On the evening of June 25, 2008, the Park West Theatre in Chicago was blessed with a one-of-a-kind musical experience that left the capacity crowd in a state of shock and awe. During their first and only tour since 1999, Liquid Tension Experiment took to the stage to play one of only 6 shows on their 10th anniversary reunion tour. Comprised of Mike Portnoy, Jordan Rudess, and John Petrucci from Dream Theater and Tony Levin of King Crimson, this quartet is renowned as one of the best in the progressive rock industry. Usually seeing a concert with your favorite musicians playing your favorite songs is a special enough experience in itself, but this night turned out to be much more than that for those lucky enough to be in attendance.
The band began the night at a fast pace with their song “Acid Rain” and progressed through a wide range of musical flavors including their songs “Kindred Spirits,” “Biaxident,” “Freedom of Speech,” and “State of Grace.” From that point, the band progressed into another of their fast-paced song called “Universal Mind” and things started to get interesting. During the song, Jordan Rudess’ Roland keyboard rig started experiencing some serious technical problems causing every fourth key to play the wrong note.
With the keyboards out of commission and an antsy crowd on hand, it was up to the rest of the band to save the show. As Rudess crept backstage to phone the Roland engineers, drummer Mike Portnoy came over the public address system to deliver a reassuring message. He said, “The great thing about this band is that we love to jam, so when there’s a technical difficulty like the keyboard rig going down, it’s ok! because it just means we get to jam some more.” That having been said, the band began what would turn out to be over an hour of completely improvised music. Portnoy came over the PA periodically throughout the session to give status updates on the keyboard situation, but eventually Rudess emerged from behind the curtain with a frustrated shrug. Just when it seemed like the show would be coming to an end though, Rudess decided to throw in a new twist. He made his way across the stage to where Petrucci was playing and raised a finger in the direction of his guitar. Petrucci passed the guitar over, and Rudess improvised a guitar solo of his own with astounding speed and accuracy that most amateurs would kill for. With the crowd going wild, Petrucci decided to follow Rudess’s lead and picked up Levin’s extra bass from its stand. The band continued to jam in this formation until they were surprised by an unexpected visit from Anthrax drummer Charlie Benante. Benante then took over the drums while Portnoy moved out and took over the bass role thus completing an entire shift change. Each member of the band had switched instruments, but somehow their music still held its cutting-edge complexity. During one of his public address statements during the show, Portnoy said, “I hope someone in the audience is bootlegging this, because this could damn well be our next album.” Sure enough, 8 months later, a new album appeared for sale on the Dream Theater website entitled, “Liquid Trio Experiment 2: When The Keyboard Breaks.”
Featuring the entirety of the improvised jam, this album allows everyone not lucky enough to have been in attendance that evening with a small taste of just how amazing it really was. The album starts with the closing seconds of “Universal Mind” as the keyboard began to experience its problems. After a quick PA announcement, the band kicks off their first jam titled, “Chicago Blues & Noodle Factory.” The beginning is a bit slow-going and takes some patience as the band starts to set the tone, but as soon as the group starts to mesh it becomes a high-energy showcase of musical talent and excellence. Throughout the album, listeners are treated to a once-in-a-lifetime musical experience as the band fades in and out of a series of impressively improvised tunes. The album does have its fair share of low points as many of the transitions between jams are rough, but that is to be expected when all of the music performed is being composed on the spot. Considering the nature of the recording, the mastering on the album is also surprisingly high quality. The frequencies all balance well, and there is little distortion caused by noise from the crowd. Overall, this album will not go down in history being as influential as Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” but it is certainly unlike any other that has ever been produced and definitely worth listening to.
