AtomicCrimsonRush This EP is well worth seeking out as it captures Dream Theater in all their glory when the band were at their most inventive and one look at the track list would spell this out as it begins with a massive 23 minute epic, the incredible 'A Change of Seasons' that is segmented into 7 parts like the old vintage epics that used to swallow a side of vinyl. This track alone is worth the price of purchase but the EP also has some intriguing covers such as 'The Elton John Medley' and a brilliant version of Deep Purple's 'Perfect Strangers'.

I love the 'Led Zeppelin Medley' reminding me of the melodies of 'The Rover', 'Achilles Last Stand' and 'The Song Remains the Same'. However the real surprise package is found in the live medley at the end simply called, 'The Big Medley'. It features wonderful covers from Pink Floyd, 'In the Flesh?', and Kansas with 'Carry On Wayward Son', Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', the best bits, and then others include 'Lovin, Touchin, Squeezin', 'Cruise Control' and the wonderful 'Turn It On Again' by Genesis.

Overall it is a great EP with terrific musicianship and energetic covers, along with the colossal title track, all jammed into just under an hour.

KeohaneWaltz I am a huge Dream Theater fan, but I must admit they don´t get better than this. When I started listening metal my favorite genre was power metal, but discovering music like the one Petrucci, Portnoy and Myung create was a revelation. Taking the leadership in a movement that Fates Warning and Queensryche started before, this album expands the boundaries of metal and show that progressive music is still alive. The best songs are the longer ones especially “Learning to Live”, “Pull Me Under”, “Under a Glass Moon” and of course “Metropolis Pt.1” which will continue in the future with a whole album. This record is also perfect for people getting into the prog metal world as it is a sort of definition of the genre.

Sinkadotentree Going through DREAM THEATER's discography has given me a new appreciation for this band. Yes Prog-Metal is a genre of music that i love and so liking these guys should be a given right ? Well as long as they stay clear of that sappy style that they do drift into at times i'm happy. Their albums always "sound" so good too and this certainly is no exception. When this came out i don't think anyone saw that it would be Mike Portnoy's last with the band. It's still quite shocking to me actually. Anyway this particular album is filled with epic tracks as we get four songs worth almost 13 minutes or more. Classic Prog-Metal really. Each of these guys are gun slingers but it's always been Portnoy that has stood out for me, and he's in fine form creating some thunderous grooves. Cool to hear Jerry Goodman formerly from the legendary MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA playing some violin on "The Best Of Times". This is easily 4 stars and the second winner in a row along with "Systematic Chaos".

Pekka This here is something of a Holy Grail for the early DT fan. A complete show from the Images & Words tour, before Kevin Moore left the band, before James LaBrie busted his voice for years, and before they finished writing a certain song that is arguably (argued by me) their single crowning achievement, and instead played it as a work-in-progress version.

The more I listen to Images & Words and the rest of their output, the clearer it becomes that it stands head and shoulders above the rest of their full length albums. The reason most likely is that because of the label problems and the frustratingly unfruitful search for a new vocalist they had years and years time to hone the material, making it extremely colourful and sophisticated. Pure instrumental magic, and when they did in the end find their vocalist, he fit the material perfectly.

Recorded at home turf slightly before the Marquee show, the band in general are in good shape, if that's a surprise to anyone. There actually are some rare sloppier moments and plain fuck-ups, like in the beginning of Take the Time when Moore misses his cue, but they're quite few and far between. The setlist is obviously mostly excellent given the album they were promoting, and a couple of future B-sides make an appearance as well. Detracting from the excellence is The Killing Hand, which could've been replaced by four or five better tracks from the debut album, and the less said about the drum solo interrupting The Ytse Jam the better.

LaBrie isn't having his strongest night here. Far too often he ends up wobbling somewhere around the correct pitch even in lower registers (in all fairness that's probably due to monitor problems rather than lack of skill, but for the listener it makes very little difference), and when his tour-strained range is not enough for the higher notes, he usually resorts to a croaking, ugly falsetto. But what he missed in accuracy he surprisingly well makes up in raw, gutsy delivery, and while he may at times come off as a slightly feminine choirboy with no real threat to his snarl, here he manages to be quite convincing. The chorus of Pull Me Under is my favourite example of this.

