Likes and Dislikes

[chaossystem]

Predictions & Preferences, Part 5-

Octavarium:

First up, Panic Attack is in the current set, and I think it got overplayed on the 8vm and SC tours anyway, so no.

I know there are a few people who like Never Enough, but with all due respect, I'm pretty  sure most of us don't, so please no!

The split on I Walk Beside You seems to be pretty much even, and again I'm on the "no" side.

Most people don't seem to like The Answer Lies Within, but I thought it sounded good on Score, so I don't mind if they play it again, but I can live without it.

These Walls was played on the ADoTE tour, so even though I like it, they should probably make room for a song or songs that haven't been played for a while.

The Root of Evil was ALSO played at Luna Park, and I think all three versions of this song sound identical, so unless they either play ALL of 12-Step, or the medley, like I've been suggesting, then no. Even though it is my favorite song from this album.

They haven't played Sacrificed Sons much since the 8vm tour, so I would "vote" for it.

However...

A LOT of people want the title track. But that's what they should be doing NOW, since 2015 is the album's 10th anniversary. But I have a couple of ideas that I think might be a good compromise. Either they should play the "Full Circle" and "Intervals" parts of it only, or play what is pretty much the entire second half of the song, starting at about 12:15  or so with the synth (keyboard) solo.  I would like to see them do something like this on the next major tour. I know a lot of people think that this song is an UNTOUCHABLE MASTERPIECE, and will probably think it would be heresy to cut it in half, but I also know that there are at least a few people find it to be very boring. I personally think the "boring" is mostly because of the first half, and hopefully at least some of you will agree that an "abridged" or edited version is a viable alternative.

[Tom Bombadil]

Likes:

Little green ghouls.


Dislikes:

People's knees.

[chaossystem]

Which DT album(s) are those songs on?

[bosk1]

Dislikes:

People's knees.

You only say that because you've never seen MY knees.

[Tom Bombadil]

Sorry for the derailment. Can't resist throwing in a good Always Sunny reference now and then. Looks like no one got it though.

[erwinrafael]

More Questions:

Am I the only one who wishes that they had or would release(d) a version of Breaking the Fourth wall in audio-only (cd, etc.), or as a CD/DVD combo pack?

I mean OTHER than the Blue-Ray version. or maybe audio (cd) only.

Also, do you think you will want a show from the tour for the next album to come out on DVD / Blue-Ray / cd / vinyl, etc.?

I'm an audio guy more than a video guy, just because of practicality. I can listen to a live album doing other things, whereas watching a video requires all my concentration and I can't really do anything else. So if an audio version of a live release is available, I'll always go for that, altho typically I'll also get the video version just to complete my collection and to watch on occasion. So yeah, I hope they'll release audio versions of all future live releases, and I like the choice of being able to purchase it separately instead of being required to get the super-deluxe over-priced package just to have the CDs.

Breaking the Fourth Wall is sold in HDTracks, and I am a happy customer.

[Setlist Scotty]

More Questions:

Am I the only one who wishes that they had or would release(d) a version of Breaking the Fourth wall in audio-only (cd, etc.), or as a CD/DVD combo pack?

I mean OTHER than the Blue-Ray version. or maybe audio (cd) only.

Also, do you think you will want a show from the tour for the next album to come out on DVD / Blue-Ray / cd / vinyl, etc.?

I'm an audio guy more than a video guy, just because of practicality. I can listen to a live album doing other things, whereas watching a video requires all my concentration and I can't really do anything else. So if an audio version of a live release is available, I'll always go for that, altho typically I'll also get the video version just to complete my collection and to watch on occasion. So yeah, I hope they'll release audio versions of all future live releases, and I like the choice of being able to purchase it separately instead of being required to get the super-deluxe over-priced package just to have the CDs.

Breaking the Fourth Wall is sold in HDTracks, and I am a happy customer.

Yeah - I saw that you mentioned that in your previous post, but I've always been someone who likes to have something tangible in my hands, like CDs. I may consider HD tracks in the future, altho I really don't want to have to repurchase albums I already have.

[erwinrafael]

Oh, okay. I thought you missed it. I rarely get CDs anymore because we barely get non-mainstream albums here nowadays.

