The Structure of a Re-encounter: A Thirty-Year Void. March 2, 2026. Osaka Festival Hall. The last time I saw them live was likely during my university days—fragmented memories point to 1995, the year the masterpiece A Change of Seasons was released. Roughly thirty years have flowed by since then.
Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, John Myung. As they celebrate their 40th anniversary, the “classic” lineup has returned to Japanese soil. For someone like me, who has spent nearly thirty years weaving sound in the game industry, their presence—continuing as frontrunners for four decades—stood before me as an overwhelming “monolith.”
邂逅の構造：30年という空白 2026年3月2日、大阪フェスティバルホール。 私が最後に彼らのライブを観たのは、おそらく大学生の頃だ。記憶の断片を辿れば、名盤『A Change of Seasons』が世に出た1995年。およそ30年の歳月が流れたことになる。 マイク・ポートノイ、ジョン・ペトルーシ、ジョン・マイアング。 彼らが結成40周年を迎え、かつての最強の布陣で再び日本の地を踏む。ゲーム業界で30年近く音を紡いできた私にとって、40年という歳月を現役のフロントランナーとして走り続ける彼らの背中は、圧倒的な「構造物」としてそこにあった。
The Return of the “Pillar” and the Lost Pulse. To be honest, after Mike Portnoy left in 2010, my passion for Dream Theater followed a gradual downward slope. Mike Mangini, his successor, was technically flawless—there is no doubt about that. Yet, perhaps due to production choices, his drumming often felt flat to me, blurring the contours of the compositions. Like an architectural structure with a thinning central pillar, the “undulation” that shakes a listener’s instinct failed to reach my heart.
But now, with their latest work Parasomnia, Portnoy is back. The moment I heard the lead single “Night Terror,” I knew: the keystone had returned to its rightful place. The sound’s architecture is ultimately dictated by the drums—the foundation. To achieve true evolution, the foundation must remain steadfast. I saw once again the truth of the “unwavering rhythm” left by my mentor, Akira Ifukube.
「柱」の帰還と、失われていた律動 実を言えば、マイク・ポートノイが脱退した2010年以降、私のDTに対する情熱は、緩やかな下降線を辿っていた。後任のマイク・マンジーニ。彼の正確無比なテクニックに疑いの余地はない。しかし、彼のドラミングはどこか平坦で、楽曲全体の輪郭をぼやけさせていた。土台となるドラムという「柱」が細くなった建築物のように、聴き手の本能を揺さぶる「うねり」が、私の心には届かなかったのだ。 だが、ポートノイが戻ってきた。「あるべき場所に、あるべき柱が戻った」という圧倒的な安心感。サウンドの設計思想（アーキテクチャ）を決定づけるのは、やはり土台であるドラムなのだ。私の師、伊福部昭が遺した「揺るぎない律動」という真理を、私は再び彼らに見た。
The Third Floor: Sensory Interference as an Occupational Hazard. I sat in the third-floor seats of Festival Hall, heart pounding with anticipation. The height was dizzying, the slope steep. But the moment the first note was struck, I began to curse my “ear”—the ear of a Sound Designer.
While this hall is celebrated for its acoustic design where “sound rains from the ceiling,” that ideal is suited for acoustic instruments like an orchestra. For the electronically amplified, high-attack transients of heavy metal, the space was far too complex. In progressive metal, with its overwhelming density of notes, sound waves reflected off the acoustic boards interfered with one another, triggering a massive “Phase War.”
I felt the impact of the low end, but the definition of the basslines vanished. The tight punch of the kick drum was swallowed by ceiling reflections. Meanwhile, the high frequencies of the guitar and keyboards, along with the sharp crack of the snare, pierced my ears with lethal speed. Down near the PA booth on the first floor, I’m sure the balance was perfect. But here, on the third floor, I couldn’t stop myself from analyzing the delay and phase distortion instead of enjoying the “music.” I could not simply surrender to the sound. This is the sorrow of a professional who has spent thirty years obsessing over audio.
