Customer Reviews

Dream Theater - Metropolis 2000: Scenes From New York

5 star:		(100)
4 star:		(40)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The die-hard Dream Theater fan knows that the ultimate would have been to attend the famous Roseland show. After reading the reviews and seeing the set list we could only imagine what it must have been like to have been there. Well, imagine no longer. This release puts you there, in the Roseland Ballroom on August 30, 2000. Often a live performance cannot capture the vital force of a show and translate it to the screen. What we've here is a magical conveyance of what really went down that evening. (Proof positive: Transition from Regression to the 1928 Overture. The place absolutely detonates). The band is extremely unyielding in their deliverance of the Metropolis Part 2 set. It is incredible to watch (and hear) the story from beginning to end.

The extras that are found on the DVD prove that the band left nothing in the tank that night. (After 3+ hours, A Change of Seasons!) Further, being afforded the opportunity to mingle outside the venue before the show with the fans, getting to witness the set up for this phenomenal presentation and getting off-stage during the show is pure luxury.

For the music purist, this reveals just what Dream Theater is all about. Whatever your preference, keyboards/guitar/bass/percussion, this is an extraordinary assemblage of great musicians. If you are a Dream Theater fan, you cannot be without this enchanted evening of music and power. If you are a music traditionalist, indulge yourself with this astonishing performance. Having been nurtured by the likes of (Tales) Yes, (The Lamb) Genesis, (2112/Hemispheres) Rush, UK, ELP, Kansas, Marillion, The Dregs and Pink Floyd, I will tell you this band is full on. The disintegrating force, the majestic ascensions and the complex changes are absolutely inspiring.

Cost of a DVD player - $200.00. Cost of the Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York - $20.00. Attending the Roseland show over and over, priceless.

If I were to name the top Progressive Rock bands in the world, I could have thought of Dream Theater as one of the best, followed closely by Queensryche in their good times, and the master of all, Pink Floyd. As far as the group in question, DT is currently kicking hard with their last CD, "Scenes from a memory". The disk, a concept album, has a story about a murder, viewed from several angles, throughout the album. Storyline is quite interesting, music is amazing, and vocals are terrific!. Here you see 5 masters of their instruments, playing at top notch, working in a unison not regularly seen, at blazing speeds, and always keeping consistency and stability. As a studio album, it makes me fly every single time I hear it...as a live set? WOW, WOW, WOW!! I know that sounds too little a description, but, when there are no words to describe the amazement, it's the only thing that I could write! As a fan of high quality music, I find DT to be one of those few groups who actually do master their music. As a rock fan, damn, this guys kick some serious booty! If you fall into any of the 2 cathegories, buy this DVD! DT will not turn you down. The image quality and sound is truly amazing, worth the piece of art that the album represents. If you can, you should also try to buy the actual CD "Scenes", as it is considered by most Prog Rock fans a definite MUST HAVE.

I'd never heard DT before.Based on some reviews I'd read here at Amazon I thought I'd give them a try.This is a great band.Each musician is technically expert at their instrument.But it doesn't stop there. They play with intensity and emotion.I've seen lots of good musicians,Yes,Gentle Giant,Dixie Dregs,Return To Forever,Pat Metheny Group.DT compares very well to these groups.Thanks,Mr. Video Man, for focusing on individuals as they soloed.The video never got in the way of the sound and the sound is excellent.It saddens me a bit to think that most people will never hear this group of musicians because most radio stations are content with playing 3 chord- 4/4 time rock background music.If you like your music with some depth and variety it would be in your best interest to purchase this DVD.Listen to it with someone who also appreciates good music.Enjoy.

Dream Theater's concept album Scenes From A Memory is jaw-dropping on CD, but one gains a whole new level of appreciation for the work when one sees it performed. I mean, Dream Theater plays some really complex stuff here, and it's awesome to watch. "The Dance of Eternity" is insane, and the instrumental section of "Beyond this Life" has some really tough harmonization and unison lines. John Myung's dexterous bass playing is especially incredible to see because it's sometimes difficult to hear him in the mix on the CD. Jordan Rudess is truly a god among keyboardists, and I don't doubt that in a few years we'll regard him with the same deference as legends like Rick Wakeman and Keith Emerson. It's almost uncanny how easily he plays everything. What's also interesting about him is that he doesn't use racks of keyboards; he controls everything from just one, and switches between sounds with a pedal. Very cool. For much of the show, I just sat there with my jaw constantly hitting the floor thinking, "How the freakin' heck do they do that?"