[Train of Naught]

Sometimes I get the feeling that every chaossystem thread, no matter the title, will end up in a create your own custom setlist thread

[Darkstarshades]

Sometimes I get the feeling that every chaossystem thread, no matter the title, will end up in a create your own custom setlist thread

That's because it's a fact.
Sometimes he puts good ideas, and I actually enjoy his sets and the thought he places on them. Actually makes me want being reborn as a prodigy and create my own cover band and play aaaalll that.
But some of them are fairly weird, too much in fact, and seems to give a lot of preference to certain fairly unliked songs from FII and WDADU. Weirdest of all was splitting SFAM, but else, I enjoy that stuff.

[Train of Naught]

Yeah I enjoy them too, except for the damn JUST LET ME BREATHE in every single setlist.   

[chaossystem]

other than songs that haven't been played for a while, I mostly pick songs that I've never, or rarely, gotten to hear live. Especially from Dream and Day, and I know I'm not the only  one who would like to hear those songs again, or new versions of them.

As for the songs from SFaM, if you look at the "tourography" section of Mike Portnoy's web site, you'll find that the first let of the Metropolis 2000 tour is the ONLY time that they played the entire album in from beginning to end, uninterrupted. Before and after that, they would play a song or two from it, some old songs, more SFaM, more older songs, etc. After that they would play one or two songs from it in various places throughout the set. Sometimes even in the WRONG ORDER! I have this concert from Poland, 2007, that I pulled off of YouTube where they ended the show with The Spirit Carries On, followed by Home, and then played Learning to Live for the encore. For me, LtL doesn't work as an encore. A set-closer like on LSFNY maybe, but NOT for an ENCORE!

As for Just Let Me Breathe: There are other songs that other people never get tired of, such as Trial of Tears. How many more versions of that one do we NEED???

[hefdaddy42]

Well, Trial of Tears is amazing.  Just Let Me Breathe is, well, not amazing.

And of course Learning to Live works as an encore, and they have used it that way plenty of times.

And if they aren't performing all (or even a chunk, like on the last tour) of SFAM, why does it matter that the songs aren't "in order"?

[chaossystem]

I was just using JLMB as an example of a song that they haven't played for a long time.

Just because it isn't "amazing" to YOU, doesn't mean nobody else likes it or wants to hear it.

I just wish they would bring back songs like that, or play some newer songs, instead of some of the songs that have already been on their live albums at least twice before.

A good example of this might be that instead of Trial of Tears, they could have played Behind the Veil and Surrender to Reason on the AftR tour.

As for what does or does not work as an encore, I only said that *I* don't like LtL as an encore, not that anyone has to AGREE with me. Everybody has a RIGHT to an OPINION! Even me.

I didn't say that the songs from SFaM, or ANY album had to be played in order. But a lot of people are very picky about that sort of thing. In the case of SFaM, I PREFER that they be played in order. Other than that I only mentioned it because of complaints that I got about my ideas involving songs from that album being split up instead of being played all together.

[chaossystem]

I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to do this here, or start a separate thread for it, but I decided that a thread for this probably wouldn't generate enough interest to keep it going for any decent length of time. Besides, it's not really off-topic, because it's still very much about opinions and preferences.

I have come with a "Big Seven" list of bands and artists in both the progressive and metal genres, who's music I loved and listened to off and on from the late '70s to the early '90s, before I even HEARD of Dream Theater, but it's because DT has combined all of this music into their sound that I was and still am blown away by what they do.
 I know a lot of their influences are not included in these lists, and that they were influenced by other kinds of music, as well. I also know that a lot of other peoples' favorite bands aren't listed here, but like I said, these are some of MY personal favorites.
 One of the main things I would like to find out is: some of my  choices might not have ever occurred to you before, but after giving it some thought you might decide that they actually DO make sense.
I also would like to find out which of these bands are loved and hated the most.

