Dream Theater / Nagoya 1998: Dat Master / 2CDR / Shades
Live at Aichi Koseinenkin Kaikan, Nagoya, Japan 13th January 1998
Click image to enlarge
The 1998 DREAM THEATER made its fifth visit to Japan, the first in three years, with the unique work “FALLING INTO INFINITY” featuring Derek Sherinian. Newly discovered original recordings that allow you to experience the best of the scene.
“January 13, 1998: Nagoya Welfare Pension Hall” is imbued in this work. It is a super-superb audience recording that vacuum-packed the whole story. Some people may have come from the title, but this work is an original DAT master excavated from the same route as the popular press masterpiece “NAGOYA 2000 DAT MASTER (Zodiac 485)”. It is a new masterpiece that does not lose quality. First of all, the position of the show before the content of concern. Let’s look back at the schedule at that time.
・January 9: Nakano Sun Plaza
・ January 10: Yokohama Bay Hall
・ January 12: Tokyo Welfare Pension Hall
・January 13: Nagoya Welfare Pension Hall ← This work
・January 14: Osaka Welfare Pension Hall
・ January 16: Tokyo Welfare Pension Hall
A total of 6 performances. In the case of DREAM THEATER, their popularity in metropolitan areas stands out, and even during their heyday, their style was to repeat live performances in urban areas rather than in rural areas. The schedule was organized around the Kanto region this year as well. The Nagoya performance of this work was the 4th performance concert that will be the turnaround of such a schedule.
This work, which was recorded at such a show, is truly a superb product with “super”. “NAGOYA 2000 DAT MASTER” was also a strange high-quality sound, but it is amazing because this work does not yield even half a step. It is a type that goes “just like a sound board” on the ground, and the thick core does not have a slight sense of distance, and the outline and the separate feeling are extremely vivid. No matter how finely Petrucci plays it, no matter how flashy Portnoy rampages, each note will not be disturbed. Of course, Miang and Sherinian are the same, and Labrier’s vibrato, which sings magnificently, is also extremely clear. Between songs, the lively applause that seems to be the audience is also boiled, but the sound of the performance is so intense that I wonder if the cheers were mixed later.
A full show of the Sherinian era, which is now precious, is depicted with undisputed superlative sound quality. Speaking of the symbol at that time, it is the official live album “ONCE IN A LIVETIME” above all, but at that time the set was changed every day. Even in this work, repertoire that can not be heard on the official board is also shown, so let’s organize the set while comparing.
●Falling Into Infinity (6 songs)
・Lines In The Sand/Burning My Soul (★)/Hollow Years/Just Let Me Breathe/Peruvian Skies/New Millennium (★)
● Others (9 songs + α)
・Images and Words: Under A Glass Moon (★★) / Pull Me Under / Metropolis Pt. 1
・Other: The Ytse Jam/Voices/Scarred/A Change of Seasons (II: Innocence/IV: The Darkest Of Winters)/A Crack In The Mirror (★)/Puppies On Acid
* Note: “★” marks are songs that cannot be heard on “ONCE IN A LIVETIME”. In particular, the “★★” mark is a song that was not even in “LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 5/18/98”.
… and it looks like this. Speaking of 1998, there was also the official bootleg “LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 5/18/98”, but the Sherinian version of “Under A Glass Moon” is a delicious song that I could not listen to there.
And above all, the intense rush of the “FALLING INTO INFINITY” number. Looking at each song, there are songs played after joining Jordan Rudess, but the large-scale behavior so far is unique at that time. Also, when he came to Japan in 1998, it is memorable that he included a fun cover for the encore. “Mean Street”, “Perfect Strangers”, “The Trooper”, “Crazy Train”, etc. were featured on a daily basis, but on this day, IRON MAIDEN’s “Remember Tomorrow” was included in the Omagari “Metropolis Pt. 1”. increase. Even in music magazines at that time, you can enjoy the scene that was said to be “I’m looking forward to the bootleg of each performance” with the super-superb sound of the sound board barefoot.
This is a peerless beautiful sister work that can be said to be the Derek Sherinian version of that press masterpiece “NAGOYA 2000 DAT MASTER”. You can experience the Japanese performances of a valuable era with shocking sound quality. It is truly a world-class cultural heritage from Japan. Here is a magnificent new excavation.
★ “January 13, 1998: Nagoya Welfare Pension Hall” ultra-superb audience recording. An original DAT master excavated from the same route as the press name board “NAGOYA 2000 DAT MASTER (Zodiac 485)”, a new name board whose quality is not lost. It is a type that goes “just like a sound board” on the ground, and the thick core has no dust such as a sense of distance, and the outline and the separate feeling are extremely vivid. “Burning My Soul”, “New Millennium” and Sherinian version “Under A Glass Moon” that can not be heard in “ONCE IN A LIVETIME” can also be experienced in a delicious Japanese performance.
Shades 1669