8

Dreaming of Theater

I got behind the security guards and onto the balcony for Dreamscapes set and so had a completely uninterrupted view of the proceedings. I didn't think Jedi mind tricks worked but I walked in just as they were all looking the other way, weird.

Dreamscape are basically Dream Theater lite or diet if you will, they have all the same trademark tricky stops and starts and virtuoso playing, the singer even sounds like James LaBrie but somehow they just didn't manage to light a fire under it.

The sound for their set was better than earlier with only the first song suffering from bad sound, luckily the soundman twiddled and brought everything into focus for the rest of the set which consisted of thirty or so minutes of technical prog metal.

Dreamscape are from Munich and like half the bands last year and this year at Progpower it was their first time in the UK. The crowd warmed to them and by the end they had acquitted themselves well enough if not spectacularly with their keyboard heavy slow to mid tempo metal, singer Roland Stoll has a great voice and the band are technically brilliant, they worked the stage like true professionals but somehow just fell short of setting off sparks.

As they took their bows they got a good round of applause and a fair few cheers so people seemed to like them, I liked them in an unconnected kind of way unfortunately they just didn't get me very excited and when they were gone from the stage they were gone from my mind too.