Originally published in Express newspaper · August 2007
Progressive Cult
InterviewJames LaBrie2 min read
Metal band Dream Theater’s fan base is diverse and expansive
It was a strange day in Dream Theater history.
On July 30, 2007, the Long Island-based progressive-metal band performed in Salt Lake City as part of its “Chaos in Motion” summer tour. The concert, however, turned out to be anything but ordinary as Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed a proclamation to officially designate the day “Dream Theater Day” in Utah.
“When we heard that management had gotten an e-mail about it, we didn’t really know what to think,” recalled vocalist James LaBrie. “We sort of asked, ‘Wait, is this real?’ But [Gov. Huntsman] came to the show, and he took some pictures and we met him. It was cool because I don’t really think I ever pictured a politician sitting at home listening to Dream Theater.”
Although the event was unusual, it is not atypical for Dream Theater to meet people who are completely fanatical about the band. The two most noticeable stylistic influences on Dream Theater’s sound – progressive rock and heavy metal – are two genres known their almost cult-like fan followings. As the undisputed leader of the progressive-metal sub-genre, Dream Theater commands a massive fan base outside the mainstream radar.
Twenty-two years into its career, Dream Theater still doesn’t take its fans for granted.
The band routinely plays two-hour plus sets on tour. Dream Theater, however, takes it one step further by changing the songs in the set list each night.
“I think at first [changing set lists] was tough on us, but now we definitely prefer it,” LaBrie said. “It keeps things from becoming boring and mechanical for us onstage, and it’s cool for the fans. Mike [Portnoy, drummer] has lists of everything we’ve played so, for example, when we come to Pier Six, he can look and see what songs we’ve played in the Washington area and make sure that we play a totally different show there than we have in the past.”
Dream Theater’s current tour – which does indeed make a stop at Baltimore’s Pier Six Concert Pavilion on Tuesday – is in support of its ninth and latest studio album, “Systematic Chaos.” The CD still sounds like the Dream Theater that people have come to either love or hate by this point. “Systematic Chaos” combines the technical displays, high-end musicianship and epic song structures of classic progressive rockers Yes and Genesis, as well as the heaviness and drama of metal icons Metallica and Iron Maiden and the catchiness of U2.
Greg Re