Dream Theater take on this classic Elton John twofer in fine fashion. I’ve always been a huge Elton John fan and the openers from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road are among Mr. John’s most progressive rock oriented, so this turn of events seems appropriate. While they play the extended instrumental half of this pretty true to form, there’s a bit harder edge that Mr. John’s version. That said, the song was always a hard rocker, so it’s not that much of a stretch. When they take it out to the “song” portion the vocals are at times so reminiscent of Elton John’s that it’s almost scary. The closing motif on this is just plain incendiary.

Here DT turns their attention to Deep Purple. I’ve always been a big fan of the Perfect Strangers album and the title track itself. Well, Dream Theater manages to either match the power of the cut – or perhaps even raise the ante. Personally I’m a bit on the fence about that question. However you look at it, though, this version is in no way inferior. They bring a bit more prog rock to the table later in the track and take in some different directions.

As the title suggests – no, demands – they bring us into a Led Zeppelin medley, starting off with “The Rover.” This killer riff driven track is delivered in fine fashion feeling a lot like Zep, but perhaps the bass line is a lit more busy. Next they turn their attention to “Achilles Last Stand” from Presence. That disc is arguably Zep’s most proggy and DT turns up the progressive rock. I’d have to say that this one place where LaBrie’s vocals don’t seem to be on an equal par – but we’re are talking about a track originally recorded with Robert Plant singing. They continue with “The Song Remains The Same” and I’d say LaBrie pulls that one off better. The music on this section is perhaps the least Zeppelin trademarked of anything in the medley. It’s a good way to end the set.

Here we get a medley of all kinds of covers. They open with the bombastic “In The Flesh?” from Pink Floyd. It seems a natural for DT. They take us out from there into Kansas’ “Carry On Wayward Son.” If the first one was obvious this is a “no brainer.” They put in a fiery performance of the track. They just stick to the instrumental section on the track, though, but do include vocals when they hit Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” While Wayne and Garth would be proud, I have to say I’m not blown away by the vocal performance. However, when they take us into Journey’s “Lovin’ Touchin’ Squeezin’” I’m pretty impressed by LaBrie’s performance. Here we get a scorching rendition of this Dregs classic. It’s fast paced and fusion oriented. They close it all out with a take on Genesis’ “Turn It On Again.” They do that one sans vocals and when they’re done, all you can say is, “wow, what a ride!”