i have seen them at least 7 or 8 times, best was the first time 1993 small club, i was standing right at the stage. Also good was Queensryche, Dream Theater and King's x in teh same show.
i like constant motion actually. Some of their better music is less complicated. before Kevin (keyboards) left, the writing was in my opinion better. images and words is a genious breakthrough album, like sgt pepper, the first black sabbath album, van halen I, are you experienced,
kevin added complexity by keeping it simple. if you listen to the first 3 album, the complication wasn't about speed or complex runs, it was about using simple parts over each other which made it sound complex. Images and Words is THE best example its genious
by tor- actually they copy stuff from whoever they are into at the time, they talk about that openly. They toured with U2 a couple albums ago and they came out with a song that sounds exactly like a U2 song - walk beside you
they are very open about influences, they don't take themselves to seriously, one reason they have been around together so long. i've met portnoy and petrucci, both guys that are very cool and layed back.
latest keyboard player jordan, plays amazing, writing is only a b- though
coolest dream theater band thing i ever did - i had a band that had keyboard and guitar chops to handle DT so we played the solo section to take the time in the middle of "whippin post" it was seamless, wish i had a recording of it. they are in the same key