The Warfield, San Francisco - 8/28/98
At 7pm we arrived at the Warfield in Market Street in downtown SF to meet a line of gig goers and an assortment of panhandlers and ticket scalpers attacted by the captive audience. At about 7.15 the doors opened and the line started to move, not too soon as my bladder was getting quite excited by this stage. I had earier decided to take the BART (under ground train thingy) from the East Bay into SF to avoid the traffic, this was unfortunately a bad idea, which was hinted at by the delayed door opening. So we were in and after checking out the facilities my and 3 friends and took position in the center of the second level, standing of course, the only way to see a rock show.
Dream Theater came on and got a very good reception, they have played locally a few times recently and I think they had a few fans here. They were, as has been previously stated, technically perfect and I think an ideal aperatif for the mighty Purple. Some of the instrumental sections were just so tight with the band playing as one instrument. They were definitely worth getting in early to see. I did wonder about the keyboard player though, he was dressed like a pimp and heck looked kind of silly when facing the audience standing between the keyboards. The drummer too seemed to be singlehandedly bringing back highlighted hair for men, he spat a lot too, glad I wasn't in the front row!!
Musically they were awesome, they started off with New Millenium from the latest album (Falling Into Infinity) with the bass player playing a chapman stick, probably the first time I've seen this used in a hard rock setting. They played a few others from FII which was good as that's the only one I've heard. "Peruvian Skies" was excellent as was the ballad "Hollow Years" but the highlight for me was the instrumental section near the end of the set, I don't know the name of the song though.
ELP followed with somewhat more stage space and what appeared to be a grand piano. I say what appeared to be because some of the sounds coming from it during the set implied to me that it wasn't entirely acoustic. Carl Palmer was sporting TWO gongs, It's a long time since I saw a gong at a gig and of course they hardly ever get hit, I think CP hit them only once any way, they do look good though. KE had one of his old Moogs complete with loads of leds and patch cords, I'm inclined to think that this too was for show, could be wrong but he only used it's attached keyboard once. I'm not really ELP's biggest fan and I could have done without their pretentious noodling, still, they went down well and the drum solo was good but if they had only hacked half an hour off their set I might have been able to stay for Purple's encores. :-(
So to DP. This was my third time for DP, first at Knebworth in 84 (or was it 85?) and then on the _|_ tour in Birmingham (UK). I think that this was the best of the three, they are just so together and rocking well, there is a vitality to DP which ELP just didn't have. SM is the man, of course they all are but he has done them a lot of good. Maybe he lacks the demonical presence of TMIB but more than makes up for it in sheer musicianship and, well, smiling. He seemed more a part of the band than when I saw him last. I would have appreciated a few more songs, especially new ones. Unfortunately I had to leave to get the last train before the encores, maybe three bands are just too many for a show like this.
IG was sounding great, much better than when I saw him in Gillan days and I only noticed one cough. I don't remember a drum solo, must have been in the encore unless I just blanked it out. On the whole DP rocked, the set was sharp, not bloated as some may have expected from a band of their vintage and I look forward to seeing them after the next album!!
So, to sum up, DP are as good now as they ever have been (but of course you knew that). I wonder if Page & Plant will rock as well...
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