For a variety of reasons I had never had much exposure to Dream Theater prior to witnessing them live at the Warfield on their current "World Tourbulence" tour, despite the fact that I've long been a fan of the "progressive metal" genre. So one question kept popping into my head during the show: "Where the hell have I been?"

Over the course of 3 hours (!) of brilliant music, played with an expert precision like I hadn't seen in years, I became a Dream Theater fan. And while I'm sure there's a lot of old-school fans out there who'll tell me I arrived at the party way too late, judging by this show and their stellar new double CD Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence it seems that I've "discovered" DT at just the right time.

They open with "The Glass Prison", the thundering opening track from the new CD. Or should I say the thundering 14-minute opening track from their new CD. While the CD version rocks, I'm immediately floored by just how intense the song comes off live. Guitar wunderkind John Petrucci tears through the galloping Megadeth-style riff with effortless abandon. Right out of the gate, the mix sounds superb, especially the rhythm section of drummer Mike Portnoy and bassist John Myung, but once my ears adjust to the volume it seems that Petrucci's guitar could stand to be a little more prominent. (At times his guitar tended to be overwhelmed by Jordan Rudess's keyboards). And although James LaBrie's vocals don't quite measure up to the studio polish of the CD, he's generally able to nail all his trademark screams and high notes, but perhaps without all the electronically-assisted sustain you hear on record.

None of this is to say DT is a derivative band. On the contrary there's really no other band out there that¹s doing what they're doing today. There's no one that combines 70s-style keyboard-driven progressive rock with really heavy metal, and certainly not with the technical mastery that these five gifted musicians bring to the table. When it's really clicking it's a fabulous combination, providing aggression and melody in spades. But it has to be said that on a few occasions the band lets the "progressive" side run a little wild and the result is a couple of what I would charitably describe as slow points. But in a 3-hour show there are going to be some lulls, no matter who the band is, so let's just ignore those and concentrate on the many high points.

After the opening "Prison" we get a whole slew of older songs: "Strange Deja vu," "Surrounded," "Burning my Soul," and "Killing Hand" Of those "Surrounded," from 1992's Images and Words, is a particular standout. LaBrie's singing really carries this one, giving an already powerful song even more emotional muscle than the album version, and once again I keep thinking of Marillion, albeit a much heavier Marillion. Next is another 14-minute epic off Turbulence, "The Great Debate," about the controversy surrounding stem cell research. Although a fine song, there's clearly a lull somewhere around the 7th or 8th minute ­ you can feel the crowd's energy dip a notch or two.

After a 20-minute intermission they get right down to business again, going through the entire 42-minute Inner Turbulence title suite, Dream Theater¹s answer to 2112. From the circus-like feel of the overture (I'm reminded of the Main Street Electric Parade at Disneyland) to the grinding metal of "The Test That Stumped Them All" to the Styx-like "Solitary Shell," (which has a Fooling Yourself vibe), it¹s 42 minutes of musical bliss.

How are they going to top that? The 11-minute "Scarred" kicks off the encores, then comes "Home" and the recent ballad "The Spirit Carries On," which becomes another LaBrie showcase. The power ballad is really a lost art (for better or for worse) but perhaps Dream Theater will be the band to resurrect it. However you want to classify it, "Spirit" is simply a wonderful song, and quite an interesting lead-in to the final song of the night, which is also the heaviest song of the night. "Pull Me Under" was their breakthrough song in 1992, the lead track from Images and Words, and the Warfield crowd was pumped for it. Once again, Petrucci just takes over. He's a virtuoso talent, yet he doesn't let his playing overwhelm the songs, nor does he ever intentionally outshine his bandmates (who are all virtuosos in their own right). And as a result of his recent G3 collaboration with Steve Vai and Joe Satriani, Petrucci's talent is now reaching an even wider audience. And speaking of Satch, the Bay Area guitar god was seen enjoying tonight's show from the Warfield balcony.