Dream Theater ~ Another Day ~ Awake in Japan (Rare) (1995)

This video is a recording of Dream Theater's live concert at Urawa-shi Bunka Center in the city of Urawa, Japan on January 24, 1995. This is an unofficial release, and the DVD is pretty difficult to find as it is an unofficial bootleg. Unfortunately, the source material is not of the best quality, and I have adjusted the contrast in order to take out artifacts that are distracting. In doing this, much of the detail is lost, but looks better overall in my opinion.

Even though this was shortly after James LaBrie's voice injury in December 1994 and his voice cracks frequently (especially on this song), I feel this is an important concert because it's the only professionally shot footage from the "Waking Up The World" Tour excluding the MTV special on the Uncovered Gig (which wasn't really part of the normal tour, as DT just played covers), and some partial clips from Burbank, California and Munich, Germany, also aired on MTV.

This concert was held one week after The Great Hanshin earthquake, or Kobe earthquake, that occurred on January 17, 1995 at 05:46:53 JST in the southern part of Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, including the region known as Hanshin. It measured 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and had a maximum intensity of 7 on the JMA Seismic Intensity Scale. Casualties were: 5,502–6,434 killed; 36,896–43,792 injured; 251,301–310,000 displaced. There was approximately $200 billion in damage. During the concert, a prayer/moment of silence was held in memorial of the victims.

"Another Day" is the second song on their second album, "Images and Words", the second radio release and video from the album and the first single EP release from the album. "Another Day" is Dream Theater's first commercially released ballad.

Petrucci wrote Another Day about his father, John Petrucci Sr. who was diagnosed with cancer. Petrucci Sr. would be the subject of another Dream Theater song, "Take Away My Pain" following his death. The video for Another Day follows the song's lyrics, with a father and son spending time together. MRI scans are visible in the background, tying in to the cancer theme.

The owner of BearTracks Studios, where DT recorded Images and Words, was Jay Beckenstein of the band Spyro Gyra. He was asked to do a guest appearance on “Another Day” during the Images and Words recording sessions, as is explained on Live in Tokyo. His saxophone solos and flourishes are on the original version of the song on Images and Words. It´s notable that the parts on "Another Day" that were played by saxophone on the original studio version of the track, are played by Derek Sherinian on the keyboards on this live version.

Another Day is a very popular song live and has been played on many tours, especially in the band's early years. The song doesn't deviate very much from the album version, though the saxophone is usually synthesized by keyboards during live performances.

Mike Portnoy - Drums
John Petrucci - Guitar, Lyrics
John Myung - Bass
Derek Sherinian - Keyboards
James LaBrie - Vocals

#MysticRhythmsLive