| False Awakening Suite | |
| Dream Theater | |
| Length | 2:42 |
| Working title | (Unknown) |
| Release date | 20th September 2013 |
| Lyrics | (Instrumental) |
| Music | John Petrucci, Jordan Rudess |
| First live performance | Coliseu de Porto, Oporto, Portugal, on Jan. 15, 2014 |
| Total live plays | 0 (played from recording) |
| Recorded | Cove City Sound Studios |
| Other appearances | Breaking the Fourth Wall |
| Previous song | A Dramatic Turn of Events (album) |
| Next song | The Enemy Inside |
False Awakening Suite is the opening track on Dream Theater's eponymous 12th studio album, Dream Theater. It features a string ensemble conducted and arranged by Eren Başbuğ. The track was intended as a cinematic opening for their live shows, to replace the music from motion picture soundtracks such as Inception.
John Petrucci recorded this song using a 7-string guitar tuned 2 whole steps down (G-C-F-B♭-E♭-G-C).
Personnel[]
Band[]
- John Petrucci - Guitar
- John Myung - Bass
- Jordan Rudess - Keyboard
- Mike Mangini - Drums, percussion
String Ensemble[]
- Misha Gutenberg (Concert Master), Larisa Vollis - Violin I
- Yelena Khaimova, Yevgeniy Mansurov - Violin 2
- Aleksandr Anisimov, Noah Wallace - Viola
- Anastasia Golenisheva, Valeriya Sholokhova - Cello
- Len Sluetsky - Contrabass
Tone[]
The purpose of this track is to be a cinematic and dramatic opening to the album and to their live shows. It's therefore quite dark and intense in tone.
Trivia[]
Even though this song was played before every show on the Along for the Ride tour, this song has technically never been "played" live by the band. The album version of this track features the band playing alongside the orchestra, creating an intense, rousing, orchestral feeling. On tour, however, only the orchestral tracks were played back from recording without backing from the band.
Until Awaken the Master was released on A View from the Top of the World, this was the lowest tuning Petrucci had used.