the "Strike up your best angst-ridden posture..." verse, getting possibly the biggest cheer of the night. Did I mentioon that this song kicked my ass? As if that weren't enough, the band then broke into... Lie: Mike started it out with the fill from the edit version from the Lie single, then they played the rest of the song as normal. JP's solo at the end of this song just might be my favorite guitar solo ever, and he played it flawlessly. Meanwhile, I was just about giving myself whiplash dancing, singing, air-drumming, air-guitaring, etc. during this and the previous song, but I was way too pumped to feel any pain or fatigue. :) OK, I'm going to split this into two parts so my posting doesn't get rejected. As we say on #ytsejam, BRB... Jeremy Wonko on #ytsejam -- Jeremy A. Smith "Feed my head with some real thoughts University of Rochester and let me think instead of being taught email_address_removed .. I'll say things you won't believe Brought to you by the letter: oe Just stand back--just let me breathe!" --DT ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 18:52:43 -0500 From: "George Szumski" To: "Ytsejam" Subject: Magellan Message-ID: <000901bd196b$da29a7c0$message_id_removed> Hello fellow jammers. I went shopping today. I found Magellan: Test Of Wills for $5 in the budget bin. Lucky me. I got it and put it in the changer in the Neon. (quit laughing, the system in that car rocks!) I like this cd. It really rocks! I have a question about Cynic. If I see it in the budget bin again, should I get it? Get back to me privately on this at email_address_removed Thanks! Till next time, G. ---------------------------------------------------------------- I'm a drummer. I play the radio real good. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 18:55:48 -0500 (EST) From: Jeremy Aaron Smith To: email_address_removed Subject: Hartford Concert Review 2 (SPOILERS) Message-ID: Hey 'jammers! OK, here's the rest of my review of the Hartford show. Guitar Solo/Peruvian Skies: JP did a cool little solo, kinda jazzy, and I'm almost positive that a few bars of it came directly from part of The Gorilla Sessions track from Subconscious. I'll have to listen to it again to make sure. After a couple of minutes, he started up the intro to Peruvian Skies and then the rest of the band kicked in. The crowd slowly got worked up again and everyone was rocking hard by the end of the song. One thing I've noticed lately is that DT has done a really good job of placing slow and fast songs in the right places in the show, getting the crowd pumped, then giving them a breather for a bit, then getting them riled up again. Pull Me Under: The usual. I don't remember ever not hearing this at a show. Not that's it's a problem--I love the song, and every band has to have their standard songs. Hey, it's the song that got me into DT, so I can't complain. A Change of Seasons Parts III and IV: Part III was played without James singing, but everyone piped in with "Goodbye!" and "Please don't go!", including MP for the latter. I still can't believe how fast JM's and JP's fingers during that synchronized fast part in Part IV. Mike changed his drum fill in the middle to a funny little bit on the cowbells. This led into... The Ytse Jam: The lone song from WDADU still being played, and it was as kick-ass as ever. During the solo series, the band cranked into warp speed and I almost needed a change of pants. :) Mike then broke into his drum solo, throwing in a teaser of the intro to 6:00. The band came back in for the rest of the song, then went into... A New Millennium: This started with the part about 30 seconds into the studio version of the song, with JM tapping away on the Chapman Stick. It's quite a sight to see him in action with that thing. The rest of the song was pretty much the same as normal, and this is how the main set ended. The band left the stage, and then came back on a couple of minutes later to play an encore of... Metropolis: We were all hoping to see Nightmare Cinema, but I guess this was the next best thing. They played a few teasers throughout the song, throwing in bits of Cupid's Dead by Extreme and Smoke on the Water in the middle during the instrumental section. Of course, everyone freaked out as usual during JM's tapping solo. At the end of the song, Mike started playing the beat from the end of To Live Forever on the bass drums, but unfortunately that was only a teaser too. I couldn't see it from where I was standing, but evidently, from what D-Man told us, Mike had pointed at him and mouthed the words "To Live Forever," at which point D-Man almost had a heart attack. :) After the show, we hung around in front of the stage with a few other 'jammers, hoping to snag set lists and just shooting the shit with each other. Someone told Vinnie, the sound engineer, that he had mixed the bass too loudly and he cracked back, "Hey, I don't tell you how to empty the garbage!" We all died laughing. We moved to the back of the theater so the roadies could do their work, and we hoped some of the band would come out there. After that didn't happen, we went outside