The one you’ve been asking for… 😉 Fun fact: You’re not gonna believe this, but this track was NOT on the list of discussed songs/content before I arrived at Drumeo to shoot. Brandon Toews asked me on the spot if I’d be willing to do it, and I said I was willing to give it a try but that I hadn’t played it in YEARS (since the Shattered Fortress tour in 2017). We decided to give it a whirl without me even listening to the track to review it…hit record and this is what came out! “Like riding a bicycle! Well, more like a unicycle…” 😝😎🥁🚴
Great Mike! Do you think you'll continue playing live without a metronome, even though Dream Theater now uses more backing tracks than in the old times?
First song I ever actually sat down, broke down, studied and memorized. It's a masterpiece and an anthem, and one that will live on for decades more, I'm sure.
That's something I miss from when I was a teenager. I used to throw on headphones and play this whole album. Just go in, full zen, and come out 77 minutes later. I have an electronic drum kit now, but it's just not the same as the huge kit I had when I was younger. And I'm not willing to subject my neighbors to that now.
@@zach.hanfordyou should get a real one. It doesn’t need to be something fancy. Cut the price by buying used stuff and invest in some noise blocking stuff instead. Your neighbors will be thankful and you get to feel the drums again. I did all that last year and feel complete again ever since my first session.
The "bad": I don' t enjoy the black sticks... The good: My dislike of black sticks may pale in comparison to the complexity of this song's arrangement and to Mike's ability to remember that complexity(!) - extreme kudos to Mike and to all DT musicians... The inbetween (good and bad): Having listened to only a limited number of DT songs, although I highly admire their musicianship and compositional skills, I tend to prefer melodic range over complexity (for example, "About to Crash" from their "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" album)...
The way Mike's parts build in layers is always his best and most defining characteristic to me, like the 2-3-4-4-3-2 part he explained. Classic Portnoy
Only the fans are the ones who try to make something out of random, as if trying to comfort themselves and those who are not fans with statements like: "it sounds random but it's not, listen to another 3.5 hours of music from the album "whatever" and you'll understand progressive metal " (but actually all they do is packing and selling jazz as metal - the most ordinary clowns, extremely good musicians who have gone astray). It's obvious I am not the fan...
This makes me very emotional. Seeing Mike Portinoy playing one of my favorites songs and seeing that he still got it and is back to Dream Theater. Thanks Drumeo for inviting him!
watching their stuff live it always just struck me how loose he was and how much fun and natural it seemed to be to him. stellar stellar stuff, so stoked he's back in the band!
The end, with all the "human element" perception and adrenaline' speech about live performance and how to play music it's something "physical"...Totally love it!
The Dance of Eternity is great but there's one thing I was always in love with was the drum solo at the end of Finally Free in the live scenes from new york live album :3
Imagine how many drummers did drumcovers to this song. Some drummers nailed it perfectly, some played it theiry way. But noone sounds like MP. This song is a drumming masterpiece of so many great parts in it. Coming up with a part like that with hi-hat and snare accents is what only MP could do
The transition between dance and one last time is one of my favorite musical moments ever. The 3 power chords followed bt that sublime piano intro. Damn, when I saw DT play the whole scenes live in 2005 I even cried in that part.
Dance of eternity(instrumedley) is easily one of the best song of DT ever. I heard it a million of time and every time is like the 1st time because of its complexity, melody and time signature changes. it's just blow your mind
I wrote my bachelor thesis about this song ten years ago, hadn't heard it in a while and man, such a blast! Still such a powerful, amazing piece of music!
The first time I heard this song (and album) I was not too familiar with prog metal, but one cannot be indifferent to a composition like this. It's complex but at the same time it has so many colours and groove. Prog music should come from the heart too. What a classic.
This song is HARD! I've been playing drums over 20 years and still mess up some of the timing. this was a great video. You have to have two brains and be totally ambidextrous to play this.
