Dream Theater ~ "The Rudess Experiment" ~ (Best Video) ~ Concrete Foundations Forum 9/9/1994

This Burbank, CA show was a one-off gig with Jordan Rudess, who couldn't commit to DT fully at the time because of touring commitments with the Dixie Dregs. Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess – who’s been a member of the fold since 1999 – remembered being invited to join the band way back in ’94 after original keyboardist Kevin Moore left the band. He told Jimmy Kay about how he initially turned the guys down because at the same time he also got an offer to join Dixie Dregs: “I was exposed to the band by a friend of mine, a guitar player who was doing interviews with different bands at the time." “He told me about this band of great players. These guys were like virtuosos, they were amazing, playing progressive music and metal. And he brought the stuff over to my house to listen to." “I heard some of it and I thought, ‘Wow, these guys are really, really good.’ I heard the progressive elements, I heard metal and virtuosity, and I thought, ‘This is really cool.’ “Well, through a couple of different connections – my name started to spread around. The other thing that connected me with Dream Theater was that they were all voted the best new talent in their respective instruments in the magazines." “And I was in that particular year when they were opening it up and looking who was the best new talent. They were hearing my name from different people and so they ended up giving me a call to audition for the group." “Actually, as the story goes, at first I didn’t accept the offer. I agreed to do one show. Now James [LaBrie] is telling the story on stage every night basically because we’re revisiting history." “I agreed to do one show called the Foundations Forum and after I did that show in ’94 or something – I did that and I said ‘No.’ “I ended up joining Dixie Dregs who offered me to join the band around the same time DT did (Rudess chose the Dregs, primarily as being a part-time member of the band would have less of an impact on his young family, a choice he was not given with Dream Theater) and then I played with Portnoy and Petrucci in side-project Liquid Tension Experiment." “And after a couple of albums doing that and getting along really well with the guys, musically and personally, they asked me again and I said ‘Okay, now I’ll join.’ That was almost 20 years ago.” This video is a combination of several elements. The video footage primarily used is from Darksider (aka Jamie) whose YouTube channel name is mistaje. (His channel can be found at    / mistaje  ) He has a great channel with lots of concert footage, so you should check it out! He was at this show and shot this concert on a hand held VHS camcorder, later digitizing the footage. This is really great footage of the show, and gives a different perspective than "the Rudess experiment" bootleg. That said, I have combined the audio from the bootleg with Jamie's footage, as it appears to be soundboard audio. I inserted video footage from the bootleg for the song "Caught in a Web" which evidently wasn't recorded by Jamie. I also had to insert a small portion of the bootleg video footage into the song "Pull me Under" due to a glitch in Jamie's footage in order to keep the audio/video synchronization correct. Just as a note: The "SEP 10 1994" date shown on the video is incorrect. The concert was performed on September 9, 1994. James LaBrie - Vocals John Petrucci - Guitar, Backing Vocals Mike Portnoy - Drums John Myung - Bass Jordan Rudess ~ Keyboards