Dream Theater/Trivium - Nokia Theater Los Angeles CA 9/11
By Jeffrey Easton
Was this the most mismatched bill of the year or marketing genius? Dream Theater usually shares the bill with bands of their ilk but why not break out and show your fans something different? Trivium was the perfect choice and not because they are label mates but because like Theater, they are indeed musically inclined as well. Trivium comes across brash and brutally heavy at times but they can play, lets never mask that fact and Theaters fans took to them in great fashion as well. Trivium blew the stage up at the Nokia when they landed with a thud with their blistering new track In Waves. In Waves is also the title of their new record and its masterfully sick. Drowned And Torn Asunder from Ascendancy took the heaviness up a notch and the fans went right with it, these are Dream Theater fans and they were with it. I know there were plenty of Trivium fans in attendance but it seems as if they were drowned out. The new record was again represented with the sickening Caustic Are The Ties That Bind and Built To Fall before going back in time for Ignition and Kirisute Gomen. These guys are still young and have plenty of more records in them and if they keep exposing themselves to new fans they will have thousands of reasons to keep going…
Dream theater live, not many bands can top the spectacle of their tours as they are perfectly immense. A Dramatic Turn Of Events is the new record and it has to be their best yet, these guys do not let dust settle on them, they just keep moving forward. The songs are superb and the musicianship never slows down, keeps finding new avenues to discover. So with that being said, the tour, reflecting the new album, is amazing. The new records are always well represented and Dramatic is no exception here. The amazing and super catchy, this could be their next Pull Me Under, Build Me Up Break Me Down, Breaking All Illusions, On The Backs Of Angels and the superb show opener Bridges in The Sky. A Dramatic Turn Events represents a new chapter with Dream Theater as of course this is Mike Mangini’s first record with them and it is just a jaw dropping movement. The band has gelled with Mike, as if he has been there since day one. The back catalog is always plumbed well and the fans were moved with stellar performances of Fatal Tragedy, Far From Heaven, These Walls as well as Wait For Sleep and The Great Debate. Mike was given the opportunity to show the LA Crowd his chops during an amazing drum solo, his talents are seriously superior. Of course the band did throw in Pull Me Under, as the show closer as James reminded the crowd he has played this about 2,000 times. This tour was well put together, well executed and worth every moment I spent at the Nokia Theater. If you miss DT and Trivium during this set you have missed the best of two worlds of metal.
Official Trivium Site
Official Dream Theater Site
