Don't get me wrong, LSFNY was a great DVD, but some of the heavy handedness with the psychedelics can be a bit much. So in goes Live at Budokan and instantly the production quality is fantastic. The menus look great and very slick and are easy to negotiate.

A 2 disc set, Live at Budokan comes packed with a near 3 hour live performance by the band and a whole swag of great special features. The show kicks off with As I Am, a nod to Train of Though which was the album they were touring in support of at this time.

Right away you can tell that there has been so much more effort and production put into this DVD. Presented in wide screen, the band all take their familiar places on the quite barren looking stage, backed by 3 massive video screens. The colours of the video are so rich and saturated, it has a very cinematic feel to it. Full of great crane shots and very well composed close-ups, the direction and production of this DVD fuse together to really push home that Dream Theater is a very powerful band live and can command a crowd. The packed Budokan crowd is testament to that.

It's amazing when you realise you're only in song three but the DVD has been playing for more than 40 minutes and you know you're in for quite a ride. Travelling through As I Am, This Dying Soul, Beyond This Life, Hollow Years, War Inside My Head, The Test That Stumped Them All and Endless Sacrifice with their usual precision playing and fantastic chops, the band come to the unprecedented Instrumedly. Imagine all of the best and craziest instrumental parts from DT's catalogue of songs…and mush them all together into one song. This is the Instrumedly. The band plough through this track like it's nobody's business and make short work of musical passages that even some experienced players sit slack jawed in awe of. While a very self indulgent track, it is amazing to watch.

The DVD is quite heavy with tracks from Train of Thought, which is understandable. There is a good dose of material from Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence also which is also understandable. Perhaps mixing some older tracks would have appeased some of the old school fans of the band who I think would be put off a bit by the lack of Images and Words and Awake era tracks. With a whopping 18 tracks in total and close to 3 hour running time, this DVD is 100% worth the money before you even throw in disc 2.

Disc 2, as per the usual DVD trend, holds the special features. Included on the second disc is a Japanese Tour documentary called Riding the Train of Though that explores the whole Japan and Budokan experience for the band. Also included are personal tours of both Jordan Rudess' Keyboard World and John Petrucci's Guitar World. For those tech heads who have always wanted to see how the guys set up their gear and what they use, this is truly a holy grail of information. Not included on the first disc at the Budokan show, as Mike explains in the footage preceding it is his drum solo. A couple of lucky fans get the night of their life during this solo, which while cool really isn't as spectacular as we all know Portnoy can be behind his kit. Also included is the video that shows on the tour were opened with and another treat to the musos, a multi angle version of the Instrumedly. Check out what everyone is doing or focus on your favorite band member and sit in awe for 10 minutes. A great little bonus.

All in all, while often seen for hefty prices around Australia it can be found for reasonable ones, and if you ask me, I'd even pay the hefty price for this DVD. It's great from start to finish and is such a joy to watch both in the performances and the sheer beauty of the lighting and camera work. I am also glad to see some bands keeping a 2.0 audio track on DVD's and not assuming that everyone has gone to 5.1.

Concert - 9/10
Special Features - 9/10