Ok I'm done with Dream Theater now. Next time they come around I won't be going. The reason being that I just saw the definitive DT show. It can't get any better than this as far as DT is concerned. I am by no means a huge DT fan in the first place and I nearly didn't go to this at all what with the ginormous ticket price but curiosity for the I&W tour got the better of me and luckily for me I nabbed a ticket for a reasonable amount. I settled in for a night of triumphant progressive metal from the undisputed heavyweight champions of the genre.
The band started an initial hour long set of fan faves from albums other than I&W as a sort of warm up for the main set if you will. The sound was absolutely immense. Crystal clear in all departments. Labrie's vocals were spot on but a little shrill or whiny shall we say but he never had a single real problem as many envisaged he might have considering the length of the set. His somewhat airy fairy voice still sounds a bit odd coming from such an imposing figure! I'll never be his biggest fan but who listens to DT for vocals anyway. Everyone's here to witness one of the most revered prog metal albums ever recorded.
The first set passed by fairly quickly with notable moments being the two Astonishing tracks and the heavy As I Am which had an Enter Sandman snippet in the middle which was pretty cool. After an hour they took a 20 minute intermission before returning for the main event with the fans reaching boiling point in anticipation of hearing these 25 year old songs once again. The familiar strains of Pull Me Under has the crowd in full voice come the chorus with its most recognisable refrain. After that, I don't really recall the whole album much at all to be honest since I haven't heard it in maybe 20 years. I'm here for the vibes, the feelings of class prog metal wizardry and the amazingly slick musicianship and I got all three in spades!
The technical aspects of their playing is simply top notch. After all these years they've probably never sounded tighter or better. Some of the passages that I used to love in I&W come flooding back to me as I hear them played live and it's like a nostalgia trip into early prog metal history for me. Metropolis pt 1 was awesome especially the amazing instrumental parts although they did incorporate a superfluous Mangini drum solo in the middle which we could've done without, but I guess it gave the others a breather if not us.
Petrucci was the typical mad prog metal axeman all night. He has the prog guitar aficionados eating out of his hand all night with those mesmeric riff and solo passages. Keysman Rudess was obviously no slouch either and ran him close in the wizardry stakes. People around me and below sang all the words back at Labrie pretty much all night. The last notes of Learning to Live were treated as if they were the last time that song will ever be played and cheered like the second coming! DT fans are really very passionate that's for sure. though they never instilled that passion in me to be fair, but you couldn't help but admire the band's capabilities in bringing their fans exactly what they want.
The band said their thank yous and goodbyes but of course that wasn't it. There was the little matter of the A Change of Seasons encore which added another 25 minutes to the set time. I actually bought that EP man many moons ago on cassette as I recall. Then later on I bought I&W on cd afterwards funnily enough. The fans got their money's worth for sure with 2 hours 40 min of DT prog metal perfection.
Like I said at the beginning though, I'll be done with DT now. Seen them 3 times and I think that's enough don't you? :-)
Act 1:
The Dark Eternal Night
The Bigger Picture
Hell's Kitchen
The Gift of Music
Our New World
Portrait of Tracy
(Jaco Pastorius cover) (played by John Myung)
As I Am
(bridged with a part of Metallica's Enter Sandman)
Breaking All Illusions
Act 2 (Images and Words):
Happy New Year 1992
Pull Me Under
Another Day
(extended outro with Jordan Rudess' solo)
Take the Time
(extended outro with John Petrucci's guitar solo from the song Glasgow Kiss)
Surrounded
Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper
(with a drum solo by Mike Mangini)
Under a Glass Moon
Wait for Sleep
(with extended keyboard intro)
Learning to Live
Encore:
A Change of Seasons: I The Crimson Sunrise
A Change of Seasons: II Innocence
A Change of Seasons: III Carpe Diem
A Change of Seasons: IV The Darkest of Winters
A Change of Seasons: V Another World
A Change of Seasons: VI The Inevitable Summer
A Change of Seasons: VII The Crimson Sunset
Showing posts with label hammersmith apollo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hammersmith apollo. Show all posts
Monday, 24 April 2017
Saturday, 30 May 2015
Toto - Live at the Hammersmith Apollo 26th May 2015
Well I can never claim to be the biggest Toto fan the world's ever seen but who can say they don't love the classic hits of these old timer legends of the rock game? When I read that they would be playing the Hammy Apollo I nabbed a ticket for said show although the ticket price was of course not cheap but this was the first time for me with these old codgers so I begrudgingly paid up my cash and waited for showtime.