Alphabetically-

Hard Rock/Heavy Metal:
1) Black Sabbath (Mostly their first few albums)   
2) BOC
3) Deep Purple
4) Any band featuring Ronnie James Dio
5) Iron Maiden
6) Metallica
7) Queensryche

Progressive Rock:
1) Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2) Genesis
3) Kansas
4) Alan Parsons (Project)
5) Pink Floyd
6) Rush
7) Yes     


I also want to encourage anyone who wants to do this differently, to do so. The list can be as long or as short as you want. I'm sure a lot of you will want to include bands such as King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Slayer, etc., but like I said I listed bands that I was listening to.                                                                                           

[Train of Naught]

Hard Rock/Heavy Metal:
1) Metallica
2) Queensryche
3) Iron Maiden
4) Deep Purple
5) BOC
6) Black Sabbath
7) Ronnie James Dio

Progressive Rock:
1) Kansas
2) Rush
3) ELO
4) Genesis
5) Pink Floyd
6) Yes
7) Alan Parsons Project     

From these bands this would be about right for me in terms of rankings, I'm not a big progrock guy though, Aside from the top three I rarely/never listen to any of these bands.                                                                 

[chaossystem]

Did you mean to say "Electric Light Orchestra" instead of "Emerson, Lake & Palmer?' If you did, that's fine. I just wanted to make sure you knew which band was on my list.

[Train of Naught]

Oh, that's funny, I thought you misspelled there and meant to write down ELO, as the P is next to the O, but yea I meant the Electric Light Orchestra.

[Stadler]

Which of their live alums do you like best?

Probably Chaos In Motion, since I love the version of Surrounded on there as much as any live song in the catalogue.  Overall, though, probably LSFNY

Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?

I'm a bigger fan than most of "Pull Me Under", but maybe it's because it was the first song I got into, but the live versions have always been underwhelming to me.

Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?

This is moot now, but I would've liked to have seen "Cover My Eyes" and "To Live Forever" live with MP.

Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?

I don't think they have "crapped anything up" but I tend to like the prog and metal covers more than the thrash covers.   So I guess the answer is, anything that James can really SING I like (LOVE Stargazer, the Number... album cover, the Floyd covers).

Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.


Well, the Ytsejam version of FII is now the definitive version for me, so there.  I would have edited out Doug Pinnick's vocals from "Lines in the Sand".   And how "Cover My Eyes" didn't make an album is beyond me.  Last, I would edit out all the growl vocals.

Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?


Not popular, I think, but to me, DT lost something intangible when MP left.  I love Mangini, but DT was special among special with MP.  Now they are just really really good.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Which of their live alums do you like best?

Probably Chaos In Motion

Now, that's something you don't hear a lot these days.

[hefdaddy42]

Just what I was thinking.

But it was bound to be someone's favorite.

[chaossystem]

P-&-P, Part Six>

Train of Thought:

To begin with, as I Am is unfortunately out, because it's part of the current set-list.

When I first started on here, I was somewhat surprised that one of the songs that I don't like was also relatively unpopular among the rest of you, and that song is Endless Sacrifice. I know some people like it, but I REALLY DON'T want to hear it again.

Same goes for Vacant. Can't stand that one either. Only good thing about it is it's WAY too short to overstay it's welcome.

If they don't have an instrumental piece to play from the new album, then I wouldn't mind if they brought Stream of Consciousness back. Maybe they would even play it differently enough that it wouldn't be just the same-old-same-old.

Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.

I don't think they've played This Dying Soul since the ToT tour, so I'd be all for it making a comeback. And again, they could play all of 12-step, or use my medley suggestion.

In the Name of God seems to be the best-loved song from ToT, and I have no problem with that, but I would hope that if they DID play it, they would, again, do something different with the arrangement.

[As I Am]

-Would you like it to at least start out as "evening with" shows?
YES

-If not, who would you like them to tour with?
Come back for a 2nd leg after the initial "Evening With" tour and make it a "prog metal festival" of sorts and bring along, REDEMPTION, SYMPHONY X & the NEW Queensryche! That'd make for a helluva show:
Redemption - 6:00-6:40
Symphony X - 6:55-7:50
Queensryche - 8:05-9:15
DT - 9:35-11:00

-How many new songs would you like to hear?
Assuming there's 8 tracks on the new cd, I'd say play 5 on first leg, 2 others on 2nd leg and keep one for next tour cycle

-How many of the rest of their albums would you want to be "represented" on the next tour?
EVERY album on the "Evening With" tour and completely different songs on 2nd leg!