I know this probably wasn’t taped, but I would really like to see vids of Portnoy playing the more challenging Mangini-era tunes; “Bridges In The Sky”, “Outcry”, “The Alien”, “Awaken The Master”, etc., but especially “Pale Blue Dot”.
Watched this a cple of times now and noticed that he has an interesting technique [deliberate, no doubt] where he occassionally allows his thumb to drop off the stick in his left hand. So - sometimes he controls the stick just with palm and remaining four fingers.
7:40 the way it was meant to be played and sound and felt!! (I was never a fan of the one-handed version of that snare riff, I say it with utmost respect for MM's virtuosity)
I know a lot of people are going to say this, but I'm one of those. Dream Theater, and this song specifically, are what got me into prog metal. Mike Fucking Portnoy, what a drummer.
I will be a reckless Portnoy fanboy... But I think we might never see it. I mean, Carey really struggled with YYZ, and this is at leaaaaaast as complex as it is ...
@@Aarghon I mean, Danny would have no issue learning it, it's just a complex arrangement that would take weeks of practice to get down, same as a Tool song.
The fact that Mike Portnoy is still so humble about his performances and sometimes a little insecure, makes me like and respect him even more and speaks volumes to his character
As a standalone song, it is already insane. However, once you put it into the proper context of the Scenes of a Memory concept album, it is even more of a masterpiece. It's not just a bunch of random musical bits that they put together. In true prog fashion, a lot of the song's contents are based on recurring themes, time signatures, chord progressions, melodies, etc from the album as well as Metropolis part 1. They managed to be creative and package all of that into this monster.
And conveys perfectly how (recurrent) dreams shift and jump from place to place, while certain elements or themes appear time and time again, sometimes distorted or transformed.
@@ErebosGR I've never thought of this analogy before, and I've been listening to this album for 20 years. Thanks for giving me a new perspective on this one!
The guitar and keyboard part are dramatically harder than the drums on this song. There is a reason 16 year old drummers cover this on RU-vid and the other instruments aren’t covered.
@@anders7996 Nah, it doesn't even scratch the surface on a lot of technical concepts that many drummers have been performing for decades. It's a huge challenge, don't get me wrong, but it isn't the universal humbler as you put it originally
in 1994 a friend came to me with the images and words cd in his hand. he only said "u have to hear metropolis part 1" that changed everything in my musical universe. the next 5 or 6 month i never had listen to another album. no mtv, no radio! only images and words. thank you! and im extreme happy that you are back!
Same here. I was heavily into Metallica at this time, and my brother gave the IAW CD to me with the words 'listen to that, you will never think that Metallica is the best band again'. And he was so right! Together, we have seen Dream Theater live more than 20 times. We're so happy that Mike is finally back! Looking forward to the next album and tour.
His drumming is so perfect that it makes the song sounds easy to play... what a magic. I won't forget to respect Mangini, but I'm really happy that he is back to Dream Theater. I can't explain clearly, but his play does add something to the band that cannot be replaced by someone else.
While Mangini is more gifted, Portnoy just creates better music. I say this despite thinking The Astonishing is their best album ever. I just rather listen to Portnoy's drumming with Dream Theater over Mangini in DT.
It’s 2024 and you really think there aren’t already channels for that? Lol. The thing is guitar and bass aren’t as entertaining to watch. I believe due to it being a lot harder to understand what’s happening in front of you unless you actually play the instrument.
Might be misremembering but didn't Drumeo at one point start a guitar channel or atleast try to? Guitareo? I recall Rob Scallon being advertised as their first guest.
Not a drummer at all, but I've always loved Mike's projects. True musician and capable note crammer. He has some finesse to his playing and his fills are purposeful and never detract anything from the music. Glad he's back in Dream Theater.
That’s something I think people misunderstand about Mike, he’s not just blazing around the kit at random. All of his parts and patterns have purpose and serve the music. A true master musician and arranger that many “chops” drummers could learn a thing or 2 from.
@@user-tu9ze2tl7d Good points. You can tell that he grew up with musical influences as opposed to a bunch of technical mishmash. He's just able to apply a good bit of technical expertise in tasteful thought into pulling off some tricky stuff.