The band puts on an incredible show. The band usually has a sort of calm stage presence, but here they're gushing energy. LaBrie's vocals never miss their mark, and in some ways his performance is better here than on the CD. I hadn't realized he had this much live power (let's not forget that he's an operatically trained vocalist, too). The band recreates SFAM's story using images on the big screens, which is good for those who didn't quite grasp the plot. (I understood the story, but it was nice to finally see what the breaking glass was on "Finally Free.") The band also brings in the hypnotherapist, the gospel choir for "The Spirit Carries On," and Theresa Thomason to sing Victoria's lines on that same song. Here, they've essentially recreated the album better than I could have imagined.

The bonus material is great. Personally, I found the "Making Of" section very interesting, and the band's audio commentary for the concert is really quite funny. The "Deleted Scenes" are a dream come true. I never expected to see the band perform "A Mind Beside Itself" in its entirety, and the electric version of "The Silent Man" is an intense extension of the original song. "Learning to Live" is a great anthemic song, even better here because of LaBrie's vocal improvisation during Petrucci's heroic guitar solo (the one right after LaBrie's hits that high F). And the best of all... "A Change of Seasons" as an encore, with some fun embellishments during "IV. The Darkest of Winters."

What I'm getting at is...this DVD is incredible. If you're a DT fan, you absolutely need this.

No need to comment on the performances. These guys rock, period. The DVD production isn't good. All those effects are annoying and although I can understand where Portnoy is comming from on deciding on those effects, I think they're very amateur looking and completely unecessary.

The sound is another shame in this DVD. Something as simple as compression -- yes, it's simple -- was overused and abused. I am a recording engineer and I can't believe they did such a crappy job on mixing this concert. It may have been captured wrong, maybe Kevin Shirley was drunk, who knows...

I watched this DVD two times just for the sake of it but the sound quality won't let me play it a trird time.

Hopefully the next DVD live in Tokio will be mixed by japanese engineers.

I rate the content: 5 stars. I rate the technical aspects of the disc itself: 2 stars (read below).

I'm not going to write about how great Dream Theater is, or how great an album SfaM is...we all know know and agree on those points. Instead I've got a few things to say about this substandard DVD. I've got no complaints about the content...plenty of great stuff and great songs including an audio track by band members which is cool. But tell my why someone wasted their time an effort putting analog VHS type media on a digital disc? They really should have filmed the concert in widescreen (anamorphic) and created a cropped pan and scan version for the VHS version. That way those of us with widescreen TVs could actually get some use out of owning digital equipment. Instead we're treated to a disc that is simply a clearer version of the VHS version. I was fully expecting DD 5.1. Instead we get Pro Logic (2.0). Ahhh....plain old stereo based on 60s technology. Sure it's digital, but who give's a rats if 4 of my speakers aren't even being used?!! Want to hear how a real DD 5.1 music DVD should sound? Put in TOOLs Salival DVD that has all their videos. OMG! O...M...G!! Shame on Dream Theater for allowing such a substandard piece of digital craftsmanship be released with their names on it. SHAME!!!

If you're buying this disc just for the music an know nothing about DVDs and digital home theaters, you'll be in heaven. If you're expecting all the bells and whistles that you think you're gonna get in a disc released in the year 2000 (!!!), you'll be pretty disappointed. I feel like my home theater system is being wasted everytime I put this disc in.

Ok, this really came as a disapointment to me and I really feel bad to have to write this. What do I mean? Well, the concert was great! I saw the tour in Orlando at the House of Blues and I was WOWED!!! Dream Theater is a really impressive band, with more talent behind them than any other single band today. Metropolis Part II: Scenes from a Memory is probably one of the best pieces of work I have ever heard from Dream Theater, let alone 90% of the other bands out there. The concert was a perfect recreation of the album with nothing left out. Just a straight shot through with some minor differences here and there.

