In recent years, John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess have been engaging in one ridiculous cash grab after another, ranging from $10,000 guitars, to a $375 leather jacket, to $30 rings, beanies, and drinkwear, to a $75 Astonishing novel. All of these things would be indefensible even if Dream Theater was still making great music, but this recent bout of greed from Petrucci and Rudess is especially irksome considering Dream Theater’s sharp decline in musical quality which began with the cardboard box snare on the 2013 self-titled album. Petrucci and Rudess care more about endorsement deals and gear than they do about making good music (i.e. having a competent singer and producer/engineer), and THAT is what sickens me.

Contrast Petrucci and Rudess with Kevin Moore. Moore has no endorsement deals as far as I know, hasn’t played in a popular band for over 20 years, and still seems to be living comfortably enough off the royalties for Pull Me Under that he was able to go to medical school.

One innocent explanation of Petrucci and Rudess’ money-grubbing is that they’re just trying to recover financial losses from the orchestral and choral arrangements on The Astonishing. Well, that would be sad if true since The Astonishing wasn’t good, but both Petrucci and Rudess are multi-millionaires, so how deep in the hole could that album really have put them? In fact, I believe The Astonishing was conceived of specifically because Petrucci saw it as a money opportunity. Under the banner of calling it “an immersive experience,” he could commission a book, a video game, trading cards, possibly a movie and Broadway musical.

Then there’s the Images, Words, and Beyond Tour. There was no reason whatsoever why this tour should have happened. LaBrie is no longer vocally fit to sing songs from Images and Words, the songs from that album have been played to death, and the band even did 15th anniversary performances of Images and Words 10 years ago. So why do it? To syphon more money from the fans who they’re taking for mindless chumps. Plain and simple.