Customer Reviews

Live at Budokan (Mcup)

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I just finished watching the entire DVD and it is by far the best performance I have ever seen Dream Theater play and I have seen them live twice. Most of the songs are off the "Train of Thought" and "Six Degrees" cds which weren't my favorite, but the songs sound a million times better live. Now the BIG question...does James Labrie sound great or terrible like he did on "Once in a Livetime." Well, thank God he sounds better than great here. He hits all the right notes and even sounds better than he did in studio on some songs. Of course Petrucci, Rudess, Myung, and Portnoy are at there all time best, and when are they not? No need to explain them. I love how they extended "Beyond this Life" into a 19 minute song with a killer Drum/Keyboard solo towards the end, and the awesome Instrumedly which combines DT's instrumentals from all there albums (brilliantly executed!). How can you go wrong buying this CD, DVD, or like me...both of them? A full three hour concert, plus a DVD loaded with behind the scenes and other special features. If your a fan of great technical-rockin' music, this purchase is a no brainer.

This is an absolutely amazing live album. Budokan in Japan is the equivalent to Carnegie Hall or others like it in the history and culture of the arena. The live cd set is amazing but to really enjoy this cd set even more, buy the DVD as well. When you watch the live DVD and see the amazing show that's being put on it seems to augment the enjoyment of listening to it as well.

....by this legendary band! Live at Budokan was recorded in on DT's Train of Thought tour in Tokyo and is 3CDs (the entire show!) of prog/metal greatness. The concert contains most of the tracks from the Train of Thought album, excellent versions of This Dying Soul, As I Am, Stream of Conciousness, Endless Sacrfice, and In the Name of God. It also contains some real gems: an incredible version of Hollow Years with an extended guitar intro, Trial of Tears, New Millennium (one of the best songs from 1997's Falling Into Inifinity), a 20-minute Beyond This Life which includes a fun keyboard/drum duel between Jordan Rudess and Mike Portnoy, Instrumedley, which contains portions of: Ytse Jam, A Change of Seasons, Paradigm Shift, Hell's Kitchen, Erotomania, The Dance of Eternity, and other bits I'm probably leaving out. Also included are 4 parts from the song Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, as well as the rarely played Disappear. All in all, from beginning to end, this is an incredible live document of the band. And James' voice sounds almost back to full power, and for the most part sounds really good, although not as good as it did on Live at the Marquee or Live Scenes From New York. An essential live DT album (they all are!)

Live at Budokan marks Dream Theater's third full-length, live album release, aside from the few official bootlegs that have been released on drummer Portnoy's YtseJam Records. Recorded at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan on April 26th, 2004 during touring in support of their 2003 album, Train of Thought. Live at Budokan is a three disc set, basically a documentation of a single live show. The setlist for the show, while not unexpected, provides for an interesting listening experience, but an undoubtedly more interesting live experience.

As such, Live at Budokan's first disc opens just as Train of Thought did. From the distance -- and growing ever closer -- is the sound that ends 2002's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, opening the album and, alongside John Myung's mesmerizing bass playing, introducing "As I Am." In typical Dream Theater fashion, the performance is immaculate, at times breaking away -- though usually only slightly -- from the recordeding on Train of Thought. Follow "As I Am" on both Train of Thought and Live at Budokan is "This Dying Soul," which proves to be another excellent reproduction of the album track, with the unique stylings that come when Dream Theater plays live.

It is not until the third track, "Beyond This Life" from Metropolis Part II: Scenes From A Memory that Dream Theater displays the true power of the live experience they produce. The song is faithfully reproduced, including guitarist John Petrucci's complex, impossibly fast riffing, until the central solo comes around. Keyboardist Jordan Rudess and Petrucci interchanage solos as expected for a short time, when Rudess fades out, and Myung hammers out a riff repetitively, while Rudess, Petrucci, Portnoy, and occasionally Myung himself throw solos back and forth between the four musicians. These moments are what set Dream Theater's live albums apart from more the bland recordings of more traditional bands -- they are obviously not afraid to improvise and display both their technical and stylistic skills. Somehow, as if by miracle, the band takes this extended jam and transforms it back into the ending three minutes of "Beyond This Life," almost shocking the audience into realization that, all this while, these outstanding musicians kept the rest of the song in the back of their minds.