フェスティバルホール3階席：職業病という名の遮断 一音目が放たれた瞬間、私はサウンドデザイナーとしての「耳」を呪うことになった。オーケストラのような生楽器には至高の空間だが、電子的に増幅され、凄まじい立ち上がりを持つヘビーメタルの音波にとって、この空間はあまりに複雑すぎた。 凄まじい「位相戦争」を引き起こす。低域の衝撃は来るが、ベースラインの輪郭が消失し、バスドラムのタイトな帯域は天井の反射に飲み込まれる。スネアの鋭利な成分だけが、耳に突き刺さる。1階のPA付近では完璧な均衡が保たれていたのだろう。だが、この3階席において、私は「音楽」を楽しむ前に、反射音の遅延や位相の乱れを解析してしまう自分を止められなかった。これが、30年「音」と向き合い続けてしまったプロフェッショナルの「悲哀」である。
The Cathedral of Sound and the 23-Minute Circle. And yet, there was an “energy” there powerful enough to suppress the acoustic imbalance. When the 20-minute epic “Octavarium” began, Jordan Rudess’s synthesizer sliced through a Pink Floyd-esque silence, and the entire band united to build a colossal “Cathedral of Sound.” There were moments on the third floor where the audio saturated and details dissolved, but the sheer structure of the energy they emitted was seared into my retinas and eardrums.
As the main set ended and a scene from the film Dead Poets Society appeared on the screen, a strange shiver ran down my spine. The intro that began to play was “A Change of Seasons”—the very same 23-minute suite I had heard at my last DT show, thirty years ago.
What a coincidence. Or perhaps, this was the guidance of “Structure.” The song I heard as a university student thirty years ago was being performed again by these men who had reached their 40th anniversary and reclaimed their central pillar, Portnoy. The lost time was resolved into a single, beautiful structure by this 23-minute circle.
伽藍の構築と、23分の円環 後半、20分を超える大曲「Octavarium」が始まった時、バンド全員が一体となって巨大な「音の伽藍」を築き上げていく。アンコールを告げるスクリーンに映画『今を生きる』の一場面が映し出された時、私は奇妙な戦慄を覚えた。流れ出したイントロは「A Change of Seasons」。 30年前、私が最後に彼らのライブで聴いた、あの23分の組曲だ。 何という偶然か。あるいは、これこそが「構造」の導きか。30年前、大学生だった私が聴いたあの曲が、ポートノイという柱を取り戻した彼らによって再び演奏される。失われた時間は、この23分の円環によって、一つの美しい「構造」へと帰結した。
In Closing: Toward the Rain in Yodoyabashi. Exiting the venue, I walked toward Yodoyabashi through the Osaka rain, where tinnitus mingled with the ambient sounds of the city. I found myself ruminating on the “sound” within me. I will continue to listen to Dream Theater, but this may be the last time I go to a live show only to be disappointed by the over-inflation of my own ears.
But that is fine. I have seared into my soul once more the importance of the “foundation” they have protected for forty years. I, too, as a Sound Designer and a Structurer, will only continue to fortify the “pillars” beneath my own feet. One can aim for the horizontal once the expression is finished. For now, I shall accept even this ringing in my ears as evidence of my thirty-year voyage.
I am a Structurer.
結びに代えて：雨の淀屋橋へ Dream Theaterはこれからも聴き続けるだろう。だが、こうしてライブに足を運び、自らの耳の肥大化に落胆する体験は、これが最後になるかもしれない。 しかし、それでいい。彼らが40年かけて守り抜いた「土台」の重要性を、私は改めて魂に刻んだ。 私もまた、サウンドデザイナー、そしてStructureRとして、自らの足元の「柱」をより強固にしていくだけだ。今はただ、この耳鳴りさえも、私が歩んできた30年という航海の証として受け入れようではないか。