for a while. James was out there signing autographs when we got there, but he went into the tour bus before we could talk to him or get autographs. A little while later, Mike came out (Derek and JM were already on the tour bus). I had him autograph my ticket and a review of the Toronto show that I had written for my school's newspaper. I also gave him a copy of the article to give to each guy in the band, so hopefully they'll read it and like it. He thought it was pretty cool. Mike stayed out there with us for about 20 minutes. He told us that the Liquid Tension CD would be out in March (although Skadz had told me February 24th earlier) and gave people tips about different drumming techniques and the like. He also showed us a picture of his daughter Melody. The rest of the 'jammers left at this point, but I walked to my car and drove it around to the front so it would be in a safer place. When I got back, JP was there, so I got the ticket and article autographed by him too. He told us that Metropolis Part II would actually probably come out on the next full album, rather than being on an EP. Both he and Mike were very personable to everyone and signed autographs for everyone who was there. And that was that! I think I got all the interesting bits of the night in there. I had a great time the whole night--it definitely adds something to have a bunch of 'jammers with whom I can watch the concert. As I mentioned to some of them, it's a bit surreal to be talking about all of our in-jokes from the list when we're actually standing there talking to each other in real life. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed my review! Jeremy Wonko on #ytsejam P.S. In case you missed it the first time around and want to read it (I had posted it to the Ytsejam a couple of months ago you can find my review of the Toronto show at http://www.ct.rochester.edu. It's in the Previous Issues section, in the November 6, 1997 issue, in Features. I can also e-mail it to you if you want me to. -- Jeremy A. Smith "Feed my head with some real thoughts University of Rochester and let me think instead of being taught email_address_removed .. I'll say things you won't believe Brought to you by the letter: oe Just stand back--just let me breathe!" --DT ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 19:23:06 -0500 From: Brian Larkin To: email_address_removed Subject: Re: YTSEJAM digest 3409 Message-ID: At 01:09 AM 1/4/98 -0800, you wrote: >* John Petrucci as The Guitar Master: It's just so intimidating to watch >this guy play sometimes. He makes playing look so damn effortless. I'm used >to guitarists on stage contorting and doing all kinds o' funky shit during >solos. JP just stares out over the crowd with the look of "I AM the guitar. >You will all bow before me, as you are not worthy." Intimidating, yeah - especially if u play. Sometimes when I [try to] play something fast or flashy I find myself making the weirdest faces :) He just stands there with that look u were describing (I AM the guitar), and it all looks (and sounds) PERFECT. . . cArPe DiEm, -(bRiAn)- ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 21:16:01 -0500 From: email_address_removed (Mitchell Foy) To: email_address_removed Subject: Re: Show Message-ID: Kevin, >>Last night I had the honor of paying 27 dollars to see DT in a club. Was this including dinner or does a DT show actually cost that much? >>It tasted like it had been sitting in the refrigerator for two years, >>waiting for >>a customer stupid enough to order it ..and you were it. :-) >>A strange woman fondles Steve. She moves on to fondle several others as the >>night went on. Leather Jacket and Sasquatch bump through Pat. Bad sign #4 >>leave, >>possibly overheated. Bad sign #2 keep going. Get a room! Bad signs #1 and >>#3 are >>really cooking (heh heh). DT plays a few different songs this time >>around. YNM >>sounds better than it does on the cd. Nirvana follows. Leather Jacket >>gets tossed >>out of the way by Studious Boy Wonder. Sasquatch is in full effect. Show ends. Now THAT is a concert review! Good Job. -Jeff ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 21:14:53 -0500 From: Pat Sullivan To: email_address_removed Subject: FII/rock on the radio Message-ID: >First of all, I think it would have been much better if HK was still a part >of BMS. The FII BMS sounds like an average metallica song and nothing more, yet >the fix shows' BMS had a more DT sound and sounded more unique. That's kind of an odd statement. How can the two pieces sound like DT when played together, but NOT sound like them when they took them apart? I'm not quite sure what you mean. My reaction at the Fix show was that BMS was a good song, but I *didn't* like the little happy interlude (HK) that was in the middle of it. I thought it took away from the angry mood of the song. >YNM, HY, TAMP & AL just ruin the flow and focus of the album...why does DT always >have to ruin their albums with boring pop ballads? (I&W being the exception) Because that's who they are and that's what they do. I'm sure that they're very upset that you don't approve. >What's