Following the extreme complexity and intensity that was exhibited in their performance of "Beyond This Life," Dream Theater slows the pace of the concert with the calm "Hollow Years." In his usual fashion, Petrucci's guitar solo is extended and complexified, giving the song an entirely new meaning. "Hollow Years" also gives vocalist James LaBrie a chance to display his powerful, melodic voice that has helped to carve nearly fifteen years of Dream Theater's musical history.

The twelve minute "Instrumedly" could easily be considered the most interesting musical point of Live at Budokan, consisting heavily of moments from Scenes From A Memory's "The Dance of Eternity," as well as from, among others, "Metropolis, Part 1," "Erotomania," and the Liquid Tension Experience piece "Paradigm Shift," not to mention an ultimately humorous interpretaion of "Heart and Soul" by Rudess.

Live at Budokan helps to raise the standard for what a live album should consist of. The quality of the recording is markedly pristine: LaBrie's vocals are crisp and clear, the open quality of Portnoy's drumming makes itself heard throughout the album, Rudess's dramatic keyboard playing flies through the sonic ambience of the crowd, Myung's visceral bass rhythms provide an excellent backing for the pieces, making themselves heard while not overwhelming listeners, and Petrucci's large, epic riffs cut through the mix like a knife through hot butter. Live at Budokan is easily Dream Theater's most successful live album to date, in all of its three-disc glory. As Dream Theater's sole official release for 2004, this release both appeases fans and gives casual listeners nearly three hours of solid music, a rarity in music. If anything, this album is a demonstration of the influence and power Dream Theater will likely have for many years to come.

I've had this Cd for about 3 days now and have been listening to it non-stop! It is by far the best live Cd Dream Theater has put out. The production is great and every instrumental is clearly heard. Although the vocals seem a bit quiet, the instrumental segments make up for it. The stunning "beyond this life" has a a completly new twist. Before they kick into the Zappa sounding part they each instrument gets a solo. It is completly outstanding. With this Cd it deffinetly shows that John Petrucci, John Myung, Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, and James Labrie are some of the best musicians on this planet right now. The set list is pretty good. I wish they would of played something from "Awake" other than the short little part of Erotomania during "Instrumedley". Other than that I'd have to say it is just amazing. It is a great 3 Cd set with over an hours worth of music. I'd recommend buying the DVD also. It is just mind blowing. It is deffinetly recommended for Dream Theater fans. Go out and pick this one up.

What a live CD! This truely captures the band at its very greatest. Train of Thought wasnt my favorite Dream Theater album, but this live album from its tour is stunning! I have a few bootlegs from this tour and this is one of the best shows I've heard from it.

They open with "As I Am" and "This Dying Soul", the first two tracks from Train of Thought. They're basically the same as they were on the album here, but they still sound cool and open the disc well. The next two tracks are my favorites on the whole set. The first is a 20 minute version of "Beyond This Life" (possibly my favorite song by the band!) with a huge jam thats pretty sweet, and the second is a version of "Hollow Years" where it kicks in and gets electric halfway through with some godly guitar playing. John Petrucci is so amazing on these two tracks its unbelievable. The disc closes with "War Inside My Head/The Test That Stumped Them All" which sounds great live.

Disc Two rules as well. Incredible renditions of "Trial Of Tears", "New Millenium", "Only A Matter Of Time" and "Endless Sacrifice" are on here, as well a stunning 12 minute "Instrumedley" which proves just how godly these five musicians are. The Keyboard Solo is cool too.

Disc Three is my least favorite of the three but its still good. "Solitary Shell" sounds good live, and the guitar solo added to "In The Name Of God" is cool. The other songs are good too, just not as outstanding as the first two discs.

All in all, this is Dream Theater's best live release yet. The sound is good, the packaging is fine, and the full price is worth it for "Beyond This Life" and "Hollow Years" alone. Any Dream Theater fan should own this one.