Now, I'm sure you're asking "how could he be giving this DVD only three stars when he is praising the album so much"? Let me assure you it was a hard thing to decide on a three star review for one of the best concerts I have ever seen, with one of the best albums I have ever heard, and one of the most talented bands around...

For starters, lets start with the disc being in pan and scan (Full Screen). In this so-called "High Definition" world that we are entering, pan and scan is a joke. Luckily this is just shots of the stage, but most of you know that a Pan & Scan disc cuts off the edges of the full picture to crop it on to a normal 4:3 television. What about those people who have a 16:9 set or plan on purchasing a Widescreen TV in the near future? I was really hoping for a widescreen release of this concert with animorphic enhancements, but that didn't happen! There goes one star...

Next, 2.0 Dolby Surround sound... What went wrong here? This film was recorded in the year 2000. The same year DVD Audio was released! The same year that Super Audio Compact Discs were brought out on the market. The same year that every new film is either encoded in DTS or Dolby Digital 5.1 and the Dream Theater DVD has none of the above. I guess the folks at Elektra and whoever mastered the audio tracks on this disc found it unimportant to give all of us audiophiles out here a great sound track. I don't get it... Eric Clapton and The Eagles got DTS encodings with Clapton's Unplugged show and the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over concert. What a big upset to Dream Theater fans when all we get was a two-channel stereo source. Thank God for Pro Logic, DTS Neo 6 and the up and coming Pro Logic 2. But still, I'd appreciated a 5.1 audio encoding of some sort. There goes the other star to make it only a 3 star review.

Those were the downfalls to Dream Theater's first DVD release. Sorry I had to tear it apart, but I'm sure others will be very disapointed with a lot of the aspects to this DVD. I'm looking at it from a technical view. I couldn't have been any happier with the Metropolis album, nor could I have ever been disappointed with the concert. That would have been hard to ruin ;) But, I'm glad this DVD has finally been released. I have been awaiting it since November when I first heard the news of a DVD release. I just find it odd that it had been pushed back from early Feb to late April and it was released with the most basic features.

Well, I just have to say it!!! Great Concert, perfect album, but the DVD is nowhere near perfection. Overall, I would give my ultimate recommendations to purchasing this DVD. There is absolutely no reason why this disc should not be in your collection, however I do pray for an Ultimate Edition in the future with some more bonus material and better audio encoding. Widescreen would be a plus too!

Do your self a favor! Buy it. Watch it. Enjoy it. Because, it is Dream Theater's first, and only DVD yet.

DT are great. They did a great job on this concert, as they do on every show. Few people can play so well. They play live with no mistake. All of them are extremely talented. I practiced tens of hours to do some of those licks. They don't have to practice ... they know it, because they are good.

But let's not talk about DT, let's talk about this DVD.
I might suck at playing guitar even after 20 years practice, but my a/v gear is brilliant. So i wonder, why this beautiful music sounds soo creepy? The audio is really bad. Really really bad. It's a shame. Did they hear it?

I just bought this dvd. It's the first time i look at it. I think i will turn it off, and i'll put on a CD. (I have all of their CDs, all of them are high quality recordings).
I wonder , how .... how is it possible that a group like them sounds so bad? The mixing is good, but basically all the music is compressed. No soundstage. No dynamics. No air. No bass. No higs. Muddy. MP3s are wounderful compaired to this.
I'd like to turn it off, but the music itself is soooo good that i can't. I will listen it as it is. It seems to listen to my grandma's old radio.

I love Dream Theater but this DVD is a huge letdown visually! This is a taped performance not filmed. Plus the video effects are laughable at best. I mean these are cheesy basic video editing machine tricks(mirror image, hippie like tye dye backgrounds and the like). Musically, Dream Theater are amazing, but this DVD just fails to visually deliver the power of their music and instead makes it feel cheesy which is a damn shame! Next time guys, release a DVD that is visually on on par as your studio albums are sonically

Being a friend of this group since I can remember listening to music, you may safely assume I am not doubting the excellence or authority of Dream Theater here.
BUT..this video must be the worst production I've witnessed since the early days of my DVD collection (back in 1999).
The sound is so cluttered that feels like a monophonic recording. The High Frequencies are away on vacation and the Bass is completely messed up...
Let alone the horrific graphics popping up all the time making the picture at par with the rest production, SIMPLY UNBEARABLE!!!