A Concert Opening

The date was August 4, 2007. The location was "The Backyard" in Austin, TX. The event was Dream Theater's Chaos in Motion Tour. After Redemption, and Into Eternity wrapped up their sets.. this is how Dream Theater opened up the show:


Source

...And it   t o t a l l y   b l e w   m e   a w a y.   I spent 4+ years trying now & then to find a great video of it, but for some reason, "2001 Space Odyssey", "Dream Theater Intro Chaos concert", and the like, weren't good search terms. It wasn't until yesterday that I stumbled upon the term "Also Sprach Zarathustra" attached to one of the vids I found.

Long story short, who would've thought that the little 2-minute amazing fanfare we've all heard, and thought of as the theme from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001 - A Space Oddyssey," is actually called "Sunrise". It is from a tone poem written by Richard Strauss in 1896, titled "Also Sprach Zarathustra," and was inspired by Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical treatise of the same name. (Source)

Anyway, it was one of the greatest concert openings I've ever witnessed, and the entire show was one of the best I've been to as well. Here was the entire set-list. (Note the little arrows next to each song.. Those weren't there the last time I visited this page, a few years ago.)

This was the Encore ("Schmedley Wilcox"):

Source

I distinctly remember the little "Rush - Xanadu" tribute in there. DT can cover anyone, almost better then they can play their own stuff. And, I had always thought that "Finally Free" would be a super 2-minute piece to close a show.

That was my 5th DT show. #6 was opening for Iron Maiden in June of 2010, so yeah - I can't wait for #7. Sadly, I've already missed this year's tour.