Even though this release consists of two different DVDs, they are very much alike and both suffer from just about the same problems.

First, they mix the concert with interviews and videos of them fooling around and promotional videos of their songs. That really distracts from the attention of the concert experience and won't allow me to enjoy it. Sure, those extra features would be great if added as bonus material. Second, they chose almost none on the songs that I really liked from the albums that had already been released up to that point.

On Live in Tokio, the only songs I like are Wait for Sleep, which is too short to rescue this video; Pull me Under, which is much more enjoyable on the original album (there are some really horrible patented LaBrie screaming added to this version); and Ytse Jam, which has some added extra-long drum solo that makes it really hard to fully enjoy it. From the videos, once again the only I really like is Pull me Under, but this is an edited version, and I really miss the deleted minutes. The rest of the songs are OK, but nothing too memorable for me, and some awful LaBrie screams keep on ruining them. Sure enough there are some interesting points on this video, mainly to see Dream Theater play, whatever songs they are playing, is very entertaining, and being such an early DT performance is also cool, specially because it includes Kevin Moore in the Line-Up.

As for 5 Years in a Livetime, it's not even one concert, but a collection of songs performed live during the years in which Derek Sherinian was part of the band. Once again, few of the songs performed here are among those I like. Mainly I like Lifting Shadows Off A Dream, which even if it isn't among my very favourite ones, it's a very enjoyanbe soft song, and it's performed quiet nicely. Also, Peruvian skies is pretty good, and it sounds kind of more energetic than the studio version... also, in this case they add some solos from Pink Floyds' Have a Cigar and Metallica's Enter Sandman, which is rather a nice surprise (though it makes me wish they had played those songs completley). On the other hand, they also play Metropolis, Learning to Live, and A Change of Seasons (the final part only) which are all songs that I really love from the band... but they are played incomplete, which makes it more frustrating than enjoyable.

They also have some covers, like Battery from Metallica (which i never really liked anyway, and even less with growiling, though the perfromance from the band did sound somewhat better than I remember from the original song), Easter from Marillion, which I didn't previously know, the Wurm part from Starship Trooper (once again, not having the complete version is rather frustrating), and a patchy Perfect strangers, which starts with a BBC recording (with Bruce Dickinson on vocals) and abruptly changes to a live performance of the group, in which the instruments are swapped, so that none is playing the instrument they really know how to play).

Strangely enough, the most pleasant surprise for me in this video were a pair of songs that were not officially released: Cover my Eyes and Just Let me Breathe. Both are very soft songs, but I really enjoyed them (and I usually don't enjoy Dream Theater's soft songs).

I would give this videos 3 stars if it were only for the concerts (even though they didn't play most of my favorite songs, none are so bad as to not making it enjoyable), however, I take one more star because of the interviews and promotional song videos mixed with the concert.

For me, this album is indeed among the weakest on Dream Theater's Career. Sure it still has some very good moments that makes it worth having. The best songs for me are "New Millenium", which is one of the few songs that deserves to be called "prog metal" in this album; and "Trial of Tears", which is a great progressive songs, but has just about no metal in it; I also like very much "Peruvian Skies", which is mostly a metal song with very little progressive element in it (and I believe the inteded "metal single" or "metal hit" for this album, which I would find a little bit weak compared to other such songs in their discography); and "Hell's Kitchen", wich is a nice prog metal instrumental piece (more on the progressive side than on the metal side). And even this songs aren't up to the best songs Dream Theater has released on their other albums. The rest of the songs are just weak for me, some of them just metal light songs with nothing particularly interesting (You not me, Burning my Soul, and Just let me Breath), and others being simply ballads with not metal nor prog in them, and even as simple ballads they are just no good (Hollow Years, Take Away my Pain, and Anna Lee). And I left for the end "Lines in the Sand"; now, many of the songs on this album are not particularly good, as I just said, but neither are they particularly bad, just not interesting, however this last song is just the most annoying song in this album, and one of the most annoying ones on their discography... this one is prog metal indeed, but that doesn't make it any good for me; the song in general is not particularly good, but the vocals are just very hard to bear, specially the chourus parts which I just can't stand.

My rating 2.5 stars.

Now, this is not quiet a full Dream Theater album... but it is as much worth getting as any of their full studio albums. In part because it's long enough to be a complete album, and also because the original Dream Theater track is a must have for any fan of the band, and then, the rest of the music (all covers) is also very enjoyable.

The title track is a beautiful Prog Metal Epic, with beautiful intro, great vocals, great instrumental passages, and great metal moments. Then there is a bunch of covers. First we get a cover of an Elton John song (yes, Dream Theater covering Elton John), "Funeral for a Friend / Love Lies Bleeding"... now, this song will not appeal to anyone who is expecting a full metal album, because this song has absolutley no metal, as a matter of fact DT played it just about the same way the original was played; the first part is a beautiful instrumental prog piece serving as an introduction to the second mainly pop/rock song... for me the first part is the better, but as a whole it is a nice song. Then comes Deep Purple's "Perfect Stranger", also a very good hard rock song, but don't expect much metal in the modern sense. The rest of the album is what puts me of a bit, and that's mainly because I'm not very keen on Meddleys, and that's what follows: first a Led Zeppelin Meddley of "The Rover / Achilles Last Stand / The Song Remains the Same"... the reason I don't like Meddleys is because if I like the songs, then I just end up wanting to hear the whole song, and in this case I wish they had played the whole Achilles Last Stand, instead of just about half the song, with and intro and outro of the other songs which I actually don't really like very much. And then comes the "Big Medley", with songs from different arstist, and it is the same; I do like all the songs represented, some I like a lot, other just a bit, but I whish they had just chosen 2 or 3 of those songs and played them complete... a whole Bohemian Rhapsody would have been awsome. So, it is mainly for this Meddleys that I don't give the 5 stars to this album, I just end up rating it as 4.5.

I rate this album mainly on the strength of "The Mirror" and "Space Dye Vest", which for me are the best ones in it, and for me this album is worth having just because of this two songs. The Mirror is mainly a heavy metal song, but what a metal song it is, with great heavy guitar riffs and dark moods... and within the song it incorporates a little bit of the theme that is to be found within the other great track. Space Dye Vest has to be the most emotive song Dream Theater has created, and perhaps their best ballad as well, very mellodic and beautiful, it was the last great gem from Kevin Moore before he left the band. Another song I have come to like very much is "Lifting Shadows off a Dream", a very soft and beautiful ballad. The rest of the album is good also, including more metal moments, ballad moments, and proggy moments... but in the end none of them move me as much as these songs. I find 3.5 stars to be a very fair rating for this album.

I find this album good, but not really outstanding. From the songs included, my favourite ones are Metropolis and Pull me Under, however, I prefer both songs in their studio versions. The other songs aren't so memorable for me, and I wish they had made a different selection of songs from their debut album. As for Bombay Vindaloo, it's a nice instrumental improv piece, but I don't usually like improvs so much. They may be good, but usually there's something lacking. One of the main problems with this album for me are the vocals, LaBrie gets particularly annoying here (more than on the original songs), and even though I find him a better vocalist than Dominici, I was rather disappointed to find out I prefered the way Dominici sang the songs originally than LaBrie (even though I found Dominici's singing one of the weakest aspects from the debut album).