Guess what is really exciting? When you get the chance to visit a live-gig of one of your favorite bands just two weeks after their latest album has been released. - And when this band is DREAM THEATER and the record is Systematic Chaos, you can't be held back...
...unless you get into a nasty traffic jam within sight of Bonn, so that you give away the last chance to get a place within the first rows.
Be that as it may! Arriving at the Museumsplatz, we are pretty impressed by the location. The weather is playing its part well, the last shower goes down while many fans, young and older, Metal and non-Metal, gather in front of the entrance, waiting for the doors to be opened. We listen to the soundcheck from the Open Air stage, which is very promising.
The gates open quite in time and we enter the area - we get into the 10th row - quite okay! Get me something to eat and drink - I'm dying of hunger. Look at the food they sell: that's no fries with sausages, no! They sell Chiabatta-bread with different toppings, gyros pita etc. Yes, we are right in between top-class culture-temples here!

At 10:00pm the gates will be closed again, therefore :: RIVERSIDE :: start their program exactly at 6pm. The four Polish musicians present a confident, but in our opinion not very inventive show. Their music is in our taste a little bit too monotonous. Piotr Grudzinsky is a quite good guitarist with expandable abilities, but a very hard-sounding picking technique. Michal Lapaj would be much more interesting to us, if he would try to do "the Rudess" a bit more. Piotr Kozieradzky (Drums) and Mariusz Duda (Bass, Vocals) are really good, but the vocals of Mariusz are not very appealing to us. RIVERSIDE show promising material, as their releases prove. Nevertheless it looks like the band still has a long way to go to catch up with the bigger ones in Prog.
Yeah, being the support for DREAM THEATER is not easy! Conclusion: RIVERSIDE is a very decent opening act, but we want the headliner!

The reorganization is quickly done. After a few waves of applause the four Americans enter the stage in a very good mood and highly motivated with the sounds of Overture 1928. For James we have to wait until the vocal part of Strange Deja-Vu starts and then he is singing in top form. During the entire show he runs from one stage end to the other, you could think he is everywhere. Sometimes he puts his arm round the shoulders of one of the other musicians, so that even the audience can see the excellent spirit that seems to be among them. The fans acknowledge these gestures by creating an amazing atmosphere; every word, every note is sung from the beginning to the end, solos are credited enthusiastically - if they are not worth being admired, which ones will?
Unfortunately Jordan is placed somewhat in the background of the stage right next to the drums and the keys are not quite loud enough, but The Wizard is The Wizard! And John Petrucci? He appears a lot more relaxed and laid-back compared to 2005. He plays like it's nothing, smiles, rocks - wow, this solo in Constant Motion! You've got to see that, but not just that! John Myung is the calm centre on stage, as always. Highly concentrated he teases that typical groove out of his bass. What else can I say - oh yes, Mike! The live wire par excellence. He peers over his instrument beaming with joy - I can see him and JP quite good today. He seems to be as thrilled as the people in front of the stage - and the spark is flying, back and forth.
DREAM THEATER decided to play the entire Images And Words in Bonn, the album had been released fifteen years ago. They adjusted the songs to their abilities and brushed them up quite a bit. Especially Surrounded is presented with a stunning new arrangement. Even Wait For Sleep sounded differently - the way Jordan puts the accents for the piano part is simply beautiful.
Two smashing encores and everything is over - two hours, 10 minutes. That is in fact a decent time for a concert, but it feels as only a few minutes had passed since the beginning. DREAM THEATER swept us away and we stay behind, slightly sad, with the hopeful thought: they will be back in October, together with Symphony X - and we will be there, too!
Setlist: Overture 1928/ Strange Deja-Vu/ Panic Attack/ Constant Motion/ Forsaken/ Pull Me Under/ Another Day/ Take the Time/ Surrounded/ Metropolis, Pt. 1/ Under a Glass Moon/ Wait for Sleep/ Learning to Live// The Spirit Carries On/ As I Am

story & pics © Moonchild & Reverend