An Evening with the Greats
I’ve often fantasized being on stage, in front of hundreds if not thousands of people, playing guitar, one of my favorite pastimes. Unfortunately, I’m nowhere near that level, but thanks to An Evening with John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess, I can now believe I’m actually there, the Helen Hayes Performing Arts Center, playing as one of the greats of guitar with people cheering and enjoying the show.
Possibly one of the two greatest musicians alive right now, John Petrucci (guitarist) and Jordan Rudess (piano/keyboard) of the Prog. Metal band, Dream Theater, bring classical/jazz/flamenco/blues music to the table in this excellent live CD. If these styles of music are what you like to turn onto in the car, at home, or school, then you’ll love this. The songs are all original by these two fine musicians, and shows true technicality for both instruments.
I can’t truly speak much of the piano, but from what I hear, it’s nothing I could learn to play. Ever. Rudess truly is gifted with the keys, as shown on the song “Truth”. He does multiple little leads in between the smooth riffs in this song, not only enhancing the album but giving aspiring keyboardists something to try and master. Petrucci playing rhythm for about half the same song, then switches “jobs” with Rudess.
Petrucci is a god. Simply put, if he came just a little earlier during the growth of shred guitar, he would be as recognizable as the current greats, Kirk Hammett, Dimebag Darrell, and Eddie Van Halen. His technique on this record is completely off the scale of badass, from the sweet tone he gets, to his crazy acoustic guitar rhythms (listen to “Fife & Drum”), down to every last overdriven note in his sensational solos on basically every track. Petrucci is so great, that even if you’re into either harder stuff or perhaps more poppy tunes, you’ll have to like “In the Moment”. Basically, a six minute fretfest done by this insane shredder, the track leaves you only wanting to press back until you start it over, but this time air guitar to it all the way home.
Some bad parts about this fine live performance…hmm, well, there isn’t much. First off, if you don’t enjoy “softer” music, or stuff that doesn’t involve singing about some chick, then you’ll probably not want to get this CD. Although instrumental, it would have been cool if one of these two guys could have written some lyrics, since the lyrics they write in Dream Theater are quite good. And if you can’t sit still or relax for about seven and a half minutes, as that’s about the average song length, then this album probably isn’t for you. If you enjoy quality soft, smooth musical duets, with plenty of technical mumbo jumbo I can’t begin to comprehend musically, then this is most likely a wise purchase on your behalf. Watch out, the god’s are here, and they’ve brought with them the gift of some great music.
As for an update on life.
Stuff's going good.
Homework sucks (damn Russian reminding me of HW at the last minute)
That damn woman lives too far away.