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Video of Dream Theater doing “Highway Star”

As we reported earlier, Dream Theater covered the entire “Made in Japan” album at some of their concerts in Asia in January. Here is a video of “Highway Star” as performed in Seoul.



26 Comments to “Video of Dream Theater doing “Highway Star””:

  1. 1
    Steven Fox says:

    After reading some of the disappointing comments coming out of the Australian shows, maybe the band should watch these guys to remember how they used to rock. I think I’ll go see Dream Theater instead next time. Sad huh?

  2. 2
    Simon Ekholm says:

    It’s an absolutely jaw-dropping performance and eerily close to the original with respect to speed, power and precision. I can’t hardly wait until the cd/dvd of the show is published.

    Notice, btw, that Mike Portnoy has abandoned his usual, over-the-top enormous, drumkit for the occasion and is playing on a kit, closely matching Ian Paices as it was in 1972

  3. 3
    Bob Youngs says:

    Good performance from a band obviously heavily influenced by Purple, especially noted the keyboard player copying Jons warm lick at the intro…However are they a band who can also stand up in there own right?..for me the answer is i shall have to go and find out!…A perfect copy of the album?…I felt the organ solo wasnt up to it and the guitarist, while good, could not help himself getting carried away the jam nature of the solo and departing into his own licks..Bass and drums , drums especially were as good as ive heard . And the vocals whilst not up to Gillans in the glory years are certainly better than the great man has sadly managed in past 10 years….8 out 10

  4. 4
    Belfag0r says:

    John Petrucci = Ice Cream!!!

  5. 5
    steve w says:

    Dream theater rule.
    This is a great performance better than DP themselves

  6. 6
    Byljer says:

    Great performance, but IMO the guitarist is a little to eighties sounding (in the vein of Steve Morse who’s got the same problem). Anyway, that’s just a detail. It’s great that they pay tribute to their heroes like this, and I have to say that it sounds much more fresh than Purple today.

  7. 7
    Peter Neumann says:

    Good performance! Just nice. But it is not fair to compare this with Deep Purple of today. Ian gillan is 60 years now and they are doing a very fine version of HS today still. And I must say if we compare the cover with the original of 1972 the original is still far better but I like the cover concert.

  8. 8
    Gilles LAMBOT says:

    I prefer DP’s version in 1972.
    I don’t reconize keybords and guitar solos.
    Portnoy does not play with all the subtility of Ian Paice.
    Long live Deep Purple
    I play as drummer in a french band and we often play HS (Made in Japan version)

  9. 9
    Gilles LAMBOT says:

    I prefer DP’s version

  10. 10
    Gilles LAMBOT says:

    ho superb

  11. 11
    Deneb says:

    FANTASTIC

  12. 12
    Ashlee says:

    cool

  13. 13
    Jan says:

    Good, but not as far as good as DP’s 1972 version…..

  14. 14
    Nestor says:

    Dream theater… por favor, son de madera terciada
    Esta version al lado de la lad MIJ es un vomito tirado en el piso

  15. 15
    Bryan Greene says:

    Sensational band, the best band to arrive on the rock scene in the past twenty five years, in my opinion.
    It is worth noting that this video was not actually recorded on one of the two nights that Dream Theater covered the entire ‘Made In Japan’ album. The performance in Seoul was part of the encore, so they were a little less concerned about being true to the recorded performance.
    I was lucky enough to see them perform the entire “Dark Side Of The Moon” on one of the two occasions they covered it…it was incredible and much more true to the album than I have Pink Floyd play live. I personally think MIJ was more of a challenge and I couldn’t believe DT would be so bold as to even attempt Child In Time; James LaBrie is a very good vocalist but he cannot sing like Gillan.

  16. 16
    Dave G. says:

    Is anyone gonna do an entire Dream Theater album live in 35 years? – Will they even exist in one form or another? – Thank God for what we have been given over the years – what’s done is done (well).

  17. 17
    Raúl says:

    DT son una realidad, no ficción. Si; cuesta creerlo pero estos cinco tipos son capaces de tocar todo el MADE IN JAPAN , el Dark Side Of The Moon, el The Number Of The Beast y el Master Of Puppets sin apenas despeinarse.
    Y esto no son más q unos ensayos comparados con sus obras originales.
    Si no lo creeis, comprobadlo.
    DT Rules!

  18. 18
    hayatz says:

    Cool…
    But DP will always be DP n so is Dream Theatre..no one can replace both of them.

  19. 19
    Hernan says:

    Aguante DREAM THEATER, los que lo insultan no le llegan ni a los talones…

  20. 20
    vergnaud says:

    fantastic ! I’m verry happy .this music play by great formations .

  21. 21
    quiquecorrea says:

    de lo mejor….pero purple es purple

  22. 22
    alvaro says:

    Nice performance, very close to the original, but when Blackmore flyies on his solos, there’s no man that can do the same, the same with Gillan on Child In Time. Hey, some guy said that that performance was just a rehersal for DT, come on!! Just compare the Blackmore vs. Gillan on Strange Kind of Woman, and Portnoy as himself is damn good, but as himself, don’t ever compare hima with a drummer as Paice or Bonzo. If you carely hear this record, in Child in Time, the keyboardist helps the singer when it tryies to scream like the Singer’s Singer that is Gillan.
    A very very very good performance, nice to hear and very plesant, but Purple is Purple, and we all now that Made in Japan is the best Live album Ever.

  23. 23
    warlock says:

    dp will always be my first love,but after seeing them in sydney they just looked tired.dm did a really good version but it doesnt compere to the 1972 dp version.dp need a new spark,everyone of them looked bored

  24. 24
    Mike says:

    Nice, but I stil love the original from the Machine Head album. No other rock song will compare in my mind…Lord’s keyboards were great…and Ritchie Blackmore’s solo is the best guitar solo ever. I still load this CD into my car and jam out!I long for my teen years when this band, album & song were so great! BUT…Thanks for the video. It’s great to see & hear.

  25. 25
    Fred New Jersey says:

    So-So Cover Band………

  26. 26
    Isaias says:

    Sounds really nice, and we already knew these guys could be quite good when preparing versions (remember, f. i., DP’s Perfect Strangers in A Change of Seasons). It’s great to see that, although they a are firmly established band today, they have no problem in paying tribute to their forebears. Having said this, though, I still prefer the 72′ version in Made in Japan; even more, if you take a look at the 3-CD version, covering the three concerts, and see how they played HS on each day, you will see that the sheer power Deep Purple had at that time remains unequalled by any band, past or present. In technical aspects you could say DT are better than DP, ok, but even so, music is more than technique, important as that is.

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