Disco de Dream Theater: “Live At The Marquee”

One track stands out like none other: Another Hand-The Killing Hand. This song is excellently written, but a combination of mediocre singing and fuzzy production makes the original somewhat tame. However, I honestly think that the live performance is incredible, and quite possibly one of the most powerful vocal performances I've ever heard, definitely LaBrie's best performance. The CD is worth it just for this track!!

If you don't take lenth into account, then I would list this as my favorite live recording from Dream Theater and one of my favorite live recordings ever. This performance features the band at a special, early point in their career and it's full of energy from start to finish. The biggest treat for me is hearing James LaBrie sing songs from When Dream and Day Unite, since that would be one of my favorite DT albums if not for the sub-par vocals of Charlie Domenici. It's also the only official live release with Kevin Moore on keyboards. Their performance of "Surrounded" really soars. My only complaint is that it's too short, but the quality more than makes up for the quantity.

This album will become the most listened to DT album in your collection. I promise you. Not one track is lacking a thing. Fortune in Lies and Killing Hand become whole new works of art when sung by James LaBrie. Bombay is a feat in timing even for DT and J. Pet. never played faster if you can belive that. Metropolis, great on any album, is even more spectacular here. This album prooves DT poseses unsurpasable talent. Buy it!

I know there are plenty of Dream Theater live albums available, most of which span 2-3 CDs and are jam-packed with songs, but the 1993 EP Live at the Marquee remains my absolute favorite. Part of that is the fact that it features only material from

and

, which are two of my favorite Dream Theater albums, but I think what really makes this brief (46 minutes) performance so memorable is that unlike on later live offerings, the band sounds like a hungry young group just tasting their first piece of success. This was Dream Theater before the concept albums, before the orchestral DVD, before inspiring countless imitators. There's an energy here that just isn't the same on

, or

, or

.

Beyond this energy is the fact that you get to hear Dream Theater doing some pre-James LaBrie material, which is always a treat (I'd still love to hear a rerecorded When Dream and Day Unite with LaBrie singing), some of the better songs from Images and Words, and the very cool 7-minute instrumental Bombay Vindaloo, which I believe is exclusive to this EP.

It may be short, and it may be old, but Live at the Marquee is still an exceptional performance and remains my favorite Dream Theater live offering.

This live album was recorded on the "Images And Words" tour when the band was really taking off in terms of popularity. It is a single disc that contains material from both "Images" and the band's first album with Charlie Domenici. The album also contains a very cool previously unreleased instrumental called "Bombay Vindaloo". If anyone had any doubts about the band being able to pull of their intricate material in a live setting this album puts all arguments to rest. The inclusion of "Fortune In Lies", and "Another Hand - The Killing Hand" further goes to prove the how much better James Labrie's voice is than Domenici's. The rest of the album feature live versions of "Metropolis", "Surrounded", and "Pull Me Under", all performed fairly similarly to their studio counterparts. "Live At The Marquee" is a nice snapshot in time of where the band was in the early 90's.