An Evening with Dream Theater - Part 1
I almost did not get to see Dream Theater, for some reason. Misunderstandings and all that crap. I almost gave my ticket to another friend who wanted to go but did not have the budget for it. But at the last minute, on the very day itself, my friend and I finally decided to go. After all, it's DREAM THEATER, and they've never been here before in the last 20 years of their journey in the music industry. Who knows if they'll ever come here again? Beside, we've planned it already, and we're not gonna let a misunderstanding ruin a great evening. The concert was called An Evening with Dream Theater - 20yrs Anniversary Tour.
And so we went anyway. Working morning shift on that day(I started work at 8 freaking am, I loathe that shift), I was already tired & groggy by the time I stepped out of the office. My friend(lets call him Soleman - it's a long story) who started work an hour later, was also tired. We were late. The show was supposed to start at 8pm, and at 7pm we were still waiting for the train to go to Kallang station, the nearest MRT station to Singapoor Indoor Stadium. We reached Kallang station at about 7.40pm. Already we could see groups of people wearing black shirts looking eager and finding their way to the stadium. Some were even wearing Dream Theater shirts. I could feel the excitement already. Soleman pointed out that whoever's wearing black right then is definitely going to see DT. I looked at my own black sleeveless top. Then Soleman's own black Wolfgang shirt. I guess he was right.
I haven't been to the stadium in so many years, and I didn't know the way there. Neither does Soleman. We asked the train personnel how to get there, but the bitch only pointed at a signboard and then looked away. The signboard said 'To Singapore Indoor Stadium -> Bus 11 from the Bus Terminal'. We looked around. The so-called bus terminal was nowhere in sight. We decided to take a taxi because it was already almost 8pm. Along the roads, those groups of people in black were also waiting for taxis. We went to another side, and there were more groups of people in black waiting for taxis. And the worst part is, there were no taxis. I told Soleman we could probably be a bit more adventurous and walk to another side, across another main road, and probably there'd be taxis there. Soleman agreed; he was thinking the same thing.
So we left those groups of people, and went to the other side. We crossed a busy road and waited patiently and flagged at every taxi that whizzed past, even those with the red 'Hired' signs. I looked at my watch, it was already 8.10pm. Finally, a taxi came by and stopped for us. We jumped in and told him where to go. Thank goodness he knew the way. I sighed a sigh of relief. In my mind, I was wondering if those other groups of people have found their taxis yet.
We reached the Singapore Indoor Stadium at about 8.15pm. We found the North entry and realised that the show of course has not started yet. We lined up for a mere 5 minutes before we got in. That was my shortest queueing time for a concert ever. 5 minutes! When we got in, we looked for our seats, sat down and observed the crowd. There were fewer people than we'd imagined. Then again, it's Dream Theater, and the Singapore music scene is flooded with teenage punk-rock fans. It was a good crowd for me. No giggly teen girls, no posers with fake multiple earrings and fake tattoos. The young teens who were there were cool and behaved themselves. The adults like us were minding their own business. The older ones were more relaxed and even more cool. Overall, it was a cool crowd. I didn't feel out of place at all.
I looked at the time. It was almost 9 pm and the show was not about to start soon. I was getting excited. I almost couldn't believe we were there.
...to be continued.
And so we went anyway. Working morning shift on that day(I started work at 8 freaking am, I loathe that shift), I was already tired & groggy by the time I stepped out of the office. My friend(lets call him Soleman - it's a long story) who started work an hour later, was also tired. We were late. The show was supposed to start at 8pm, and at 7pm we were still waiting for the train to go to Kallang station, the nearest MRT station to Singapoor Indoor Stadium. We reached Kallang station at about 7.40pm. Already we could see groups of people wearing black shirts looking eager and finding their way to the stadium. Some were even wearing Dream Theater shirts. I could feel the excitement already. Soleman pointed out that whoever's wearing black right then is definitely going to see DT. I looked at my own black sleeveless top. Then Soleman's own black Wolfgang shirt. I guess he was right.
I haven't been to the stadium in so many years, and I didn't know the way there. Neither does Soleman. We asked the train personnel how to get there, but the bitch only pointed at a signboard and then looked away. The signboard said 'To Singapore Indoor Stadium -> Bus 11 from the Bus Terminal'. We looked around. The so-called bus terminal was nowhere in sight. We decided to take a taxi because it was already almost 8pm. Along the roads, those groups of people in black were also waiting for taxis. We went to another side, and there were more groups of people in black waiting for taxis. And the worst part is, there were no taxis. I told Soleman we could probably be a bit more adventurous and walk to another side, across another main road, and probably there'd be taxis there. Soleman agreed; he was thinking the same thing.
So we left those groups of people, and went to the other side. We crossed a busy road and waited patiently and flagged at every taxi that whizzed past, even those with the red 'Hired' signs. I looked at my watch, it was already 8.10pm. Finally, a taxi came by and stopped for us. We jumped in and told him where to go. Thank goodness he knew the way. I sighed a sigh of relief. In my mind, I was wondering if those other groups of people have found their taxis yet.
We reached the Singapore Indoor Stadium at about 8.15pm. We found the North entry and realised that the show of course has not started yet. We lined up for a mere 5 minutes before we got in. That was my shortest queueing time for a concert ever. 5 minutes! When we got in, we looked for our seats, sat down and observed the crowd. There were fewer people than we'd imagined. Then again, it's Dream Theater, and the Singapore music scene is flooded with teenage punk-rock fans. It was a good crowd for me. No giggly teen girls, no posers with fake multiple earrings and fake tattoos. The young teens who were there were cool and behaved themselves. The adults like us were minding their own business. The older ones were more relaxed and even more cool. Overall, it was a cool crowd. I didn't feel out of place at all.
I looked at the time. It was almost 9 pm and the show was not about to start soon. I was getting excited. I almost couldn't believe we were there.
...to be continued.
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