Dream Theater

WOW! Just ... wow. This may have been the best Dream Theater concert I've ever seen (albeit this was only my fifth, I saw them in 2000, 2005, and three times the last 8 months)
My fiance and I won tickets and meet and greets from the text trivia contest, the only downside to that part was we didn't actually win the package - we only got an extra poster, no shirt, picks, bag, etc .. and our tickets we won were close to the back on the floor .. but we were able to give those away to friends and we used the original tickets we bought the second they were on sale, row 7 middle, which was pretty damn awesome!
The venue was incredible! the Austin City Limits Live Moody Theater isn't the visually striking spectacle that San Antonio's Majestic Theater last night was, but there isn't a bad seat in the house! There's two balcony levels, and they're pretty close to the stage .. and the acoustics were MUCH better than last night's San Antonio show. I just saw LaBrie give the sound guy one adjustment, as opposed to at least 15 last night. Everything sounded crisp and perfectly mixed .. and VERY LOUD, my poor ears. Oh but they love it.
The meet and greet was cool .. I was kinda sad though, there were only 20-25 people. Last year there were close to 100. We got a little extra time chatting because of that though, so it was fine. We printed out the photo we got at last year's meet and greet right after we got engaged .. and they signed it, so that was awesome!
The show itself .. I said it before and I'll say it again these guys are insanely incredible to be doing this night in and night out at their age! Easily the best live band in history, and they get better and better, not sure how! James' singing was just as loud and powerful and perfect, no cracks or anything, as last night, and this was his third night in a row. Every band member with a top notch perfect performance, and James had a few little extra speeches than he did last night.
As for the setlist, well we got a little surprise in Austin tonight! I noticed early on they skipped A Fortune In Lies .. I kinda wondered if it was because they played 3 nights in a row and needed a break, which wouldn't have upset me anyway. Well, after they left the stage after Breaking All Illusions, a minute later the cube screens popped on with a little video never seen on this tour, talking about big events and little events that happened on this day in 1992 .. and yes, mentioned the release of Images and Words!
Lo and behold, they jump into Pull Me Under... never played on this tour. Then jumped into Another Day!! A song that has a special place in my heart, and I've always wished them to play it live again, I hadn't heard of a time they ever did since 1999. A cool idea for it, Jordan played the sax part on his keyboard, with an awesome sound not quite like a real sax, but not like an electronic one either. Then they ended it with the regular encore for this tour, Metropolis Part I! Featuring some more amazing antics on drums by Mangini, one stick in his mouth, etc.

Yes, it was quite a night to remember .. and NOT a nightmare to remember ;)

Well my fiance and I are going tomorrow to the Austin show and meet and greet, but tonight we just got back from the SA show and whew!!! The Majestic Theatre is a sight to behold! The venue is like being in another time and place .. incredibly ornate detailed amazing walls and ceilings, with a space ceiling with stars .. the only down side to the show was the venue seemed to have some sound mixing issues .. the first three songs James was signalling several adjustments (some of which I understood since I've watched every documentary, sorry, geek moment), sometimes he would get drowned out, sometimes Petrucci's guitar was MIA for a bit .. but by song 4 it was mostly fixed .. a little noisy from reverberation in the venue, but nothing bad, and I didn't mind .. they did an amazing job of adjustments .. and by the end my ears were ringing and very mad at me .. the way it should be!
As for the show, they put on a completely perfect flawless performance, as always ... I don't know how these guys do it night in and night out. Put so much effort into every note and detail and emotion of EVERY show ... they really are the best performers of our time, if not history, as far as live music goes. How tight and perfect they are in the crazy part of Lost Not Forgotten, and the intro to War Inside my Head, I have no idea how they do it. Like I said last year, and like many people have said .. with Mangini on stage they look and feel more natural on stage .. playing and joking together, playing close together more often, smiling, waving .. they are so energetic and happy playing! Mangini is a monster, how his arms don't fall off from hitting SO incredibly hard for 2+ hours a night I don't understand! And James .. he didn't miss ANYthing .. I don't know how his vocal chords don't rip and fall out onto the stage nowadays .. I wasn't worried of course, but I WAS kinda wondering how he'd do with such an old high note scream/sing/opera song like Metropolis Part I, but WOW!!! Freaking perfect, every note hit, solid, loud, and face smashing!
Well I'll probably give a similar report tomorrow night ... for now, cheers!

I entered the text trivia contest and won meet and greets for Austin next week!!! So amazing!!! We're going to the SA show the night before so its gonna be one hell of a weekend!!!

Last October 26th I proposed to my lady just hours before our meet and greet with Dream Theater in Austin. It was easily the best day of my life, and we both hoped someday they may stop by close again.
This year, we are fulfilling what only few get to do, I bet. See my favorite band in history back to back days! I'm sure some drive across a state to do it, but how lucky are we? San Antonio July 6. And Austin July 7! We have our tickets, floor middle right behind the meet and greet section. Ugh It's gonna be so amazing.
All this stupid talk about setlists. I know EVERY song by heart and love it all, i just want them to play anything they want? Except whole covers of albums like Portnoy used to do. That would suck. The old metal bands they covered suck compared to them. Imagine going to a DT show and hearing just Megadeth songs. I'd want my money back. That's like paying for a Ferrari and getting a PT Cruiser.

It's in Austin at ACL Live. The tickets are advertised $30-$55, but the dozens of sites i find, including the ACL site, start tickets more than double what's advertised. I already have tickets for San Antonio the night before, which WERE as cheap as advertised, decent seats too.
When or where do I get Austin tickets for cheaper than $120???