Dream Theatre and Engine (different venues)
Rating: 3.5 Skulls
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Dream Theatre and Engine (different venues)
Rating: 3.5 Skulls |
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Death's Review (8/10/02, Dream Theater @ The Greek Theatre (LA, CA)/Engine @ Paladino's (Tarzana, CA)):If you don't like a tour, sometimes you have to invent your own. Although there has been overlap between the Dream Theater and Fates Warning camps in the past (I think Kevin Moore has played with both, and Portnoy and Matheos are currently collaborating), you can be sure that Dream Theater and Engine (featuring Fates Warning vocalist Ray Alder and bassist Joey Vera alongside ex-Agent Steel guitarist Bernie Versailles are not currently touring together. Instead, Dream Theater is out playing outdoor amphitheaters with the mighty King's X and guitar wizard extraordinaire Joe Satriani this summer, while Engine is relegated to small clubs in and around the Southern California area.
So I thought, what the fuck? Why not create my own evening? On Saturday, August 10, Dream Theater was playing the outdoor, upscale Greek Theater as part of the Satriani tour, and Hel and I decided to attend. We also noticed an ad in the back of the L.A. Weekly for a club in the Valley which advertised free admission to see Engine "with a King's X or Judas Priest ticket stub" (Priest having played the House of Blues on sunset Strip the night before). I am a big Adler fan and loved the new Engine record, so we decided to check out both shows if possible and set out into the night.
Engine
Photos by HelThe Greek Theater is a really cool place, set in the middle of L.A.'s Griffith Park. It is a "high class," cultured, outdoor theater surrounded by trees with a bar attached that serves Chardonnay and the like. Although I'm new in town, I'd expect that this is not a venue most likely to appear with regularity on these pages, so it was awesome to get a chance to see good music in such an awesome setting. Parking was a nightmare (What the fuck is "stacked parking"? A terrible fucking idea if you ask me), but we lucked out and got to park on the end, allowing us to leave early and complete our chosen mission of checking out both shows.
But the concert started way too early - something like 6:00. We got there more like 8:00, and of course missed King's X (although we did catch Doug Pinnick for a second - more on that later). Dream Theater had just taken the stage when we arrived. It was cool to see the band play outside, but it was weird that almost their entire set was played while it was still light out! I've seen Dream Theater tons of times and love the band, but this set was less than stellar due to the fact that it seemed the band chose a purposefully lighter set list to accommodate the Satriani fans who were unfamiliar with them. Still, we got to see Doug Pinnick from King's X come out to do his part on "Lines in the Sand" from Falling Into Infinity, and the band also played the killer opening tracks from Awake and Metropolis 2: Scenes from a Memory. So it was by no means a wash. But this one was a tour to make news fans, and not so much a tour to give the veteran/hardcore fans something special.
So after the Dream Theater set we headed for the Valley. But it was early, only 9:30, and Engine was going to go on around 11:00, we were told. So we found a taco stand, had something to eat, and generally stalled. We showed up at the venue around 10:30. All I can say is . . . wow. As we walked in, I was not sure if this was our scene or not. Lots of older folk playing pool and drinking cheap beer and dancing. This felt like a neighborhood dive bar, Red Rocks West (for you Manhattan folk out there) before it was hip. We walked back out into the parking lot with some fliers and saw a kid in an Arch Enemy t-shirt loading equipment and began to feel more comfortable. Apparently, his band, Artisan (?) had already played, but we took a sticker, gave him a flier and decided to try to check them out some other time. See what wearing the right metal t-shirt can do for you?
So I picked up a Rock City News (some glam music/radical political agenda rag available for free out in front of the venue) and, not being into the band on stage inside and leaning that it was a good one and a half hours plus until Engine would take the stage - including a full other band in between - we went back to the car, turned on the light inside and read. Seriously. This was in part because I was worried about the possibly sketchy parking situation and in part because we were just that bored.
