Dream Theater - The Trooper (Iron Maiden cover) - Live at Rockwave Festival, Athens, Greece 2000

The one and only time Dream Theater played The Trooper in full was at the Rockwave Festival, held at Tritsis Park in Athens, Greece. Iron Maiden were supposed to play after Dream Theater, but they had to cancel. One of Iron Maiden's guitar players, Janick Gers, fell off stage and injured his head and sprained his back a few nights earlier in Mannheim, Germany. This resulted in Dream Theater headlining the festival, so they played a full-length set and decided to cover the Trooper at the end. There's also a video recording of this show in circulation, but I've never been able to find it.
Although the band never played The Trooper in full before this show, they have played played the beginning of it on two occasions: Once when they were goofing around in Indianapolis on WRZX-FM Radio in 1993, and again during a little impromptu medley played at a show in Lubbock, Texas in 1998. The band hasn't played The Trooper since the 2000 Rockwave Festival. I uploaded a video of the impromptu medley last year, which you can watch here: • Dream Theater - Improm...

[@nmichalopo]

The stage went dark after the last Dream Theater song, and we were already walking away. This lasted some seconds, resulting to a half-empty "arena". The moment the "Trooper" rif started, the lights were no directly on, so we had the impression that Iron Maiden were indeed on the stage. People were running back to the arena like crazy. Indeed, 20 years ago...

[@jaspergillgannon4991]

LaBrie, at the top of his game, singing Iron Maiden, sounds even better than when Bruce does imo

[@athanasiosbogris12]

I was there!!! Moments of magic...

[@theprogsorcerer8979]

I fucking love this cover. Thanks for sharing it, it's a part of my DT cover compilation!

[@rajeshrs1496]

Surprisingly good!

[@gamp8187]

Thanks man!! I was there and I was searching for this many years!! I think I hear my voice 😊

[@papaspapalous1274]

I was there...❤

[@assdrubale]

Petrucci > Dave Murray & Adrian Smith

[@jaspergillgannon4991]

Comparing them is not fair at all. You wouldn't have Petrucci if it weren't for them two. However, I do personally prefer Petrucci's writing more myself, even though I love the shit out of Maiden.