Dream Theater ~Take the Time w/Keyboard Solo ~ 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, 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. "Take the Time" is the third song from their second album, "Images and Words". It is the third radio single release from the album and its second video release, and is the only song from Dream Theater that feature lyrics from all 5 members of the band. "Take the Time", as it has multiple lyricists and is laden with metaphors, can be a bit daunting to analyze. Closer inspection reveals it to be autobiographical, particularly about the period of time since "When Dream and Day Unite". The song refers to the band's many struggles. An example of this is "I need a new voice" referring to the band's need for a new vocalist and "Go back to square one" referring to the band basically having to start from scratch. It is an anthemic song, though it contains different sections and an extended length, being fairly progressive. The song is somewhat known for its chorus, which is popularly sung live by the audience. The sampled voice saying "Ora che ho perso la vista, ci vedo di più" used during the song is from the film "Cinema Paradiso". The voice saying "Wait a minute..." is sampled from the ending of Frank Zappa's "Dancin' Fool", "Hold up!" is sampled from "Christmas Rapping" by Kurtis Blow, and "Come On!" comes from "Power to the People" by Public Enemy. "Take the Time" is a popular song live, and often has much audience participation in the vocals. Performances are usually extended, with the solo sections lengthening the song upwards of 14 minutes long. In this live version, Derek Sherinian plays a keyboard solo at the end of the song. "Take the Time" was originally known as "Grab That Feel". Mike Portnoy - Drums, Lyrics John Petrucci - Guitar, Lyrics John Myung - Bass, Lyrics Derek Sherinian - Keyboards James LaBrie - Vocals, Lyrics Kevin Moore - Keyboard, Lyrics (Original studio recording version on "Images and Words" #MysticRhythmsLive