Here's a spoiler-resistant (no setlist) review of the 11/15 show in Seattle, WA. As you may be aware, Nicole and I flew up there from Houston to see the show and have a nice little mini-vacation.. and it turned out to be unusually clear and beautiful weather there! It was a great weekend. In fact, Nicole called into KISW 99.9 to request DT before the show that night, and the DJ came on and announced that the request was from someone who flew in from Houston to see the show. Nice promotion for the band if I say so.. and Nicole got to hear DT on the radio for the first time ever (UAGM). You know.. I told Nicole after the show that it's times like this that all the drudgery of working for a living really seems worth it. Every so often you have a special experience like this, and you know you're really alive and you're enjoying life's rewards.

On to the review.. I'll just give general impressions of the show and talk about meeting the guys after the show. First off, this show was sold out (there were signs on the show poster outside saying so). People were waiting outside the door probably in vain to get in when we showed up (somewhat late... we only saw half of Big Wreck's set) and got in with the tickets we had purchased beforehand. Big Wreck was a decent band.. the most talented member had to be the singer/lead guitarist. He did a blues song by himself full of slide guitar soloing that was rather impressive. They are kind of an AOR/alternative crossover I guess, if you had to put a label on them. I even heard comments from people around me saying, "I'm getting their CD!" However, as others have mentioned, they didn't really belong at a DT show, aside from the fact that they could definitely play their instruments well (well, the drummer was rather minimalist in his playing, but was still okay).

Well, in between sets, the very full club didn't clear out much, but we managed to move near some bar tables just above the floor level, which was good for Nicole so she could see. The preshow DT songs weren't very loud, and the only song I recognized was Where Are You Now. Sorry Jim Beavens, I don't remember the last song before they played Rooster that you liked. This song was cut off in the middle and then Rooster was played and, well, you know what happens next. :)

Again, look for Nicole's post if you want a setlist. Derek came out first and did a bit of keyboard soloing, and really asserted himself to the crowd... he's now Mr. Stage Presence! I'd give him the Most Improved Award since the Awake tour (last time I saw them). Let's see.. Mike was Animal on the drums, never let up for a moment.. James sang very well, and seemed very professional for his in between song comments, Myung was very impressive on the bass (normal and fretless!) and the stick, and Petrucci was always dead-on in everything he played.

Things I noticed. They all really seemed to like the crowd response and size; James mentioned the great turnout more than once. There were no samples played. Once or twice Mike spoke a part that was sampled on the studio album (e.g. "Step right up, folks"). The backup vocals from Mike and Petrucci (more often Mike though) were good, from what I could tell, but they weren't really up in the mix. As Trevor Hoit mentioned in his post, the bass/keyboard connection cut out a couple of times, but the band seemed to laugh it off and took it pretty well, and they also managed to keep playing through it all anyway. It was interesting hearing just Petrucci playing what was supposed to be the dual run with Derek in JLMB. But anyway, I actually only heard one musical mistake that you couldn't blame on equipment problems.. not bad for 2 hours of playing. Also, I put up my arm as I yelled "Please don't go!" during that part of ACOS, but I didn't notice anyone else doing so. I may have heard one or two voices from behind me though. And based on his post, I must have seen Jim holding up his ytsejam sweatshirt at the appropriate moment. I was about 10 rows of people behind him.

Overall, it was quite a good concert. IMO it wasn't as intense as the Awake show I saw.. but that's a subjective opinion, I'll admit. We did encounter a few rude people there, but I attribute that to the club being very full and probably fraying on everyone's nerves. Nicole and I both didn't think the volume was too loud though; good thing since we packed our earplugs, but forgot to take them to the show. After the show I met Trevor and Jim from the 'jam and 2 or 3 other jammers... sorry I don't remember your names. Also, I hope y'all didn't mind that I didn't say much.. I'm somewhat of a shy person to talk to. Oh, and the funniest moment of the night came during the playback of the lounge version of UAGM. A guy not too far away said, "What the fuck is this?" I smiled and submitted, "Under a Glass Moon!" He said, "Well, I know *that*, but what the fuck is this??" :) It sounded like something you'd hear coming out of a mall piano/organ store.. but true to the original, including a more DT-like instrumental section. It also had a casual, normal octave vocal, which set the lounge atmosphere nicely.

