Live At Budokan [Blu-ray] [2011]

Opening with the spine-tingling bass harmonics (yes, harmonics on a bass) of 'As I Am', before switching to the 7-string heaviness of 'This Dying Soul' and the epic, 20 minute 'Beyond This Life' (which features an instrumental segment that will leave you absolutely exhausted just from watching it), the Dream Theater boys know how to play a crowd, whether that crowd is in front of them or back home in an arm chair. After watching for about 45 minutes, you remind yourself that you've only witnessed 3 songs from a concert which has 18.

The rest of the DVD is very varied; there are slow songs, fast songs, heavy songs, ridiculously complex songs, solo spots, instrumentals (including a monumental version of 'Stream of Conciousness', with its sweep-tastic guitar solo and outtro so good it will bring tears to your eyes), all displayed in crystal clear hi-definiton widescreen video with perfect sound and heroic camera work, so you can see every finger waggle. Every track is a winner, and the awe-inspiring final song 'In The Name of God' (which contrary to its title is in fact an anti-religion track) is as perfect a climax as could ever be wanted.

The second disc is more for those interested in the technical side of making music like this, with interviews with band members and great rehearsal footage. Portnoy's drum solo is also exceptional, and shows that despite his hairy scary exterior the sticksman has a great sense of humour and some great ideas too.

Lets say it outright: Dream Theater are the most talented band on Earth. Those who have seen this DVD will back up this fact, and those who haven't seen it aren't worthy of an alternate opinion until they have. I watch segments from this DVD every day, and every time it puts a massive smile on my face. I cannot hype up this DVD enough, do yourself a favour and buy it to see the magic for yourself

All i have to say is -wow-.

If you liked the Scenes From New York DVD you will absolutely LOVE this, and then some.

The video quality is second to non, much better than that of the Scenes..DVD, the audio quality is also fantastic and features the standard stereo plus a 5.1 mix.

I've usually been dissapointed with Dream Theaters DVD layout/title screens (I also have the Live from Tokyo/5 Years in a Livetime DVDs). Let me tell you this DVD comes across as very high quality from the word go, the animation on the title screens is awesome.

Onto the show..There's a decent mix of old and new with the setlist. There's the new favorites such as 'As I Am' and 'In the Name of God' (<My personal favorite from the new album). DT also mix it up with hints of some classics in the monsterous track 'Instrumedley' This track starts off with the first few sections of The Dance of Eternity and passes through Erotomania, A Change of Seasons the Ytse Jam and much more from DT days old and new, whilst alternating back to The Dance of Eternity now and again, this has to be one of the best tracks on the dvd.

James LaBrie's singing is particularly good at this concert,sometimes he seems to struggle with his voice, this is understandable as his vocal parts are hardly easy, however for this show he definately nails it, he sounds especially good on Hollow Years (which also features a brilliant outro solo by Petrucci) i'd say his vocals are as good if not better than his performance on the Scenes DVD and definately better than the earlier DT footage on their other 2 Disc DVD.

John Petrucci never fails as usual :D He seems to be really into the music of the show this time and nails just about everything (actually, everything full stop.) His rig sounds awesome, definately his best live tone yet in my opinion. He also uses a gorgeous double neck on Solitary Shell.

Jordan Rudess also puts on a great show with his keyboard on a fully rotational 360 degree stand! He's forever spinning around so you can get good views of what he's doing on the keyboard, there's also the keyboard camera for those close up solos. If you're a techno-freak you may notice that his keyboard patches and samples sound fantastic on this performance, you can really hear how his setup has moved on in the 4 years since he began working with the band on the Scenes from a Memory album.

John Myung is his usual laid back self whilst still managing to pump those forearms into those driving bass lines >=D He also brings out the Chapman Stick (12string?) bass for their performance of New Millenium which definately adds some interest to the show.

As usual Mike Pornoy is powering away constantly on his monster of a kit (This time with THREE bass drums and an extra long beard lol) and definately puts everything he's got into the show loving every minute of it.

On disc 2 there's some bonus footage, this includes a lengthy (i think 45minute)amount of backstage,tourbus/limo and general touring of Tokyo and also individual rehersals+interviews with the band members which is definately a nice touch if you want to see more of the band members, there's some funny bits in there too! There is also an individual run down of Petrucci's guitar equipment (Goes into depth on his new switching system and the spit shields for his Mesa cabs lol..) and a rundown of Jordan's keyboard setup and masses of gear. Oh and watch out for a little audience participation in the Drum Solo section ;)

Overall if you're a dream theater fa...No, if you're a fan of MUSIC. You have to see this DVD. It's one of the greatest performances you're likely to see of a REAL band, and if you're a die hard DT fan or are wanting to learn more about them then it's even more of an essential purchase. I just hope it isn't a long time until they release another :D