LIVE IN TOKYO/5 YEARS IN A LIVETIME

There are so many nice things about this compilation DVD. One being we have a brilliant performance (which is expected now) at the period in time and we also have a lot of cool insight on the band behind the scenes. With the two dvd's combined, we get all of Images and Words except for Learning to Live, which makes me happy, seeing as 'Images and Words' is one of my favorite albums of all time.

Live in Tokyo is an excellent DVD. Besides most of Images and Words being played, we get to see what it was like having Kevin Moore in the band.sparking my interest. The one thing to note is the amount of stage presence that was quickly lost somewhere down the road. Petrucci and even Myung are constantly moving about the stage, getting in fans faces. The music on here was top notch and I loved the way Petrucci used his whammy bar to add some nice tremolo to give everything more flavor. There are also three videos that are show being 'Pull Me Under', 'Take the Time' and 'Another Day'. All very corny, but funny to watch. There is very little studio footage shown, but plenty footage of Dream Theater walking around Tokyo which is pretty cool. The band seemed to be a funny bunch of guys, which makes me wonder why Kevin Moore is so displeased about ever being involved in the band today.

5 Years in a Livetime is not so good. The material showed on this album is from the Awake/Falling into Infinity era.the era that we see or hear very little of. Unfortunately the tracks played from Falling into Infinity are the reason why I hate to dislike the album. They really should of thought about playing the great tracks that were few on that album.a mistake they did not make at Budokan. There was very few 'Awake' tracks but they choose some of the better ones like '6:00', 'Lie'. 'Voices', 'The Silent Man' and 'Lifting Shadows of A Dream'. The videos that were shown are the hilarious 'Lie' video and 'The Silent Man' and 'Hollow Years' which are nice ballad songs. Although on the DVD I did not find to be so great musically, it shows what was going on with the band at these dark times, which I think was what it was really focused on capturing. Starting mostly with the recording of the Awake album that LaBrie was very fond of. Next we get some brief insight as to why Kevin Moore left the band. Other things presentable were something I personally wanted to see, was Derek Sherinian's time in the band. I'd have to say it wasn't cool to see him go, he was definitely the most active person in the band, a breath of new life for sure. Again, very nice information, the music wasn't so good.

Why would I give these 4 stars even though I wasn't fond of 5 years? Well, there are about 3 and half hours worth of material for the price of one DVD. There is just an abundance of material that makes it worth your money. Plus, the Live in Tokyo DVD is incredible, 5 years just adds to it. Certainly excellent to watch the band in their best years and get a ton of inside scoops.

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