Megadeth and Dream Theater in Concert

Okay, either the sound system was poorly tuned or I really am growing old & can no longer appreciate heavy music. The concert is certainly not among the best concerts I've been to, and considering that it was my third Megadeth concert, I think I have quite a bit of experience behind me to lend that judgment credibility. First of all, the acoustics were screwed up. One instrument was cutting another; and the whole affair had a discordant air to it. Yet, Megadeth is Megadeth and Dream Theater is Dream Theater. So when Dave Mustaine swaggers back on stage and mumbles 'this next song is about what happens when you mix religion and politics' (subtle about 'Holy Wars', ain't he?), no matter how bad the concert is, you get up from your seat and prepare to subject your neck to the most aggressive headbanging, which in my case was happening after a good several years, the last occasion being the Rendezvous rock show at IIT Delhi. So anyway, overlooking a somewhat compromised sound system (or maybe it's just the American obsession with overdoing everything), it was refreshing to hear Holy Wars, Peace Sells, Hangar 18, Reckoning Day, A Tout Le Monde, etc.

Dream Theater's performance was much less mesmerizing. Though they started off in a manner I found extremely intriguing, i.e. with Beethoven's 9th symphony, the rest of the show was dull in comparison. It was my impression that my appreciation of Dream Theater was not as a thrash metal band, but as a progressive / alternative metal band, and that in this concert, given it's nature, they tried to project themselves as a thrash outfit, which really did not work out well for them. With John Petrucci's voice being completely suppressed under the extremely heavy drums; the unusually loud bass guitar, the only discernible number in the entire show was Pull Me Under.