up with writing about every radio station you heard DT on, any chart >DT made it into, etc (as Ivan-Assen Ivanov put it "I heard DT on the radio, >oh joyous hour!"). Because, frankly, it's not that common an occurrence. I would imagine that if this were a Metallica list (and it was about 10 years ago), people would get the same thrill out of a relatively unknown band getting some much-deserved public exposure. > It's not a surprise that with their most commercial release >they would get recognition from the radio Actually, yes, I think it *is* a surprise. Look at it this way: if DT was an established radio phenomenon, nobody would mention hearing their stuff on the radio because it would be a regular occurrence. But, it isn't and people on here get excited when it happens. _____Pat Sullivan_____________________________________ E-Mail: email_address_removed WWW: http://www.ici.net/cust_pages/psull/psull.html IRC: DDictator ICQ: 2049374 ______________________________________________________ It's not hard to meet expenses, they're everywhere. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 04 Jan 1998 21:15:51 -0500 From: Steve Godbout To: YTSEJAM Mailing list Subject: 4 Month anlysis & Album sales(DTC) Message-ID: Hi all! I get a feeling I'm going to ruffle some feathers here but hey, this is just my opinion and a wiseman once said "opinions are like assholes, everybody has one and they all stink". So please bear with me if you must flame, do it privately. For the last 3 or four years now I have been drinking, eating sleeping and breathing DT. These guys to me are musical gods and they remain so to this day. On the 23rd of september I was in a plane somwhere between Hawaii and the city of Quebec, Canada. Back home at 8h00 in the morning of the 24th, I was back up at 1 pm and in the record store 20 minutes later to buy FII. What is to follow my friend is the conclusions I came to after listening to this album for four months. At first, I was not able to put my finger on what bugged me about FII. In fact, it took me all of three months. I kept comming back to Awake and I&W trying to find out what was so different, apart of course for the greater number of radio prone ballads such as HY AL and TAMP. The other songs all showed off the musical talent we've all come to expect from DT but still, something was missing. If you take apart a song from Awake or I&W (Almost any song of these two albums), you'll find out that every part is different from the one preceeding it or the one after it. There is absolutely no way to get bored, no two parts of a song are alike. Seldomly are the changes subtle and mostly, there is absolutely no comparison possible. But, for FII, the story is different. As I see it, only four songs off FII acheive the same level of intra-song complexity: ANM, PS, HK and ToT. All the other songs, while still being technically overwhelming, follow a very simple and "accessible" approach (i.e. verse, chorus, verse, chorus, solo, verse, chorus or some variation). BMS is the most flagrant example I can give you. Even LiTS follows this to some degree if you compare it to the Fix for 96 version. So there you have it, IMHO, FII, while still technically flabergasting (for the most part), in itself contains song that are mostly, sould I say, intended to be more acessible to the general, untrained ear. Don't get me wrong, I still respect DT a lot. I am still a hardcore fan and I hope that these guys will get the recongnition they deserve. The way I see it, I can stand a few ALs or HYs or even "The Silent man"'s on an album if it ensures a futur for the band and great music for years to come. It a shame though, that after three years or so of waiting for this new album to come out we, the dedicated fans, were only allowed 20 or 30 minutes of bliss on a 78 minute album. This, I repeat is only my opinion and haviong expressed it, I feel better. Take care! Steve Godbout email_address_removed ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 21:58:39 -0500 (EST) From: Lars Hellsten To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: YTSEJAM digest 3410 Message-ID: > Ok, I was away for a week and I'd like to make a point about DT's lyrics vs. music It's too bad you came back... :) > YNM, HY, TAMP & AL just ruin the flow and focus of the album...why does DT always > have to ruin their albums with boring pop ballads? (I&W being the exception) I agree about YNM, but personally I'm starting to like HY more and more every time I listen to it, and I also really like TAMP and AL. I'm more concerned about DT ruining their albums with boring cheesy metal songs like YNM and BMS. And I don't see where Awake and WDADU are "ruined by boring pop ballads". What are the pop ballads on Awake? TSM? It's one of my least favourite songs on Awake, but I think it fits perfectly within AMBI and doesn't ruin the flow at all. And am I the only one who likes Innocence Faded? When I listen to it, I'm just completely blown away by JLB. And what are the pop ballads on WDADU? > Are you saying that Hollow Years is a musically brilliant song? That depends on