This is one hell of a concert. The Dream Theater boys do it again. I'm convienced that this group is the best on the planet at doing what they do. Progressive rock at it's best.I like the editing much better on this dvd than on Scenes From New York, that is a very good show as well but this new dvd just has more punch to it. Each one of these guys really hammers it home from the opening song "As I Am".Disc two has a good selection of bonus material, interveiws with the band members, and a multiangle section that lets you watch your favorite player durning the famous "Instrumedley" jam session.It also shows the human side of the band as they complain of jetlag and the toll this type of music has on their bodies. But theres no doubt that the fans in Budokan got their monies worth from Dream Theater...and so will you if you buy this dvd.Actually I was expecting to pay more for this hard rockin' dvd...so the low price was a pleasent surprise also.Well...thats my take on this great concert experience.

This album is on the same level as their Live Scenes from New York (another masterpiece) and a great one exactly because it does not repeat their previous live albums. Actually, DT is one of the few bands that have the songs, credibility and courage to change their live sets so abruptly and still kick your a**.

Here awesome songs like As I Am, This Dying Sould, New Milleniun, Instrumedley, Solitary Shell and Pull Me Under show that progressive metal can be pleasantly listened by non-musicians (like myself). Only sin is the absence of Glass Prison (best song in Six Degrees).

I saw lots of complaints about the last two studio albums and especially James LaBrie, but I strongly disagree with them. Six Degrees was a little hard to understand (I like it anyway), but Train Of Thought is the BEST DT release since Images and Words: heavy, insightful, introspective and absolutely fantastic.

It's true that LaBrie is not anymore the great technical singer of yore, but his feeling, charisma and even his limitations are what makes DT an earthly band and one of the best live metal acts, not just a music machine.

Ronnie James Dio is a far better singer than Ozzy, and still people prefer Ozzy at Sabbath. If you want vocal technique, listen to Nightwish, Symphony X or even Pavarotti. I personally prefer to listen to LaBrie and DT playing live the entire Master Of Puppets (from Metallica) or The Number Of The Beast (needless to say) albums after a show, just for fun. Unfortunately, they did not record it for an official live album yet.

if you hated their last album - train of thoughts you need to listen first before buying it , but you have a chance to change your mind after listening to the amazing extended great versions of most of the tracks took from train of toughts specially the track which close the third cd : in the name of god. the second track you realy must have in your collection is""beyond this life 19:37 min ( from "metropolis pt.2" - great arrangment and amazing adaptions - i notice that most of the live albums we like got max 4 stars and many of them got only 3 stars from the critics or the reviewers . they would say that nothing is new in those live albums it is only greatest hits live , but this is not the same case here. this live album - 3 cd's set got new life on it , extended and new adaptions , sometimes i thought to myself they could put few of their music in new album , like done in " beyond this live"- wow!!!
this excellent performance include 5 tracks from train of thoughts( without vacant and honor thy father;
pull me under ( from "image and words " for those who cant live without it ) ; 4 tracks from six degrees of inner turbulence - " war inside my head ", goodnight kiss " and solitar shell - from their long 42.04 min' and their great track - "disapear"
; new millenium and trial of tears from " falling into infinity". why it desesve 5 stars????
ike i said before you got here 3 cd's set with great music - proggresive metal . many groups put only 2- 3 great tracks in a ep - and you would say - wow it deserve 5 stars - " the name of god" and " beyond live alone deserve it!!!!!!!! and you got here more and more great , great tracks which worth the 5 stars alone.
why you can hate this????? the 3 cd's put in a bad ,awful and cheap cd case - but i didnt expect something else ,they didnt want to make this set expensive one , i also hate this cd case but the music amazed me and i realy think this is a vital set for you. bottom line - i like their last album train of thoughts but if you hated this think twice and listen to it first!!!
thanks
tal avraham

Dream Theater, i think anyway, is the best techniqual band i've heard... the review from Rushead does no justice to this DVD.. although i must say the singing in this show isn't the best(sounds better most other times), the real centre of this show is the instrumentals, as they are a techniqual band, and its the best of quality.. the skill on the guitar of John Petrucci is unbelivable, and combinded with the touch of Yngwie Malmsteen with his keyboard abilities makes a fantastic show. Any metal, or person appreciative of skilled musicans will love this DVD...