“Chaos in Motion” in Singapore on Jan 17

Knowing where to go, progressive rock band Dream Theater used to have the luxury of walking though experimentation, even if that meant producing an album that was a considerable deviation both in sound and style from what many critics considered their seminal work in 1994’s Awake.

Now the rock impresarios from New York are back, with a brand-new record that sounds more like Dream Theater than their past two albums combined. Theirs was not a case of making up for lost time. Dream Theater fathered the genre and they could move it anywhere they choose. Only now, both Dream Theater and the progressive-rock scene are moving to the same direction.

Nobody might be willing to call the new Dream Theater album a masterpiece. But with traces of Awake and a refined sound of Scenes from a Memory, the new Dream Theater album Systematic Chaos might be the incendiary to bring the genre back to the forefront of the music world again.

Starting in June 2007, Dream Theater has hit the road to promote Systematic Chaos, via the portentously titled Gods of Metal gig in Milan, Italy. Toward the early fall of 2007, Systematic Chaos made it to the US Billboard 200 at 19, the highest Dream Theater album charts entry ever, even surpassing Awake’s debut at 32, and Images and Words at 61.

Early next year it is Singapore’s chance to listen live to the new offering of the Dream Theater. Produced by the LAMC Productions, “Chaos in Motion: The Dream Theater World Tour” will be staged at the Fort Canning district in Singapore on January 17, 2008.

The date is January and the place is Fort Canning, Singapore. It would be very well for Dream Theater fans to be clear about that. It is, after all, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear live a mature and crucial gig of Dream Theater.

Tickets for the Dream Theater Singapore Tour in Fort Canning are available online at the Sistic website, or through acknowledged agents accredited by the Singapore ticketing company. Hotel rooms in Singapore are likewise available online.

Inside Fort Canning is the budget accommodation of the YWCA Lodge. By providing guests with a twin sharing option, the Fort Canning hotel in Singapore of international foundation YWCA is perfect for Singapore visitors traveling in groups.

Outside Fort Canning are the fashionably low-priced hotels of Tekka Hotel in Singapore and the ParkView. Both hotels fringe the Fort Canning Park, and are near the city center of Singapore for your convenience.

The Singapore gig at the Fort Canning will be the third of five stops of the Dream Theater Asia Tour, after the band revisits the Budokan Theater in Japan and the parental hometown of Dream Theater bassist John Myung in South Korea.

“If you’re a musician or ever aspired to be one, this is a show not to be missed,” said the LAMC Productions. But it isn’t necessary to remind anyone that. Progressive rock fans around and outside Singapore know very well not to miss a gig that features a promising turn at the Dream Theater career.