Review by Kevin Kuhlman
Photos by Fred Kuhlman
Promoter: Live Nation (https://www.livenation.com/ )
Venue: Arizona Financial Theatre (https://www.livenation.com/venue/KovZpZAEk7lA/arizona-financial-theatre-events )
Date: July 26th, 2023
Tour: DreamSonic 2023 Tour
Editor’s Note: Sorry for the lateness of this review. For some strange reason when my son sent me the review via Gmail, it kept getting thrown into spam. After the 4th time I had him send it to me, I finally figured out that it was being sent to spam. Again, I am very sorry for this delay.
The first of what will hopefully be many more to come, the Dream Sonic 2023 tour featuring Dream Theater, Devin Townsend, and Animals as Leaders made its final stop at the Arizona Financial Theater.
Animals As Leaders, an instrumental Prog metal band led by guitarist Tosin Abasi, were the first act of the night. They played a set of extremely technical, extremely complicated music that, as a musician myself, was fascinating to watch. None of their music sounded like what you would expect. The instrumentation was constantly zigging when you would expect it to zag. They also featured two guitarists and a drummer, with no bass guitar instead utilizing extended range guitars such as 8 strings and baritone guitars to fill in the lower end. I’m not personally as familiar with this group as I am with the other two bands outside of knowing about Tosin Abasi’s reputation as a great guitarist. Despite being musically technical-oriented and purely instrumental, they were engaging throughout. I think this was the perfect audience for them in terms of a larger audience, because that genre and style of music meshes well with being an opener for Dream Theater.
Next up was Devin Townsend. His set was honestly the highlight of the evening, even as a huge Dream Theater fan. Townsend was a blast to watch on stage – he was goofy, silly and constantly engaging the audience. He was jumping off stage and walking down the aisles of the theater, telling jokes during every song break and generally working the crowd every chance he could. Townsend has always fascinated me as an artist because he has one of the most unique vocal ranges I’ve ever heard. His ability to go from this soaring falsetto to some of the most guttural growling is really unmatched. On top of that he is also a phenomenal guitar player. His whole backing band was incredible. They were able to go from more power-ballad type songs like “Lightwork” to songs that are far more aggressive and technical like “By Your Command”. You can tell that he is the kind of guy who loves to perform on stage and that he loves having fun with his laid-back stage presence. It’s a joy to watch a musician like that who still has that child-like energy and glee when it comes to live shows. To finish his set, his band performed “Bad Devil” wearing giant foam cowboy hats similar to Norm MacDonald’s Burt Reynolds character from Saturday Night Live.
The final act was Dream theater performing their final leg of their tour supporting A View From the Top of the World which started in Mesa, Arizona in December 2022. This show had a similar setlist but with plenty of variation that it didn’t feel like a complete rehash, and it was cool to see them play more interesting cuts like that at the final three movements of “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence” – on the first leg of the tour they played “About to Crash” from “Six Degrees” which makes me wonder if COVID didn’t ruin a potential 20th anniversary celebration of that song and album. Regardless, their set was a blend of new material from their lates album like “The Alien” and “Sleeping Giant” with classics from throughout their career like “Count of Tuscany”, “Caught in a Web” and, of course, “Pull Me Under”.
For the encore keyboardist Jordan Rudess and Mike Keneally – the keyboardist and guitarist from Devin Townsend’s band – came out and played a rendition of John Newton’s classic hymn “Amazing Grace” as an unspoken tribute to Dave Cohen, Animals as Leaders’ guitar tech who unexpectedly passed away just weeks earlier. It was a touching moment and, fittingly, the last song of the night was “The Spirit Carries On” with Devin Townsend coming out to provide vocals and Tosin Abasi to come out and provide a couple little guitar parts alongside John Petrucci. Townsend’s drummer Darby Todd also came out to share drum duties with Mike Mangini in a very fun little interchange during the song’s finale. It was fun to see all of these guys who have a clear affinity for each other all on stage together. It was a jubilant celebration of progressive metal.
Animals as Leaders is Tosin Abasi (Guitar), Javier Reyes (Guitar), and Matt Garstka (Drums).
Devin Townsend’s band consisted of Townsend (lead vocals/guitar), Mike Keneally (guitar/keys), James Leach (bass) and Darby Todd (drums).
Dream Theater is James LaBrie (vocals), John Petrucci (guitar), John Myung (bass), Jordan Rudess (keys) and Mike Mangini (drums).
Dream Theater
Photos by Fred Kuhlman 2023, All Rights Reserved
Devin Townsend
Photos by Fred Kuhlman 2023, All Rights Reserved
Animals As Leaders
Photos by Fred Kuhlman 2023, All Rights Reserved
Dream Theater Setlist: (Album)
The Alien (A View From the Top of the World)
Sleeping Giant (A View From the Top of the World)
Caught in a Web (Awake)
Answering the Call (A View From the Top of the World)
Solitary Shell (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence)
About to Crash (Reprise) (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence)
Losing Time/Grand Finale (Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence)
Pull Me Under (Images and Words)
The Count of Tuscany (Black Clouds & Silver Linings)
Encore:
Amazing Grace (John Newton cover)
Act II: Scene Eight: The Spirit Carries On (Metropolis, Pt. 2: Scenes From a Memory)
Devin Townsend Setlist: (Album)
Lightworker (Lightwork)
Kingdom (Physicist)
Dimensions (Lightwork)
Deadhead (Accelerated Evolution)
By Your Command (Ziltoid the Omniscient)
Deep Peace (Terria)
Truth (Infinity)
Bad Devil (Infinity)
Animals as Leaders Setlist: (Album)
Ectogenesis (The Madness of Many)
Gordian Naught (Parrhesia)
Red Miso (Parrhesia)
Micro-Aggressions (Parrhesia)
Gestaltzerfall (Parrhesia)
The Brain Dance (The Madness of Many)
The Woven Web (The Joy of Motion)
CAFO (Animals as Leaders)
