Review: Progressive Nation Tour 5.26.2008

#15
Monday, May 26, 2008
Three
Opeth
Dream Theater
DAR Constitution Hall

I could actually be a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution but I never bothered to find out how to join. Maybe I will now... Anyway, I spent too much of my Memorial Day watching tv judges (including Dr. Phil) and spraying for ants and none of it drinking like a real 'merican. Oh well.
DAR is not that great of a venue for concerts because there's barely any rake so if you're on the main floor it doesn't matter if you're sitting or standing, you can't see a damn thing. Not to mention that I came in to pitch blackness as Three had already started, so I wandered around in the dark until an usher with a flashlight finally helped me find my seat. Three sounded really good though - playing almost entirely new songs. Dan really needs to come up with some kind of gimmick though - maybe he should start lighting his bass on fire or something. Also, Billy has new guitars - the old BC Rich was nowhere in site.
Caught up with da 3 Superfan as well as Joe and Joey while Between the Buried and Me played. Ovation finally did hook Joey up before this tour so he's got a few more guitars now too.
I sat through Opeth and was amused by several references to Kip Winger. I figured I would stay for part of Dream Theater, since I used to listen to them a lot back in 8th grade. Except that what I like best about DT is the vocals and I could barely hear the vocals and there was [what I felt was] gratuitous use of vocal effects so I didn't stick around long.

ETA: I forgot about this post on the Progressive Nation Tour blog about how Three was invited on the tour after their amazing set in Philly with Porcupine Tree. I also forgot that a guy behind me was talking about how Joey has very soft hands.