EngineEventually, we went back inside and found a cool seat up front. To the club's credit, in addition to offering us free admission (which rocked!), they were cranking the awesome Holy Diver album from Dio over the PA between acts, while running a loop tape of Iron Maiden videos without the sound on the screens overhead. Maybe this was our kinda place after all!
Soon enough, Engine took the stage and played an awesome set. Alder was and is simply an amazing vocalist and delivered a killer performance, and watching Vera play bass was simply a treat as he jumped around all over the stage. Versailles is a killer guitar player as well, and the band sounded awesome playing many tracks from the Superholic album as well as the previous Engine release. All of my favorites were there, and it made all the waiting around worth the effort. True, it was a bit sad to see these metal veterans playing such a relatively low-profile gig, but fuck it -they were playing, I got to see them, and in fact got to see them from right up front.
All in all a decent night, but nowhere near as cool as if Engine and King's X had opened for a headlining Dream Theater at the Greek or something. No offense to Satriani intended of course - I respect him, I'm just not interested in sitting around and watching a whole set of his material. Had I known how much time we were gonna have to kill at Palladino's though before seeing Engine, I'd have stuck around and watched him shred.
Hel's Review (8/10/02, Dream Theater @ The Greek Theatre (LA, CA)/Engine @ Paladino's (Tarzana, CA)):On this night, we had a couple of events to attend. Early in the evening we had tickets to see King's X, Dream Theater & Joe Satriani at the very swanky Greek Theatre in Griffith Park. Without question, a beautiful setting for any concert. On our way into the venue, I was concerned, since our plan had been to leave before the end of the show in order to catch Engine (free with stub from this show!) and the parking scenario at the Greek Theatre is "stacked parking" - which means everyone is jammed in side by side as tight as they can fit you. Luck was on our side, and we scored a front row slot, which meant we could leave whenever we where damned ready!
Once inside, we found to our dismay that Dream Theater was already playing. This is, unfortunately, by no means the first instance in which I have missed King's X. In point of fact, I have missed them twice as many times as I have actually seen them. Oh, well.
EngineDream Theater put on a brilliant set from a musicianship standpoint. From a metal standpoint, it was utterly abysmal. By far the wussiest set I have ever seen them produce. The Satriani fans ate it up, and the Dream Theater fans, of which there were many, seemed satisfied, but I've certainly seen them do better, song selection-wise. The highlight was "Lines in the Sand" performed with Doug Pinnick - the way it should be! While it in no way alleviated my disappointment at missing King's X, it soothed the pain a bit.
Once Dream Theater was done, which as an opening act took far less time than we had hoped for, we booked straight out of the venue. We had no idea how long it would take to get to our next destination, and did not want to risk missing Engine.
Next, our travels took us out to the infamous Valley. Personally, despite all the disparaging comments I have heard about this part of Los Angeles, I thought Tarzana seemed pleasant enough. It didn't take us long to get there, so we had time for a nice dinner at a local chain restaurant, and the evening air was warm and beautiful. We ultimately arrived at the venue long before Engine was scheduled to play, and decided to go inside and see what there was to see.
EngineThe inside of the place reminded me of every bar I had ever been in during my childhood in South Dakota. Eerie… The local band onstage was absolutely awful, and after a few minutes we decided to come back a bit later. When we did go back inside, there was a different local band on, and while they were rather unremarkable, their fans were very enthusiastic.
At long last, Engine came out. The wait was worth it, as was the trip out to the Valley. Their set was incredible, and the sparseness of the crowd was completely unworthy of this amazing display. The crowd, small as it was, was enthusiastic, and the band played as though there were 500 people there instead of the 50 that were.
I stood before the stage in awe, unable to believe Ray Adler's effortless delivery - he was even better than on the album, and the rest of the band equaled his performance. When it was over, the crowd screamed for more, but the venue wouldn't have it, and we left, happy with what we saw, and wishing for more.
If Engine ever manages to get out on a national tour, do yourselves a favor and go.
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