Blood for the Baron!

I think the best gig I ever went to was the Bangles in Manchester Academy back in 2003. They did two or three encores, and despite the fact that it was the first time they'd toured together for years they really rocked.

I think it helps to see bands in smaller indoor settings, I saw REM at Old Trafford (cricket not football) and it just wasn't the same.

I always regretted never having seen the original Queen live, but their last tour with Freddie was just before I started going to concerts. Paul Rodgers is a legend, love Bad Company in particular.

I've always been meaning to check out Dream Theater as their members have been quoted as listing certain 70s prog rock acts as their early idols. Didn't some members of Dream Theater once do a gig with Steve Howe of Yes and a couple of guys from Marillion?

IF you're a Rock Music fan, you really should check out Planet Rock on digital radio, it's pretty darn fine radio station, lots of Sabbath, Led Zep, Maiden et al. Rick Wakeman's Saturday morning show (10 til 1) is very funny, and boy does he have some stories to tell, he must have worked with just about everyone in Rock.

Oh and Brian May nearly bought the station, but Gary Moore, Fish, Ian Anderson and Tony Iommi beat him to it.

Rick Wakeman played in Wellington Cinema about ten years ago, which is about as prestigious as a village hall, and not only did he belt out some corking stuff, but his stand-up banter between tracks was hilarious.

DT have done about a zillion side projects - Liquid Tension Experiment, Explorer's Club, OSI, Ayreon, Frameshift, Platypus but I think you're referring to SMTP.

Baron - which Dream Theater album would you reccomend as a starting point?

I keep meaning to move away from 70s prog into a bit more modern prog-metal stuff, but I never know where to start, any pointers oh gracious Baron?

Yeah Rick Wakeman is right funny, shame his radio show is daytime, as he gets censored a bit by his producer, whereas if he did a night show he'd get away with more, but I guess at night is when he does his gigs.

I know what you mean about RW doing small venues, he's played the Limelight here in Crewe, which is an old church, I used to play snooker there in my misspent youth.

Tricky... either "Images & Words", which was their 2nd album (the first has an awful singer), or "Metropolis Pt.2" which was the first with the current line-up, or the latest "Systematic Chaos" which is the first release on Roadrunner.

Although my favourites are "Awake" and "Train of Thought" as they are much darker... Oh I dunno, start at the beginning and work through LOL. They're all good, although I'm not so fond of "Falling Into Infinity" as it is their radio-friendly effort, curse those execs.

That clip is from the "Metopolis Pt.2" album / tour.

This is the one that turned me on to them - the Mike Portnoy drum solo from the "Images & Words" tour.

Thanks for that Baron, "Images & Words" had been mentioned to me before as a good starting point for the band. And I've heard nothing but good things about "Metropolis part2".

I dug out my Prog Rock special that Classic Rock magazine put out last summer, I got it mostly for the articles on Yes, Jethro Tull, Rush, Marillion, Genesis, ELP et al, but they did a nice piece on Dream Theater. The Drummer you mentioned raved on about Carl Palmer and DT's keyboard player paid homage to the Wakeman. The band talked of how much they enjoyed and learnt from touring with the likes of Yes and ELP, so they sounded like they grew listening to the same music as me, oh and chuck in a bit of Sabbath and Purple while you're at it.

I'll have a look on Amazon and see how much their cds cost then I'll give them a try.

Cheers Baron!!!!

Oh don't suppose you know if Porcupine Tree, Spocks Beard and Symphony X are any good?

Well... to be fair they are second tier. Along with Shadow Gallery and Superior, they have potential but don't really cut it for me. But Dream Theater are at the height of their game, they really are the only band I follow. I thoroughly recommend you get ahold of the two instrumental Liquid Tension Experiment CDs too. Get them all! See them live!

Well I've ordered a couple of their albums off Amazon (images and words & metropolis part2), so hopefully I'll get them this weekend and try them a whirl on the old cd player.

I must say Baron, from the youtube links you posted they do sound very good, you may not realise this but they sound very much like early Genesis and Yes. And the drum solo was worthy of Carl Palmer at his best.

Thanks again

Boo. Star Fleet DVD Release bumped to January 05 2009.

The Baron wrote:Boo. Star Fleet DVD Release bumped to January 05 2009.

However... Queen + Paul Rodgers new single OUT NOW and new album out MONDAY!


SPACE COMMANDER

Amazon have been sending me emails trying to get me to order it based on my previous purchases1 Cheeky swines!