The show was billed as an Evening with Toto and no support was listed which was ok by me as we get to see and hear more Toto for our money. What can I say about these guys as an opening statement. They were bloody superb! I didn't expect to enjoy the gig this much but they were truly awesome at times and played with so much conviction and style. The new album has taken time to reveal it's charms to me but it's getting there and I'm starting to love many of the songs now and hearing them live as well has helped no end. I've since gone back to the album in the days after this gig and I have a whole new appreciation for the songs that I heard live. Some of the jazzy parts to the songs still don't resonate with me but the melodies really are superbly crafted.
Hearing the band live in all their pomp and glory was a spectacular sight as the curtain fell and the band launched into Running out of time from the new album, a song I've grown to love with repeated plays. The band played a mix between old and new and I must admit I did not fully recognise some older songs as a result. All the new tunes played went down superbly well with the crowd. I loved Orphan and especially the awesome progressive track Great Expectations from the new CD. Of course no Toto gig is complete without the big three, you know the ones, ok I'll spell it out - Hold The Line, Rosanna and set closer Africa, and all were played and sang to perfection by Joseph Williams. Steve Lukather of course sang a couple of songs with help from the crowd as he was suffering a bad cold and his voice was failing him somewhat but he did ok. On his guitar, he was in shit hot form and played up a storm including a blistering lead solo section doing Hendrix's Little Wing.
On bass was their old bassist David Hungate whose bass was actually on a stand as his back couldn't take carrying a guitar for more than two hours bless him. The guy played well though. For me the star of the show though was definitely lead singer Joseph Williams. the guy was flawless throughout and nailed every note. His voice was pitch perfect and went high and low as the song needed with effortless ease. A commanding performance by the man really.
At the end of a two and a quarter hour set the band were greeted like Gods by the crowd and left with huge cheers ringing in their ears. They put on a great show with all members playing and singing their hearts out.
I can't say if I would ever go and see Toto again should they come this was again but I'm glad I saw them this time and it was well worth the money in the end to see these legends still going and strong and delivering what their fans expect and want.
Running Out of Time
I'll Supply the Love
Burn
Stranger in Town
I Won't Hold You Back
Holy War
Hold the Line
Takin' It Back
Pamela
Bottom of Your Soul
Caught in the Balance
Without Your Love
Little Wing
(The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Orphan
The Road Goes On
Great Expectations
Rosanna
Encore:
On the Run
Child's Anthem
Goodbye Elenore
Encore 2:
The Muse
White Sister
Africa
The show was billed as an Evening with Toto and no support was listed which was ok by me as we get to see and hear more Toto for our money. What can I say about these guys as an opening statement. They were bloody superb! I didn't expect to enjoy the gig this much but they were truly awesome at times and played with so much conviction and style. The new album has taken time to reveal it's charms to me but it's getting there and I'm starting to love many of the songs now and hearing them live as well has helped no end. I've since gone back to the album in the days after this gig and I have a whole new appreciation for the songs that I heard live. Some of the jazzy parts to the songs still don't resonate with me but the melodies really are superbly crafted.
Hearing the band live in all their pomp and glory was a spectacular sight as the curtain fell and the band launched into Running out of time from the new album, a song I've grown to love with repeated plays. The band played a mix between old and new and I must admit I did not fully recognise some older songs as a result. All the new tunes played went down superbly well with the crowd. I loved Orphan and especially the awesome progressive track Great Expectations from the new CD. Of course no Toto gig is complete without the big three, you know the ones, ok I'll spell it out - Hold The Line, Rosanna and set closer Africa, and all were played and sang to perfection by Joseph Williams. Steve Lukather of course sang a couple of songs with help from the crowd as he was suffering a bad cold and his voice was failing him somewhat but he did ok. On his guitar, he was in shit hot form and played up a storm including a blistering lead solo section doing Hendrix's Little Wing.
On bass was their old bassist David Hungate whose bass was actually on a stand as his back couldn't take carrying a guitar for more than two hours bless him. The guy played well though. For me the star of the show though was definitely lead singer Joseph Williams. the guy was flawless throughout and nailed every note. His voice was pitch perfect and went high and low as the song needed with effortless ease. A commanding performance by the man really.
At the end of a two and a quarter hour set the band were greeted like Gods by the crowd and left with huge cheers ringing in their ears. They put on a great show with all members playing and singing their hearts out.
I can't say if I would ever go and see Toto again should they come this was again but I'm glad I saw them this time and it was well worth the money in the end to see these legends still going and strong and delivering what their fans expect and want.
Running Out of Time
I'll Supply the Love
Burn
Stranger in Town
I Won't Hold You Back
Holy War
Hold the Line
Takin' It Back
Pamela
Bottom of Your Soul
Caught in the Balance
Without Your Love
Little Wing
(The Jimi Hendrix Experience cover)
Orphan
The Road Goes On
Great Expectations
Rosanna
Encore:
On the Run
Child's Anthem
Goodbye Elenore
Encore 2:
The Muse
White Sister
Africa
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