Dream Theater Biography

Dream Theater is a progressive metal band formed in Boston, Massachusetts by three students at the Berklee College of Music in 1985. In the 21 years since their inception, they have become one of the most commercially successful progressive bands since the height of progressive rock in the mid-1970s, despite being relatively unknown in mainstream pop/rock circles. Their two highest selling albums are 1992's Images and Words, which was awarded a gold record and is consistently regarded as a seminal progressive metal release, although it reached only #61 on the Billboard 200 charts; and 2005's Octavarium, which reached #36 on the Billboard 200.

The band is well known for the technical proficiency of each instrumentalist, winning many awards from music magazines. They are highly respected by many of rock and metal's biggest names, leading to collaborations between Dream Theater members and many other well known musicians. In a famous example, guitarist John Petrucci was named as the third player on the G3 tour with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, following in the foot steps of Eric Johnson, Robert Fripp, Yngwie Malmsteen and other influential guitarists.

Dream Theater also possess significant musical versatility, which has made it possible for them to perform with a very diverse range of acts. Some of their more notable touring partners include Deep Purple, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani, King's X, Marillion, Megadeth, In Flames, Pain of Salvation, Porcupine Tree, Queensrÿche, Spock's Beard, Fear Factory, Enchant, Symphony X, and Yes. In 2005, Dream Theater toured North America with the Gigantour festival, co-headlining with Megadeth.

Currently, Dream Theater is in the process of recording their ninth studio album. The band has entered a New York City studio with sound engineer Paul Northfield to begin the recording of the band's follow-up to 2005's Octavarium. The album is tentatively due for an April/May 2007 release.

A number of unique songwriting techniques have been employed by Dream Theater, most notably in the latter part of their career when they were afforded greater ability to experiment by their record label.

Beginning with Train of Thought the band began deliberately inserting small, hidden elements to their music and packaging for the benefit of the more dedicated fans. The most famous of these is the so-called "nugget" placed in "In the Name of God", which was a sample of the phrase "eat my ass and balls" (a famous Mike Portnoy quote) in morse code hidden deep within the mix of that song. Ever since then Dream Theater fans have actively looked for these small quirks that are usually of little interest to a casual fan.

Some of the notable techniques used by Dream Theater through their career include:

Throughout their career, Dream Theater's live shows have gradually become bigger, longer, more diverse, and less restrictive. The most obvious example of this is their rotational setlist policy. That is, every single night of every tour has its setlist devised by Portnoy using a meticulous process that ensures it is completely unique. Factors such as setlists from previous cities are taken into account to ensure that people who see Dream Theater multiple times within the same area will not see the same songs performed twice, and even the setlist from the last time the band was in a particular city is taken into account for the benefit of fans who see the band on successive tours.

For this to be possible, the band prepares to play the majority of its catalogue at any performance, depending on what Portnoy decides to program for that night. This process also requires the employment of a very complex lighting system to load preconfigured lighting cues based on the possible individual songs.

Length is another unique element of Dream Theater concerts. Their full world tours, since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, have predominantly been so-called "Evening with..." tours, in which the band performs for at least three hours with an intermission and no opening act. The show that was recorded for Live Scenes From New York was nearly four hours in length (LaBrie humorously apologized to the audience for the "short set" after the show), and resulted in Portnoy almost being hospitalized.

There is also a significant amount of humor, casualness, and improvisation attached to a Dream Theater concert. In the midst of "A Change of Seasons" it is quite common for themes such as those for Major League Baseball and The Simpsons to be quoted, and Rudess routinely modifies his solo section in this song and others, often playing the ragtime section of "When The Water Breaks" from Liquid Tension Experiment 2. Other quotations include "Mary Had a Little Lamb" during "Endless Sacrifice" on the Gigantour, a calliope-inspired break between verses of "Under a Glass Moon," and the Turkish March at a concert in Istanbul. On the most recent "20th Anniversary World Tour" Rudess has even thrown in a short "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" theme in a break during "Endless Sacrifice". During the playing of "As I Am" in Bangkok in January of 2006, Rudess played a very choppy and amateurish major scale back and forth several times before the instrumental break.

It is also not unheard of for a member of the audience to be picked out at random to perform on stage (an example of which can be seen during Portnoy's drum solo on the Live at Budokan DVD). There have also been many impromptu renditions of "Happy Birthday" when a member of the band or crew have a birthday corresponding to a tour date, which normally results in a birthday cake being thrown over the subject.

Perhaps the most extreme example of Dream Theater's unpredictable concert structure is that during Derek Sherinian's time with the band, at selected shows the band members all swapped instruments and performed an encore as the fictional Nightmare Cinema (the approximate opposite of "Dream Theater"). They usually performed a cover of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers", and, on one occasion, Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution".

Similarly, at some shows, Sherinian, Petrucci and Portnoy would take the stage together under the name "Nicky Lemons and the Migraine Brothers". Sherinian, wearing a feather boa and novelty sunglasses, would perform a pop-punk song entitled "I Don't Like You" with Petrucci and Portnoy backing.

The band has several official fanclubs, covering the entire world: