So I attended "The Astonishing" show in Paris, after I listened to the album only once when it was streaming on YouTube.

I had not bothered looking into the story since I thought these shows would provide with nice feats like a bit of acting and decorations, especially because of the price and that it was a seat only venue... but no it was just the band playing with some video in the background that doesn't actually help that much in identifying who's who and does what in the story.
Also while I found the overall sound to be quite good, it was impossible to decipher LaBrie's vocals without knowing them beforehand. So yeah that's a pretty weak concept album as far as the concept goes.

The music is a mix of very intense instrumental moments and very boring singing parts. Throughout the 1st act nearly all transitions are made by Ruddess and his keyboards alone. Seeing it live make you feel that it's a weakness in the songwriting.
All magic was lost on me during the 2nd act, after a 15 minute break. And the full-seat setup is definitely an hype breaker...