@@melodic777 hahahaha I was literally complementing the guy without harm anyone else Feel bothered? Just skip the comment you don’t like, fela! Peace ✌🏻
@@CristianoGimenesGoulartFilho welcome to the internet hell my friend! People just can't live without pretend to be smart. Btw I completely agree with your comment: Mike still got it!!!! o/o/o/
@@melodic777 c'mon bro, you're better than that! Just let the man "articulate" whatever he wants to, the way he wants. I agree wit him, Mike is a special drummer. Mike Mangini, for instance - who btw is a musician that I respect A LOT - doesn't seem to play with the same "felling" than Portnoy does. Of course, be free to disagree, but that is my vision.
Under the "getting humbled" post earlier, someone said this song doesn't even scratch the surface of drumming difficulty?? ..... Someone's been drinking some weird Kool-Aid lmao🤘🥁🫶 🤷🤦🤣 And very good point, thank you 🙏
Growing in the local band scene in our area where battle of the bands are a common thing and where cover bands are almost always present during events, Dream Theater was always the pinnacle of musicianship. Groups who frequently attend the battle of the bands always quote Dance of Eternity, Metropolis Pt. 1, Erotomania, or Overture 1928. And the foundation of my drumming/production ideas has always been Mr. Portnoy himself. There were times when we were young that we would just play the Score DVD all night, obsessing about the ideas we can borrow or transform, but would fail to deliver. Nonetheless, it was a fun, inspiring, and engaging memories that we cherish. We hope and pray that you would play here in the Philippines and it would not postponed again. Thanks Drumeo and Mr. Portnoy.
I love how Mike is using one of the in house Tama kits. I'm sure he's played every single kit the company has ever made numerous times, but it's nice to see amazing drummers like him absolutely rip on a kit that's been featured in countless Drumeo vids.
@@tompramanaaccount8892I wouldn’t say it’s open ended. The therapist is clearly Julian reincarnated, and he for sure kills Nicholas at the end of the album.
@@primusdude87 true, that's why i said "kinda" because they can still continue from the ending of pt 2. Even in Dying Soul there's a reference to it from the similar lyrics "Hello mirror so glad to see you my friend it's been a while" even tho it has nothing to do with the story at all.
@@tompramanaaccount8892I believe that mirror line was a callback to The Mirror, which was Mike's first endeavour at talking about alcoholism before the AA Suite
The song that change my life! Really, this song was the beginning of all for me. Today I'm a drummer because this song.. Thank you so much Mike Portnoy for ALL.. and thanks a lot to Drumeo for make this happen!!! ❤
@@LucmercuriusI gotta be honest I don’t hear the Bonham influence unless you’re talking about heavy handedness, in which case, every metal/rock/prog drummer has been influenced by Bonzo. I hear Peart’s influence in his choice of kit, his tom fills and especially the patterns he plays on the ride cymbal
@@poindextertunes I honestly can't think of a trio with more chemistry than Rush. They clearly don't play live with a clicktrack, they just perfectly understand each other. It's a joy to watch them play because they follow each other so well (I write in present tense because Neil will never die, he's a freaking legend).
I think what makes him so impressive in songs like this is the composition. He focuses way more on musicality and composition rather than being overly flashy. I struggled with this a lot - adding too much on top of already complicated riffs my band would write. Watching stuff like this is inspiring. Just cause I CAN add more notes doesn’t necessarily mean I should.
I'm a life long guitar player and always loved Petrucci and Dream theatre, but lately the algorithm has decided I like watching drummers, and it's god damn right, watching Mike here makes it make sense why Dream Theatre rule, that was hypnotic to watch dude, rock on \m/
I'm a pianist, my beloved boyfriend is a guitarist too, and well ... I'm here too heh 😂 I love Dream Theater's members btw, all of them. Mike Portnoy's personnality seems so endearing. He looks like a really cool & humble guy, really. And funny too 😉