Historically the most interesting song is obviously the halfway-there-version of A Change of Seasons. And I say it was very very wise of them to leave it on the shelf for a few years. The structure of the song is very much ready, but the intro would be fleshed out a couple of minutes worth, a lot of the lyrics would be reworked, vocal arrangements would go through a lot of refining, and some soloing sections would be completely replaced. It might me just the force of habit of listening to the final version, but I'm still going to say that every single change they made was for the better, and this version is valuable mostly for being historically interesting.

When you see the word "bootleg", the first question is obviously the sound quality. And as far as bootlegs go, official or not, this one is rather a good one. A quite clear soundboard recording, with some variance in quality. Most of the time the instruments are well in balance, but at times it may feel difficult to find Petrucci in the mix. But most of the time it's fine.

If you have a choice betweeen Live at the Marquee and this one, don't hesitate to spend a few extra bucks, euros, what have you. The slightly inferior sound and performance quality are made up in the extensive set list. This is a very good live album.

Sinkadotentree It seems like the heavier DREAM THEATER gets the less fans seem to like them. I must admit i'm scratching my head as to why this one isn't rated much higher but then i could say the same for "Train Of Thought" another favourite of mine. I like some of the ideas they've come up with here like on the track called "Repentance" where LaBrie sounds different vocally and we get all these talented guests speaking words at one point. It almost seems like a waste to have Steve Vai, Mikael Akerfeldt, Daniel Gildenlow, Steve Howe, Steven Wilson, Neal Morse, Jon Anderson, Joe Satriani and others speaking things instead of either playing or singing. Cool stuff though. And how about the crunch on "Constant Motion". Nice. I could go on and on about the instrumental prowess of this band especially on this record. I will never tire of hearing Portnoy on the drum kit either. If you like smash-mouth instrumental work then it doesn't get much better than this. It might help if you like ants too. A solid 4 stars.

Dellinger 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.

Andyman1125 What live should always be. Dream Theater really hit a home run with this DVD. Recorded on the last show of the band's 20th anniversary tour along with an entire orchestra (named the "Octavarium Orchestra" and led by well known conductor Jamsheid Sharifi), the concert, lasting for over 2 hours, was shot in Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The band opened with a couple of their hits of the new album before going through each and every studio album and playing one track from each, and most of them not the ones you would think they would play (No Pull me Under!!). The band is at their complete best, with extreme energy, chemistry, and great stage presence. Even in the massive Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence the band keeps going and going and going and going with the same energy as the first track-- which is highly impressive! The whole DVD is a blast to watch, especially watching each member do his part and the whole band functioning as a whole. A great buy! 5 stars.

Stooge This is a special release for me, as it is my first true music DVD that I purchased myself (unless you count Spinal Tap). It was around a year since attending my first Dream Theater show, and memories from the show were beginning to fade. Luckily, this DVD re-assured me that my admiration of the Dream Theater live show was well justified.

The heart of this DVD has Dream Theater performing their 1999 album, Metropolis Part II: Scenes From A Memory, in its entirety. That album probably ranks around third place in my favorite Dream Theater albums, and they have video releases that are technically better edited, but I have yet to witness a DVD of theirs that I prefer more than this. The timing of this concert was a bright patch in their career where they decided to take full creative control and make less commercial compromises. The band seems very at ease on the stage, looking like they’ve been playing with keyboardist Jordan Ruddess for years, and their execution is spot on.

The bonus features are a very notable aspect of this release, especially the additional concert material. This is highlighted by the performance of their 25-minute “A Change Of Seasons”. Through the song’s instrumental passages, you can get a taste of the Dream Theater live experience as they throw in quotes of “The Simpsons” theme, and the sporting event classic “Charge!”. Combining this with the main feature, the “A Mind Beside Itself” suite, and “Learning To Live”, you have a stunning song selection that is sure to please fans of progressive metal. The only upsetting aspect is that more songs are included on the CD version of this concert, but I suppose it makes sense from a business perspective. The documentary is a nice touch, and their band commentary, while I’ve only listened to it once, makes me wish that more bands would add such insight to their videos.

You will not regret buying this DVD!