Disco de Dream Theater: “Score: 20th Anniversary World Tour Live With the O”

Stand aside, Live Scenes. Budokan? Don't bother. THIS is the best live album that Dream Theater has put out. Both "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" and "Octavarium" (the songs, not the albums) in their respective entireties and with orchestra to boot!! The album also boasts two other tracks not otherwise released to official albums, Raise the Knife and Another Won, both of which are spectacular. Best of all, James LaBrie's voice is consistantly strong throughout the whole set.

Congratulations on 20 years, Dream Theater. Amazing set, come to Alaska, and here's to another 20!!

Score is Dream Theater's 5th live album (the others being, in order, Live at the Marquee, Once in a LIVETime, Live Scenes From New York, and Live at Budokan). Score is the 20th anniversary concert and the closing concert of their 2005-2006 Octavarium World Tour. And it is stunning!

First, the band, as always, is in peak form, but the real revelation is James LaBrie and his voice. For the first time since late 1994, he is completely healed from his vocal cord rupture and is in perfect form throughout the 3 hours of this diverse, grueling, and amazing performance. His voice is truly another instrument in Dream Theater, one he handles just as virtuoustically as the 4 instrumentalists. Speaking of them, they are just staggering in their talent and cohesion. Now, on to the set list....amazing! After the opening two songs from Octavarium, the band plays a song from each album, chronilogically, to close out the first set. Included is Another Won, from their Majesty Demos cassette in 1986 and the first song they ever wrote together, Afterlife, an obscure number from their first album, Under a Glass Moon and Innocence Faded (both sound AWESOME and are rarely played live), Raise the Knife, an unreleased studio cut from the Falling Into Infinity sessions that is sensational, and an epic 10 minute version of The Spirit Carries On that has to be the best one they've ever done.

The second set is the real treat, however....done with an orchestra! They play the ENTIRE 42 minute song Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, which is jaw-dropping, and close out the set with a 28 minute version of Octavarium that is simply mindblowing. Vacant, Sacrificed Sons, and The Answer Lies Within round out this set, and the encore of Metropolis Pt 1, also done with orchestra, is awesome.

I only have two complaints with this set....one is the sound quality, which is bit muddy from The Root of All Evil until it clears up to perfection around the 3rd song. The other is, while the orchestra is excellet overall, there are serious tuning problems during the overture part of Six Degrees, and the flutist sounds so nervous that she's going to crash at any moment during her solo in the beginning of Octavarium, which is surprising for a professional musician. Otherwise this is a stunning document of a band at the continued peak of their powers...here's to 20 more years of DT!!

I'm sure there will be many complaints with the setlist (no "hits") but how many live versions of "Pull Me Under" and "Take The Time" do we need? Instead Dream Theater deliver a history lesson of mostly deep album cuts and 2 unreleased cuts. As other reviewers have noted James Labrie is spot on for the entire performance (and let's face it he usually is hit and miss). The musicianship, as always, is top notch and Jordan Rudess continues to prove he's the best keyboardist DT has ever had. I recommend picking up the DVD as well with the "Score So Far" documentary.

Having been at this concert, of course I was going to purchase the CD. I am most impressed by the sound quality of this recording. It was the concernt of a lifetime!

Just got the new "Score" DVD and it is awesome. The camera work, lights, 5.1 sound is the clearest and best in any DVD by Dream Theater to date. I loved "Live at Buddokan" but this one is clearly the one to have. Every song features each member upclose & shows their truly god-given talent. This DVD covers the last 20 years of their music and proves that they are the Master of Progressive Rock. Get it, sit down & turn up the volume "Loudly" and ENJOY..!

Michael Reynolds

Oakhurst, CA.