#9 Gigantour featuring Megadeth and Dream Theater at Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY, August 23, 2005

Again, this is one of those concerts that I was not expecting a Top 10 ranking. I decided to go last second with an old college buddy of mine who recently started listening to Megadeth. I have seen Megadeth and Dream Theater (including the “Scenes from New York” show) several times before, enjoyed the concerts very much, and felt like I had seen all that their live shows had to offer. But…

Dream Theater’s set was just about perfect on this night. They were happy to be playing in front of their home crowd and Mike Portnoy did a cool drum solo with Richard Christy of the Howard Stern Show which was excellent. The guys in Dream Theater were were very relaxed and seemed like they had a great time.

Megadeth came on stage soon after and blew up the beach. “Holy Wars,” “Reckoning Day,” Wake Up Dead,” Hangar 18,” “A Tout Le Monde,” and “Angry Again,” you know, the usual awesome songs were in the setlist. Dave Mustaine wasn’t as cocky as I have seen him and he didn’t cry like in “Some Kind of Monster;” it was just the perfect Mustaine-mix on this hot August night.