Dream Theater at The Midland Theatre, Kansas City MO (2025-10-13)

The bed on stage was the last place anyone was going–

Celebrating their 40^th anniversary and newest album, Parasomnia, Grammy Award®-winning progressive rock legends Dream Theater returned to downtown Kansas City with their classic lineup reformed, for a powerhouse and one-for-the-ages performance at The Midland Theatre.

In addition to the newest record, the band has already documented this celebratory tour with an upcoming live release due out November 28, via Inside Out Music/Sony Music. Quarantième: Live à Paris features the reunited lineup of James LaBrie [vocals], John Petrucci [guitar], John Myung [bass], Jordan Rudess [keyboards] and the returning Mike Portnoy’s [drums], recorded at last year’s sold-out show in Paris at the Adidas Arena.

Sixteen years ago, Portnoy had left the band for what he thought would be a brief hiatus, but continued tensions extended that musical gap to over a decade and a half. Mike (Extreme) Mangini had stepped into the drum shoes well, but it feels like ‘home again’ with Portnoy behind the kit once again, inciting the crowd enthusiatically and playing his signature breaks.

The evening was a two-set ‘Evening with…’ with new album ‘Parasomnia’ played in its entirety to start. The album, and live version of it, is filled with crunchy Petrucci riffs, and extended instrumentals that showcase (not showboat) the skilled musicians in complicated compositions in untypical time signature patterns and exploratory musical movements.

Singer LaBrie didn’t emerge until several minutes in, and lyrically sounded amazing and very noticeably better than in previous years, when he sometimes visibly struggled with his range. While the first set had him a bit buried in the mix (that was corrected after the intermission), it was obvious whatever treatments, procedures, and practicing he has been doing vocally, is very much working out.

Bassist Myung as usual, mostly kept his head down, long hair covering much of his face, thundering on his instrument with technical precision. Behind him, keyboardist Rudess kept in motion as his hydraulic lift instrument raised and lowered and spun leaning towards and away from the crowd, as a lighted visual band along its front, showed the notes he was playing in real time.

Guitarist Petrucci mostly stayed on his side of stage left, deftly moving from acoustic strumming to roaring, high-volume solos and occasionally headed up the steps to play across from Portnoy, or stepped down to be next to LaBrie.

Drummer Portnoy played and acted like he’d been in the band all along – using his massive percussion kit to accentuate the other musicians and keep the rhythm, encouraging the crowd to clap along or cheer louder, and wearing DT tour attire as usual (a good subtle sale pitch to visit the merch booth too.)

The bed on stage that mirrors the one on the new album’s cover, was never moved or used, but was a set piece as they played all the tracks (writing credits on the new songs are well-divided), complemented by the mesmerizing visuals on the oversize screen, and the dramatic synced lighting kits located above, behind, and on the sides of the band.

After a twenty-minute intermission (and the show was exactly timed, with the band coming out to begin, right as scheduled), Act II featured the mixing adjustment tweaks needed to better separate the channels and make LaBrie’s voice clearer in the mix, and was a mini-set of crowd favorites (though not necessarily their greatest hits).

2003’s “As I Am” began the set, written by Petrucci and featuring some of his signature heavy riffage, then the setlist jumped forward a decade for “The Enemy Inside,” from their self-titled album. Portnoy’s frantic beats and a complicated time signature dominated “Panic Attack” as the Newton’s Cradle steel spheres from its album cover swung left to right and back, on-screen.

The gentle “Peruvian Skies”, complete with flowery, psychedelic images, flowed briefly into Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” but then returned, before any vocal verse could start, with energy increasing as the song progressed, to briefly also segue into Metallica’s “Wherever I Roam” before finishing with flourish, back in its own form. Act II would end on a (literal) high note with 1992 radio hit, “Take the Time” and LaBrie often holding his mic stand out, so the audience could sing the chorus back to the band.

The one-song (kind of) encore was where it really felt comfortably at home, that Portnoy was back- a full live version of “A Change of Seasons” from their 1995 EP of the same name. Written by Portnoy to illustrate the cycle of life and to also commemorate his mother’s untimely passing, the crowd cheered loudly upon seeing the video clip from the film “Dead Poets Society” featuring Robin Williams telling his students to seize the day, that intro’s the song’s seven movements.

The band ended to rave applause and well-deserved bows, and choosing that as an encore (a song selection they’ll likely never perform again after this tour), which also seems to symbolize the ups and downs of a band celebrating four decades and beyond.

Continuing to hone their craft and evolve their sound (with every live performance sounding like a master class), here’s to forty more years from Dream Theater!

                                     (click on any image to enlarge in a separate window)

DREAM THEATER at THE MIDLAND THEATRE, KANSAS CITY MO (2025-10-13)