GRASPOP FESTIVAL 2002 (INTERNATIONAL FANCLUB CD 2003)

More "rocking" side of Dream Theater. They are playing in a metal fest so that is what you could expect. The sound quality is decent and the songs preformes have nothing to add to the studio versions. Only for collectors!

If you play between Machine Head and Slayer, in a Metal festival -Thrash metal - ,You have to play the heaviest set from your song list. DT could play in this festival, because they have heavy songs - ToT wasn´t exists-. This concert is not a "normal" concert ...but is O.K. Is "Heavy Metal" played by 5 monsters of ProgMetal

I'm a big fan of live shows, and if you're a Dream Theater fan, this is one of their finest live releases. It shows their rock side, and they do it well. I very much dig LaBrie's soaring vocals on this album, he did a great job to add some nuances during the songs to help add a "metal" feel to the mighty heavy Dream Theater setlist. It's nothing new for prog fans, but it's a nice little addition to add to your collection.

Well, the only reason I never gave this 5 was because of that silly popup! (It gets me every time!) The only reason I didn't is because This is more of a special DT album for the fans. That said, its quite a stunning CD. Its fun to hear the album start as a fan bootleg too. James has his metal growl happening for the metal aspect and it add a cool sound to the band for a change. The cover of Master Of Puppets is also very cool. I am by no means a metallica fan (Thatd the most polite way of saying it lol) But I think this is an excellent album. Try to buy it while you can from the DTIFC (theres a promotion on the their website for it right now)

....Go on. Buy it.. Hurry up!.. No really. Buy it! :p

This is a live album taken out of a "DT" appearance during a metal "event" as LaBrie is mentioning just before "The Mirror". And indeed we'll get the heavy stuff here. LaBrie even exaggerating. He almost growls during "The Mirror". This song was a good hard- rock one on their studio album "Awake" and is a bit denaturated here. "Lie" will have the same treatment (but it was already heavy in its original shape). I guess to please the audience.

Still, they will play the great "Peruvian Skies". One of their proggiest songs released on "Falling Into Infinity". There will be even three numbers out of their excellent "Six Degrees...". But the hardest ones of course. The opening number from this live set "The Glass Prison" is rather wake. Sound is very poor (but this problem will be fixed later on). "The Test..." is as average as on the album (it was one of the weakest track IMO).

The fan will have to do it with "The Great Debate". One of the many great songs from this great album. It was my fave from disc one and again, I like it very much in this live format. All the "voices" from the studio work being nicely present (taped) here as well. It is again one of the best song. I would reserve this for "Home" from "Scenes". Really great. These last two songs are not that heavy actually. Just bloody hard but close to their studio counterpart. Petrucci is particularly phenomenal on "Home". Beautiful vocals as well during the chorus to be complete.

The closing is all but logic of course. Not possible to imagine a "DT" live set without "Pull Me Under". I'm not that much in their heaviest side, so I can not rate this live effort over two stars but the last three / four songs are very good.