As I was sidling toward the t-shirt booth after the show, I saw Derek just walking by through the medium sized crowd in the entrance hall, and hardly anyone seemed to recognize him. He didn't look at me as he passed, but I patted him on the shoulder and said, "Good job tonight, man." He didn't acknowledge me, because a blonde girl just behind me started talking to him and I think he was a little more interested in her. :) I don't think this was the waitress; he must've met her later. I saw the two of them coming out of the tour bus like Trevor and Jim have written in their reviews, but I missed the high-fives unfortunately. :) Interestingly, a little later another waitress came to the bus and asked a crew member if a blonde waitress was in the bus... apparently she was worried that Derek was molesting her or something, or else maybe her break was just over. :)

After the show a decent sized group of people waited outside their tour bus (parked outside the front entrance). It was in the low 40s, but I wanted to show my ytse to any fans/jammers/band members who might recognize it, so I wore like 3 shirts with the ytsejam shirt on top. It wasn't bad at first, but by the time I had gotten stuff signed from most band members, I was pretty damn cold. Of course, it was worth it.

Let's see... Mike and Petrucci got the most attention from autograph seekers, and Petrucci didn't stay out long... he was telling Mike that he needed some sleep and didn't want them to stay there very much longer. It turns out that they were getting ready for a day-and-a-half drive on the tour bus to Wisconsin. I got a pic of Mike with Nicole and heard him talking a little bit. He said in response to a question about Kevin Moore that "Kev came to see us at the show in L.A." He also said that he thinks the tour will be through Texas in January.

The only member who I shook hands with was John Myung, as unlikely as that may seem. He stayed out for a good while, answering questions from anyone who asked. He seems to be a lot like me socially.. doesn't say much, but readily speaks when spoken to. I asked him who the Del Fuvio Monks were, and he said they are Mike, Derek and John (Petrucci), or maybe the last one was James. He corrected himself, and I lost track of which the last one was. Regardless, this seems to affirm the theory put forth on the jam that the Del Fuvio Monks represent the backup singers on FII, and/or the people using talk boxes on Burning My Soul. I should've asked whether this applied to only BMS or the whole album.. sorry, my bad.

As the crowd thinned and most members had returned to the tour bus, there was a last gathering of people near the doors to the club, where it turned out that James had appeared. By the time we realized it was him and had gotten down there, most people had left, but he still stayed to sign all our stuff, which I thought was very gracious of him (considering I had 5 CD booklets with me). In fact, every impression I got of James that night was that he's a class act. Also, I was getting ready to take a picture of him and Nicole, and one of the older crew members (he may have been tour manager; he seemed to be talking to the members a lot) offered to take the picture with me in it too. So I got into a picture with James.. quite cool! Oh, and my wife was in it too. :) But anyway, James seemed the most impressed that we had flown in from Houston to see them, and also said he thought that they would be in Texas in January. As the older man started calling for everyone to board the bus, James kind of patted me on the shoulder, said something like thanks for coming, and left. A cool DT moment to be sure.

Let's see. Last few details. Nicole and I talked a lot with a guy named Trey who isn't on the jam, but he has AOL and might check out this group and the web pages. Funny that he's originally from Texas and went to my college, and we ran into each other in Seattle. But anyway, he was really talkative, and wouldn't stop telling the band members, "dude, these guys flew in from Houston to see you!" :) What else... I never mentioned to the band members that I was a ytsejammer, and I dunno if they recognized the shirt or not. Also, James said at the end of the show that they'd be "back in '98."

I think that's about all there is worth telling about this cool show. Email privately if you have any other questions about anything I may have left out. And if you're interested, Nicole has posted (or will post soon) many of the pictures from this weekend on her website at http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Set/5039.

Ken kmcwatters@hotmail.com
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/kmcwatters

Well, that's it for right now. 'Jam on, you crazy Ytses! :-)

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