• Inside Out Music 2025
• https://dreamtheater.net

Photo Credit: Mark Maryanovich

If you’re reading this vinyl review, then I’m sure you know the backstory. DREAM THEATER reunited with drummer Mike Portnoy to celebrate their 40th Anniversary with an extensive European & U.S. tour. I should also mention that the Progressive Metal 5-piece also managed to release a new studio album in the midst of it all entitled ‘Parasomnia’ (2025).

While DREAM THEATER’s 40th anniversary tour did focus heavily on their past, they also made it a point to feature at least one cut from their latest album. I had the opportunity to catch the show back in March at the Wang Theater in Boston, MA and I was awestruck. This was my first DREAM THEATER show. Their performance was not without its happy accidents, but they paled in comparison to the musicianship, song selection, and eye and ear catching performances.

‘Quarantième: Live à Paris’ was recorded and filmed at the Adidas Arena in Paris, France on November 23, 2024. The show is presented in multiple formats including a 3-CD / 2 Blu-ray set, and a triple vinyl box set. This live performance also played at select AMC movie theaters across the country on October 17, 2025.

Each format contains the same 19 songs, which is great, because sometimes songs are removed for space, or one format has more than another. Making it difficult for the consumer to “have it all”. DREAM THEATER has made it so you can pick your preferred format.

My review is for the vinyl box set edition. You can see all that it entails in the unboxing video below.

‘Quarantième: Live à Paris’ brought me right back to my experience in Boston. This set is crisp, clear, and jam packed with melodies, crunchy guitars, indulgent keyboards, drumming in unique time signatures, and performances you would expect from a band with 40 years experience. This set never gets boring, even when DREAM THEATER gets to the 20+ minute track “Octivarium”.

While I’ve never quite grasped the concept of Metropolis (the song and the sequel album), I must say hearing “Metropolis Pt. 1” from ‘Images and Words’ (1992) blend seamlessly with “Overture 1928” and “Strange Deja Vu” from ‘Metropolis, Pt.2: Scenes From a Memory’ (1999) at the top of this set, kind of brought it all together for me. DREAM THEATER’s presentation of these openers make it sound like one long Prog Metal epic.

I never realized until hearing this set back again, how important Metropolis was throughout the night. “Home” and “The Spirit Carries On” not only rounds out the album they originally appeared on, but they also close out the night. I missed “The Spirit Carries On” the first time around, but having heard it in the Boston set, and in the Paris set, it has become one of my favorite tracks from the group.

This was also the case for “Hollow Years” from ‘Falling Into Infinity’ (1997). I knew I’d heard it before, but it got lost in my memory over time. James Labrie’s performance of it here in Paris is just as emotion provoking as it was in Boston. Now it has made it into my regular playlist. This live version will too.

‘Train of Thought’ (2003) gets a good amount of set time with “As I Am”, “Stream of Consciousness” and “Vacant”. Truth be told, this about the point I stopped following DREAM THEATER back in the day. I wish I had stuck with them because these songs are just as worthy as any of the songs that preceded them in their back catalog. Don’t worry, I’m back on the DREAM THEATER train after the Boston show, and loving everything I’m just now discovering for the first time.

There’s nothing quite like hearing music live. Even if you didn’t like something from the studio album, you can find a new appreciation for it in person. I didn’t like “Night Terror” or “Octavarium” on their albums, but here in Paris, its just different. Sure, listening back to a live set on vinyl is not quite the same as being in attendance, but I can tell you after listening to ‘Quarantième: Live à Paris’, is pretty damn close.

DREAM THEATER have released numerous official and ‘bootleg’ live recordings over the years. It’s kind of their thing. I think longtime fans and casual fans would agree, the official releases outweigh the bootlegs in sound and quality. ‘Quarantième: Live à Paris’ is DREAM THEATER at their peak. Those who love to complain might say their favorite songs were missing from the set (“6:00” & “Caught in a Web”!), but I would say to them (and myself) just pick up another live collection, you’ll find them. DREAM THEATER are back and better than ever, and ‘Quarantième: Live à Paris’ only affirms it.

5.0 out of 5.0