This week was nuts. Monday was my first full day back to work after the little surgery, and my boss decided to give me the opportunity to present some of my work to the people way up over the projects I'm a fairly small part of. Of course, that meant scrambling around like a madman (and working wicked late) for a couple days getting tons of data processed, slides together, edited, re-edited, and trying to dredge up what little public speaking ability I developed teaching in college but has lain dormant for a couple years. It ended up going fairly well, though I can never tell if I'm communicating well when I'm so out of practice. My boss and the senior director over the whole thing said I did really well and they look forward to the next one I have to do, whatever it may be. So that's good.
In the middle of all that, I saw Opeth and Dream Theater on Tuesday! Opeth was fucking awesome. Mikael is pretty funny. He really comes across as a quiet but witty geek who just happens to be singer/songwriter of a death metal band. He introduced every song with a joke or two, sometimes as part of the story behind how the song was conceived or why it as chosen in the set. One of the songs off the new album that is quite possibly one of the heaviest, darkest songs they've ever written, he introduced as a "lovely song about flowers and bunnies and" a list of other bubbly happy things. And they pulled off every song impeccably, despite all the lineup changes over the years. It's pretty obvious that Mikael is the soul and genius of the band. I'm definitely going to see them every time I hear about them coming around.
Dream Theater was... I still haven't decided. It was entertaining, but I think I came out a little disappointed. Mike Portnoy was amazing--he's truly a gifted performer, which is rare in a drummer. He also came off pretty solidly as the soul of that band, and the true "front-man" despite sitting (or, more than you'd think, standing) in the back behind a drum set the size of Montana. (Your drum set might be too big if you have two seats behind it that you have to switch between, you have three bass drums, and you occasionally have to stand up to hit some of your cymbals.) He was thoroughly amusing, and I found that I spent most of the time watching him and ignoring everyone else on the stage. James LaBrie doesn't have much personality out there, and what little he does have isn't terribly positive. I found myself feeling happier whenever he walked off the stage for a long instrumental portion of the music. John Myung is always an amazing bass player, but as my friend Sam pointed out, "he plays bass like Asian kids play DDR--no emotion, all precision." Petrucci was much the same. They just sorta came out to play some music because that's what they do, not because they love it (with the exception of Portnoy). At least that's the way they came across. Entertaining, but not what I would consider to be a great live band by any means.
In the middle of all that, I saw Opeth and Dream Theater on Tuesday! Opeth was fucking awesome. Mikael is pretty funny. He really comes across as a quiet but witty geek who just happens to be singer/songwriter of a death metal band. He introduced every song with a joke or two, sometimes as part of the story behind how the song was conceived or why it as chosen in the set. One of the songs off the new album that is quite possibly one of the heaviest, darkest songs they've ever written, he introduced as a "lovely song about flowers and bunnies and" a list of other bubbly happy things. And they pulled off every song impeccably, despite all the lineup changes over the years. It's pretty obvious that Mikael is the soul and genius of the band. I'm definitely going to see them every time I hear about them coming around.
Dream Theater was... I still haven't decided. It was entertaining, but I think I came out a little disappointed. Mike Portnoy was amazing--he's truly a gifted performer, which is rare in a drummer. He also came off pretty solidly as the soul of that band, and the true "front-man" despite sitting (or, more than you'd think, standing) in the back behind a drum set the size of Montana. (Your drum set might be too big if you have two seats behind it that you have to switch between, you have three bass drums, and you occasionally have to stand up to hit some of your cymbals.) He was thoroughly amusing, and I found that I spent most of the time watching him and ignoring everyone else on the stage. James LaBrie doesn't have much personality out there, and what little he does have isn't terribly positive. I found myself feeling happier whenever he walked off the stage for a long instrumental portion of the music. John Myung is always an amazing bass player, but as my friend Sam pointed out, "he plays bass like Asian kids play DDR--no emotion, all precision." Petrucci was much the same. They just sorta came out to play some music because that's what they do, not because they love it (with the exception of Portnoy). At least that's the way they came across. Entertaining, but not what I would consider to be a great live band by any means.