It’s been over two years since founding member and original drummer Mike Portnoy returned “home” to Grammy Award-winning progressive metal giants Dream Theater.
Just in time to celebrate their 40th anniversary and with the gradual inclusion of tracks from their 16th studio album, Parasomnia, into their live sets, the New York-based quintet embarked on a historical tour across the globe, which started in London last year. During that first tour leg in Europe, the band announced the recording of their 10th official live album for their show at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France, making it the second time they filmed in such an iconic city (the first being “Once in a LIVEtime”).
Finally released a little over a year after the show was played, Quarantième: Live à Paris faithfully represents Dream Theater’s anniversary tour and four decades long catalog, though sadly this particular setlist didn’t feature at least one song from every album nor every of the band’s eras and lineup changes.
With a “mostly greatest hits plus a couple deep cuts” approach, this collection of songs will appeal to most Dream Theater followers and casual listeners, without featuring the one or two rarities included to please the biggest die-hard fans that own every single live release and official bootleg from the catalog.
With the return of Portnoy to his previous task of crafting the setlists and shaking things up a bit for the live shows, this album includes some very enjoyable alternate arrangements and song versions that stand out compared to their studio counterparts.
The best example is this new version of “Hollow Years”, implementing the original song demo arrangement plus a great extended acoustic guitar intro and ending with a mind-blowing piano solo. Others worth mentioning are the short but beautiful “Vacant” with the guitar replacing the cello parts from the original; and the extended ending of “The Mirror” including the solo section from “Lie”. It would have been quite nice to hear more songs on this package get this kind of treatment.
As for the instrumental performances, what else can we say? Dream Theater is known for their technical prowess and immaculate execution, and they didn’t disappoint. Something worth noting, though, is that with them performing without a click track, some of the songs feel too fast at times and not entirely comfortable to perform.
The vocals are also surprisingly good for most of this release, with vocalist James LaBrie maintaining great control and tone across all songs, with the exception of the opener, “Metropolis Pt. 1”, where it gets pretty rough at times. The backing vocals, handled by John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy, add a nice sense of “liveness,” something that has been missing from the band’s last few live albums.
Same as with their previous live offering, Distant Memories, Quarantième was mixed by the band’s very own James “Jimmy T” Meslin, with excellent results in this regard, except for John Myung’s bass which is on the quieter side, as usual for the band.
One of the biggest highlights, and currently the third single from this album, is this live version of “Night Terror”. With all other songs in this tracklist already appearing in previous live albums, this is the only one that feels like a “must-have” from this release. Being the very first song this reunited lineup wrote and released as part of the Parasomnia promotional cycle, the band feels especially energized and invigorated during this performance.
As a pretty cool extra addition, we get the orchestral overture used to open the show’s second set, featuring musical themes from all of the band’s albums, at the start of Disc 2; something that fans have been asking about since the tour started in 2024.
With a great set two closer in “Octavarium”, one of the band’s most acclaimed epic songs, and a fan-favorite encore consisting of “Home”, “The Spirit Carries On”, and their first hit “Pull Me Under”, Dream Theater’s newest live collection comes to end on a very powerful note.
As stated before, all songs included here but one have already appeared on previous live albums by the band, diminishing perhaps the appeal of this release to long-time fans and collectors. However, as a representation of their very successful reunion and anniversary tour, and with the great performance quality that this band is known for, there’s something to like for every one of their followers.
Final Rating: 9/10
Order your copy here: https://dream-theater.lnk.to/Quarantieme-Album
The tracklisting for Quarantième: Live à Paris:
CD1:
- Metropolis Pt. 1
- Overture 1928
- Strange Déjà Vu
- The Mirror
- Panic Attack
- Barstool Warrior
- Hollow Years
- Constant Motion
- As I Am
CD2:
- Orchestral Overture
- Night Terror
- Under A Glass Moon
- This Is The Life
- Vacant
- Stream of Consciousness
- Octavarium
CD3:
- Home
- The Spirit Carries On
- Pull Me Under
Blu-ray 1:
- Metropolis Pt. 1
- Overture 1928
- Strange Déjà Vu
- The Mirror
- Panic Attack
- Barstool Warrior
- Hollow Years
- Constant Motion
- As I Am
Blu-ray 2:
- Orchestral Overture
- Night Terror
- Under A Glass Moon
- This Is The Life
- Vacant
- Stream of Consciousness
- Octavarium
- Home
- The Spirit Carries On
- Pull Me Under
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