LIVE AT LUNA PARK

Although this concert happened over a year ago and Dream Theater have released another album since this tour, Live at Luna Park is a stunning DVD package with incredible visuals and sound. The crane cameras really deliver a dramatic vibe to the show, and everyone in the band is at the top of their game. Mangini fits in seamlessly, and his drumming prowess shines through. The unisons and crazy instrumental parts in songs like Lost Not Forgotten and Outcry are jaw-dropping, and epic ballads like Beyond This Life filled with atmosphere. The song choices are great, and LaBrie gives an amazing vocal performance. Despite the testing times for the band a few years back with the departure of Mike Portnoy, watching this DVD it is evident that the band has found new life with Mangini, whose attitude and technical abilities perfectly match that of Petrucci, Rudess, and Myung. The perfectionism of each musician in their playing abilities and sound makes for a perfect sounding concert, and the songs are delivered with emotion and energy. 5 stars!

The band is always generous in their DVDs production and here in Luna Park is no exception with more than 3 hours of music, a documentary, behind the scenes and a nice multi-angle feature of one song. First thing that strikes me when I put the Blu-Ray on was the crystal clear picture quality. The sound is also clear, but the mix could have been better for John Myung and Jordan Rudess instruments, who are buried in the mix. Let say that the camera don't focus very often on John Myung. The surround mix is mostly for ambiance and for the James Labrie's vocals.

The set list contains many songs from "A Dramatic Turn of Events", that is not one of my favorites CD of the band. Those songs have been spread out in the main feature with 2 hours and forty minutes and as a bonus of 6 more songs. Usually I don't enjoy a drum solo, even those of Neil Peart, but here, I found that Mangini did something that captivate me, go figure what it is! James Labrie's vocals are clear and strong and he was very generous and emotional on his compliments about Jordan and John Petrucci, when it was time to both of them to do their solos. Again John Myung was left out as it is in many bands, who want hear a bass solo?

I am pretty sure that plenty will enjoy this DVD, especially if you enjoy most of the Dream Theater's CDS, including the latest one, but to me, I think that the band is starting to repeat themselves. The similarity of some song structures in their latest CDs is too obvious that you could think that their best day are something from the past. However this is a good concert, the music is still better than many of that genre of progressive metal. Good, but not essential in your Dream Theater collection. 3.4 stars

Wonderful redemption for the band

This was a birthday present my wife gave me a year ago. Of course, the detractors of DT would say "Oh no, another DVD" but you know, it's quite a great experience, 'cause DT is always about the music, the sound, the technique and the "live version" is always needed to complete the cycle of the current album. It was really important 'cause is the first time Mangini appears in the drums command live. And what a show!!! My review is over the special 2DVD+3CD edition.

The image, the production and editing is quite great. You have a lot of material and several songs covered, as usual, with great arrangements, very sober and the usual DT controlling everything. Maybe the bass and keys are a bit down in the mix, but the energy, the passion and the vibe is all there.

I don't love the snare drums from Mangini but the man is quite a show to watch and you see the energy in between the members. Portnoy on the last couple of DVDs was in too many places, taking too much control and been honest, the energy of the band wasn't as good as in here. Portnoy's monster kit and jumping one side to the other doing different arrangements for the songs and trying to do "something else" that wasn't necessary. Especially when you see Labrie, more focused, more into the crowd doing his roll as a frontman and not as a hiredgun-singer Portnoy always want to portrait him. Also, you have a quite nice documentary (really funny, actually) previous the show and several extra tracks, with some of the most wonderful performances they've made. A lot of material of the Moore era and a quite rounded show.

The CDs are great and even the package with the artwork and the pictures and everything is quite an experience, even for fans like me, that have been around for 15 years or so. I know there is a lot to enjoy here and I'm quite sure prog metal fans will enjoy the show. They set the bar way too high each time around. A masterpiece? Yes, on it's own terms.

Though released in late 2013, a few months after they put out their self-titled album, Dream Theater's Live At Luna Park actually captures a 2012 residency at the titular venue hailing from the Dramatic Turn of Events tour - hence the daredevil unicyclist from that cover appearing here.

That album was, of course, largely an exercise in reassuring listeners that Dream Theater could still be Dream Theater without Mike Portnoy at the drum stool, though it managed to pull through on the strength of its material. Here, the band seem to be doing the same thing from the perspective of live albums - demonstrating to fans that we needn't worry, new boy Mike Mangini can drum for absurd amounts of time just like Mike Portnoy could. The three-CD live album had become something of a calling card for Dream Theater - though by this point in their career they tended to be coupled to DVDs - and so this seems to have been an exercise in demonstrating that the adjusted lineup could still do this.

It's not bad, on the whole, but it doesn't feel compelling necessary either. Unless you are a true zealot, there's a point where you've kind of got enough live Dream Theater, and though the focus here on material from A Dramatic Turn of Events at least means there's fresh stuff here, there's more that could have been done to shake up the set list. There's a bizarre lack of material from Black Clouds and Silver Linings, despite that they hadn't done any of their 3CD live albums since the Systematic Chaos tour, so that's an entire well of material left unaccountably untapped. Chunks of this material has already had good airings on live albums, and the strong focus on material from Images and Words and Awake makes the set list feel lop-sided - Octavarium, Six Degrees, and Metropolis also get a look-in, but there's several albums which just get overlooked entirely.

To an extent, of course, that's a testament to the strength of Dream Theater's body of work - of course you can come up with a 3 hour-plus setlist only working from a fraction of their back catalogue, they've got an embarrassment of riches to choose from! At the same time, it does make the setlist feel a bit off, and between this and them sticking fairly closely to the studio renditions for the most part it just makes the whole thing seem inessential compared to prior live releases. It comes across as Dream Theater putting out these super-long live albums because they feel an obligation to, rather than (as with Live Scenes From New York) it felt like the natural and artistically appropriate choice. If my feeling on that is correct, that's an issue; if it's not, it's still a problem, because it means the album's failed to convince me on that front.

Either way, this captures a solid performance so I can't rate it down too much, it just doesn't quite have the magic of Scenes From New York.