what you call brilliant. It's brilliant compared to most contemporary music, but doesn't stand out as brilliant within what DT has done. > I was out visiting a friend in Leesburg, Virginia, and on 97.8 (I think) I > heard "You Not Me"...TWICE!! Once in the evening about 9pm, and once at I went to an HMV at a local mall today (it's the first time I've been to a decent music store in months - the only music stores in Waterloo where I go to school are about the size of my bedroom), and they had 10 copies of FII on the shelf! I was really surprised, 'cause DT don't seem to be as popular in Canada as they are in the US, and this particular store has always been really crappy in terms of selection (before FII, they didn't have ANY DT in stock, ever!) ... when Awake and ACOS came out, I was lucky to be able to *find* them. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jan 1998 22:58:06 -0500 (EST) From: belhai1 To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: YNM on VA/WashDC radio... Message-ID: On Sun, 4 Jan 1998, Dan Temmesfeld wrote: > I was out visiting a friend in Leesburg, Virginia, and on 97.8 (I think) I > heard "You Not Me"...TWICE!! Once in the evening about 9pm, and once at > around 2 or 3pm in the afternoon. SAure, there are way better songs on the > album,m but at least this is a step in the right direction. At least this > radio station is playing the follow-up single, and not just stopping after > BMS. Yep...I heard YNM on 98 Rock (97.9) around 3 pm too. Is it just me or is 98 Rock getting even better? They now play DT every day and have always played Queensryche and Rush. Now all they need is some King's X. :) Brandon ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 05 Jan 1998 14:57:48 +1000 From: Graham Boyle To: email_address_removed Subject: Re: YTSEJAM digest 3410 Message-ID: Lars Hellsten wrote: > I agree about YNM, but personally I'm starting to like HY more and more > every time I listen to it, and I also really like TAMP and AL. I'm more > concerned about DT ruining their albums with boring cheesy metal songs > like YNM and BMS. I'd take AL, TAMP and HY over the 'edam aroma' of YNM and BMS any day :) > > Are you saying that Hollow Years is a musically brilliant song? > > That depends on what you call brilliant. It's brilliant compared to > most contemporary music, but doesn't stand out as brilliant within > what DT has done. Almost brilliant, if they'd done something more with the chorus it would be perfect to me, though the melody and harmonies are brilliant, not to mention JP's solo. graham ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 4 Jan 98 22:49:00 -0500 From: "Fillmore, Mitchell" To: "mail@c2uucp {email_address_removed}" Subject: Other Hartford Comments Message-ID: Hey to all you other folks that got a chance to attend the Hartford CT show. Couple of comments on it: Big Wreck opened for DT and rocked. The lead guitarist and vox can seriously play. I was having a Jimi Hendrix / SRV / Van Halen / Chris Cornell moment when looking at him and hearing him play. Great opener for DT except for a bunch of drunk punks in the crowd totally heckling the lead singer of Big Wreck, what losers... Anyway, I did end up hanging near the sound board for the show. In between Big Wreck and DT they were playing DT demos and unreleased songs. I chatted with the sound guys briefly enough to learn that. Also I know what to get JP for Christmas...yep, you guessed it, a raincoat for all those flying spits and lungers that MP pulls from his lung cavity. Christ, the guy spit for nearly the whole show --- those poor roadies that have to break down his and JP equipment, can we say break out the Lysol... I'm also not too impressed by Derek Sherinian. I think he's a great player and sounded at home on the songs that he worked on...but when playing some of the KM stuff from previous albums it looked and sounded like he wasn't 100% on the money... granted I couldn't even figure out how to probably turn on his keyboard, but it wasn't KM. Not being impressed with Derek didn't detract from the show one bit. JLB and MP made up for it. JLB's voice sounded rested and sure... He totally hit everything for the whole show. MP is a friggin NUT! He's a show in himself. Jumping in with the lyrics when JLB's mike wasn't working and just giving off 150% presence... I've had the new album since release and think it is dynamite. But I was a little disappointed that they didn't do Surrounded, Another Day or even Take Away My Pain which would have been a nice addition to the set. I was amazed to hear Voices...amazingly executed and I probably could have went home happy after that. Big bummer for all those MA, NH, RI, and CT people (including myself) who were going to make the trek to the Strand in Providence RI. I guess it closed down about 2 weeks ago (after the DT show had been booked on Jan 3) and there is no immediate date for reopening it. Would have been great to catch DT 2 nights in a row... Take it easy... Mitchman Watertown MA email_address_removed ------------------------------ End of YTSEJAM Digest 3411 **************************