11 years later

13 June 1998, Turin. I had been studying in Geneva for about four months now, with the visit of my friend here finally met the right people at the right places - local headbangers from the city and the bordering France - don't ask where you meet those ;-).

And so we reach Turin in the late sunny morning after a three-hour-journey in a bus full of metal-heads (metal fans are perfectly nice and polite, believe me). Destination: the Monsters Of Rock festival, one day of finest hard rock and metal of all kinds and colours.

And the second last act (the concert having started with lesser known acts as Hammerfall or Uli John Roth - remember, we are talking 1998 here - and according to schedule ending with the great Deep Purple), opening with a red red light show, is DREAM THEATER.

Leap in time: 18 October 2009, Frankfurt, Jahrhunderthalle, 10 p.m. The three supporting acts Unexpect, Bigelf and Opeth have finally finished (not that I didn't like them but: I WANT DREAM THEATER!!!)

Guitar sounds and drum beats are permeating the black curtain which is removed suddenly. A Nightmare To Remember begins: an instrumental intro before singer James LaBrie comes running on stage and starts singing with piercing intensity.

A video screen on the back of the stage shows films and scenes from the stage - I don't need that, I'm standing in the third row, two metres away from the stage, just separated by two fans, one security man with a poker face and a low fence.

One and a half hours of pure bliss follow in which all five musicians show once again that they excel on their instruments and - especially Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci and Jordan Ruddess - fully enjoy themselves and what they are doing.

My favourites of the evening? Hard to say but I would go for Sacrificed Sons and the encore The Count Of Tuscany.

And oh yea, I had to have this shirt: