Home Up Rules Links and Downloads Nickeh Productions Producers/Collections Genesis Iron Maiden Marillion Pink Floyd Porcupine Tree Queensryche Royal Hunt Rush Other Bands DVD's

Title Desert Awakenings Part I & II
Date 1994-12-04 & 1994-12-05
City, State Tucson, AZ
Country United States
Venue Buena Vista Center
Art Yes
Taped By Unknown
Catalog Prism Records
   
Grade 6/10
Format SHN
Discs 4 CDR
   
Lineage Unknown > GDT Remaster
Source AUD
Acquired From Mail trade with King255
   
Setlist CD 1 :

1. Little Green Bag/Wake Up! (intro tape)
2 . Pull Me Under
3. 6:00
4. Take the Time (w/ extended keyboard solo)
5. Caught in a Web (w/ drum solo including samples)
6. Lifting Shadows Off a Dream
7. Awake jam

CD 2 :

1. keyboard solo
2. A Crack in the Mirror/
3. The Mirror/
4. Lie
5. Another Day
A Mind Beside Itself:
6. I Erotomania
7. II Voices
8. III The Silent Man
~~~encore~~~
9. Metropolis Part I
10. Snowdog (Tapers Comments) – Moved from the beginning of the recording

CD's 3 & 4 same as 1 & 2, but on 2nd night.
   
Notes This is another of the missing Prism recordings. 12-5-94 is known to circulate, but this is the debut of 12-4-94 into the trading community.

The whole show was digitized from the master cassettes provided by Prism Records in 32-bit format with 20 bit resolution.

Hiss was localized and reduced. Channels were asymmetric and required balancing. The sub-bass was excessive while the high bass tones were deficient. The bass elements have been reworked to correct these problems. High treble was also boosted for detail. Midrange was slightly adjusted and many anomalies (bumps, clicks, etc) were manually removed. Dynamics have been adjusted throughout the shows.

What can be said about this recording.  Many interesting points have been found with these two shows.  First off, this is a very good throwback to the "good ol days" of Dream Theater.  This was a very refreshing listen to the shows being performed around the release of Awake.  Being that this is sourced from cassette is very noticeable, since most of the newer day recordings we have gotten used to have been coming from mini-disc, DAT, etc..  What can be said about these shows originating from cassette is, although it is noticeable, is that they are very well cleaned up and sound really good.  It took me roughly 5 minutes to get adjusted, but quite well worth it.  This is a very good sounding show.  There are several fixes that have been made to this recording for release, which has already been explained.  Some remaining clicks are evident as well as frequency issues, but is very minimal.  We also have a narrator in the crowd that likes to make his thoughts known as well.  I'm giving major props to the person that remastered this.  This is a very solid sounding show.  On to the show:
 
12/4/94 : The first night in Tucson, AZ.  My first notice of this show is the energy that was given off by the band.  Pull Me Under started the incredible ride for the night.  There has been remarks from before the later tours, specifically the Summer 2003 Tour, how James LaBrie hasn't sounded the same, yadda yadda, but this show brings you back to the near beginning of it all, and James' voice is purely incredible.  I was very amazed at how well he sounded.  The music playing was very crisp and very well delivered by Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, John Myung, and Derek Sherinian.  A good example of this was the performance of Take The Time.  Towards the end of the song, we got a nice keyboard solo that turned into a nice improv jam.  We then go into Caught In A Web right after that, and are treated to a nice drum solo in the middle of the song.  Now back to our 'narrator' in the crowd, during this drum solo, we find ourselves with a Peart lover.  Be as it may, the drum solo kicked ass.  A few songs later, starting on Disc 2, we have a nice keyboard solo by Mr. Entertainment, Derek Sherinian.  Very awesome.  We later on get a nice performance of A Mind Beside Itself, and then the favorite closing tune of Metropolis Pt. 1. 
 
12/5/94 : Next night in Tempe, AZ.  Well, there is a bet among taper and others on whether Pull Me Under or 6:00 would start the show.  Whoever bet on 6:00 owed some money.  Same setlist as the night before, Pull Me Under comes alive on the stage to kick things off on the second night in Arizona.  Slightly more bass-heavy in the mix than the first night, but the show is still very enjoyable.  The crowd was definitely into it tonight.  If they served beer at this venue, then all of my questions have been answered.  With the setlist being the same on this night, so is the performance that was described above for the first night.  Another high octane night.  The Awake album was represented heavily on these shows, which leaves me with this : Thanks for the memories!
 
Judging this 1-2 punch of a show against the other bootlegs in my collection, I give this a B / B-.
 
~SewerRat~