In September 2022, amid their world tour backing The Astonishing, New York prog-metal stalwarts Dream Theater—whose intricate compositions featuring John Petrucci's and Jordan Rudess's virtuosic solos set genre standards—debuted on the main stage of Rock in Rio, Latin America's premier festival in Rio de Janeiro, drawing over 700,000 attendees. Their hour-long set, brimming with technical precision and emotional resonance, featured the opener "The Alien" with progressive riffs, classics "6:00" and "Endless Sacrifice," atmospheric "Bridges in the Sky," plus the fresh "Invisible Monster," peaking in the epic-soloed "The Count of Tuscany" and crowd-roaring closer "Pull Me Under," underscoring the band's post-pandemic vigor revival. Reviewers at AllMusic and Reddit fans hailed James LaBrie's standout vocals as the performance's zenith, despite broadcast audio glitches, affirming the ensemble's bridge between classic prog-rock and contemporary metal on the global circuit.