DrumEatDrum
Platinum Member
When Mike Portnoy first left Dream Theater, as a fan, I was hurt, and my initial reaction was I'll never go see a Dream Theater concert again. But after some thought, I realized why things happened. And I fully understood why the band did what they did, and I predicted Mangini would eventually end up with the gig. And from watching the audition footage, I fully understand why Mangini was selected.
Still, I was a bit skeptical. The single came out, and it was OK, but not great. But then the full album came out, and wow, I was blown away.
But still, despite defending the bands choice to go with Mangini, and despite my love of the new album, I still had a huge mental block over seeing DT live without Portnoy. To the point, when they came to Los Angeles a few months back, I didn't go. I just couldn't do it.
However, the band slipped in another Southern California show, and I went last night.
Holly cow!!!
Yes, I seen Mangini videos on youtube, I've read the interviews, seen the pictures, but none of that compares to seeing the man live in person. No video does the man justice. He is one of the most amazing drummers I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen all the big names.
The best comparison I could say is he is Terry Bozzio and Simon Phillips in one person, with more.
And I don't mean, well, he's copped some of Bozzio's stuff and some of Simon's stuff. I mean he has 100% everything that makes Bozzio great and 100% everything that makes Simon great, plus way, way more, all in one person.
The way he goes between right and left hand lead with ease is just sick. His sticking patterns are insane. His kit doesn't got from left to right, or vise versa, it goes from the center out. And trying to follow along with what he's doing is just mind boggling.
His toms and many of cymbals are very low, yet his (Pearl version) octabons and other cymbals are set way up high above his head. You look and think "wow, that is a long distance for the stick to travel". And yet Mangini would do fills between the octabons and toms as if they were all on the same level.
When I read in an interview a while back about how Mangini phrases things melodically to match the other instruments, I thought, "whatever Mike". But to see it live was amazing. There were so many times where one of the guys would do a run on the bass or keyboard, and Mangini would not only match it note for note rhythmically, but note for note melodically over his toms and cymbals.
And when the band played the older songs, I was amazed how it did not sound forced. It did not sound like "well, here is the new guy playing Portnoy's old parts". Mangini laid such a pocket that it sounded like he must be the guy who played on all those albums.
And his affect on the rest of the band was noticeable. The joke in Dream Theater for the past 15 years is John Myung doesn't move once the band starts. But on this night, he as running around on stage. Everyone in the band seemed to be feeding off of Mangin's energy in a way I had never seen before, and I've seen Dream Theater some 20+ times.
Just an unbelievable mix of maximum technique, musicality, and energy.
I obviously was not the only person who was moved, because as the band was preparing to take their final bow, chants of "Man-gi, Man-Gi, Man-Gi" erupted from the crowd. I have never seen a rock concert audience start chanting for the drummer like that before.
I was simply blown away.
Still, I was a bit skeptical. The single came out, and it was OK, but not great. But then the full album came out, and wow, I was blown away.
But still, despite defending the bands choice to go with Mangini, and despite my love of the new album, I still had a huge mental block over seeing DT live without Portnoy. To the point, when they came to Los Angeles a few months back, I didn't go. I just couldn't do it.
However, the band slipped in another Southern California show, and I went last night.
Holly cow!!!
Yes, I seen Mangini videos on youtube, I've read the interviews, seen the pictures, but none of that compares to seeing the man live in person. No video does the man justice. He is one of the most amazing drummers I've ever seen in my life, and I've seen all the big names.
The best comparison I could say is he is Terry Bozzio and Simon Phillips in one person, with more.
And I don't mean, well, he's copped some of Bozzio's stuff and some of Simon's stuff. I mean he has 100% everything that makes Bozzio great and 100% everything that makes Simon great, plus way, way more, all in one person.
The way he goes between right and left hand lead with ease is just sick. His sticking patterns are insane. His kit doesn't got from left to right, or vise versa, it goes from the center out. And trying to follow along with what he's doing is just mind boggling.
His toms and many of cymbals are very low, yet his (Pearl version) octabons and other cymbals are set way up high above his head. You look and think "wow, that is a long distance for the stick to travel". And yet Mangini would do fills between the octabons and toms as if they were all on the same level.
When I read in an interview a while back about how Mangini phrases things melodically to match the other instruments, I thought, "whatever Mike". But to see it live was amazing. There were so many times where one of the guys would do a run on the bass or keyboard, and Mangini would not only match it note for note rhythmically, but note for note melodically over his toms and cymbals.
And when the band played the older songs, I was amazed how it did not sound forced. It did not sound like "well, here is the new guy playing Portnoy's old parts". Mangini laid such a pocket that it sounded like he must be the guy who played on all those albums.
And his affect on the rest of the band was noticeable. The joke in Dream Theater for the past 15 years is John Myung doesn't move once the band starts. But on this night, he as running around on stage. Everyone in the band seemed to be feeding off of Mangin's energy in a way I had never seen before, and I've seen Dream Theater some 20+ times.
Just an unbelievable mix of maximum technique, musicality, and energy.
I obviously was not the only person who was moved, because as the band was preparing to take their final bow, chants of "Man-gi, Man-Gi, Man-Gi" erupted from the crowd. I have never seen a rock concert audience start chanting for the drummer like that before.
I was simply blown away.
.