-Which songs would you like to see brought back?
1. Anything from WDADU (preferably one of the 3 I still haven't seen live yet - "Status Seeker", "Light Fuse And Get Away" or "OAMOT" which Ive only seen in medley form)
2. Take The Time, Surrounded or Learning To Live (Love the others but just so tired of them)
3. Voices (NEVER get tired of that one)
4. A Change of Seasons (hey, one can dream they'll pull this out again - haven't seen it since 2004)
5. Absolutely ANYTHING from FII (although, as great as they are, I'd rather some rarely played FII songs then LITS, HY, & TOT). I could REALLY go for seeing "You Not Me", "Take Away My Pain" (electric), "Peruvian Skies" (long time since I've last seen), "Anna Lee" or "Hell's Kitchen".
6. Home & ESPECIALLY "Through Her Eyes"
7. The Glass Prison!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. In The Name of God!!!!!!!!!!!
9. Octavarium!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10. In The Presence of Enemies pts. 1 & 2
11. Wither (haven't seen it performed live yet - ONLY reason)
12. Lost Not Forgotten or This Is The Life
13. The Bigger Picture, Behind The Veil, Surrender to Reason (I haven't seen these 3 performed yet)

-Which songs do you absolutely NOT want to hear this time out?
Again list as many as you want.

well, there's a LOT and for many various reasons, most of which are NOT because I dislike the songs:
Pull Me under, Under A Glass Moon, Wait For Sleep, Another Day, anything from Awake aside from Voices, Hollow Years, Trial of Tears, Finally Free, The Spirit Carries On, The Dance of Eternity, anything from 6DOIT aside from The Glass Prison or About To Crash (reprise)/Losing Time/Grand Finale, As I Am, Vacant, anything from Octavarium aside from title track, anything from Systematic Chaos aside from "....Enemies" or possibly "The Ministry of Lost Souls", anything from Black Clouds aside from "Wither", anything from ADTOE aside from "LNF" or "TITL, anything from DT12 aside from The Bigger Picture, Behind The Veil or Surrender to Reason

I'm more interested in seeing songs that A) I haven't seen performed live, B) songs that haven't been played since '04-'06 & C) are raely played live, than seeing "popular songs" repeated during tours!

[Ruba]

Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.

I love that song, but there's no chance they'll play it without Portnoy.

[BlobVanDam]

Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.

I love that song, but there's no chance they'll play it without Portnoy.

I wouldn't consider it any less likely than the songs from the 12SS, which they've already played a couple of. The only song I'd say is 100% not happening without MP is TBOT.

[Ruba]

Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.

I love that song, but there's no chance they'll play it without Portnoy.

I wouldn't consider it any less likely than the songs from the 12SS, which they've already played a couple of. The only song I'd say is 100% not happening without MP is TBOT.

OK, maybe I was a bit too blunt, but I don't see them bringing HTF back to the set any time soon. It isn't any big fan favourite neither, but I don't think it'd be stopping them (given them playing Burning My Soul this tour  ) (for the record, BMS is great).

[Ruba]

Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?

Another Hand/The Killing Hand on Live at the Marquee. A Fortune in Lies on the same album is awesome too.

Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?

Shit they don't play enough: Anything off WDADU, Innocence Faded (dunno if James can sing it anymore), A Change of Seasons, Hell's Kitchen, Lines in the Sand, Misunderstood, Stream of Consciousness, In the Presence of Enemies.

Caught in a Web, The Spirit Carries On and As I Am should be given a rest.

Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version

Perfect Strangers! I don't like the outro solo that much, but aside it, damn!

Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?

A Dramatic Turn of Events shouldn't have Build Me Up, Break Me Down. I'd also omit Wither from Black Clouds & Silver Linings and I Walk Beside You from Octavarium.

Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?

Simple.

James LaBrie: vocals
John Petrucci: guitar
John Myung: bass
Kevin Moore: keyboards
Mike Portnoy: drums

 

[chaossystem]

Predictions for next tour, Chapter Seven-

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence:

They haven't played The Glass Prison much-if at all-since the 6-DoiT tour, and I'm sure plenty of other people would love to hear it again, so it seems like a no-brainer, other than that it might be too long to fit in with whatever they end up doing on the next tour. And one more time: ALL of 12-step or a MEDLEY!

I like Blind Faith a lot, but it didn't come off so well in the Chaos in Motion CD/DVD, so I'm apprehensive about it.

The Great Debate is another good song, but it might be too long to fit in with the set-list for the next tour.

I HATE the ending of Misunderstood. It ruins a song that is otherwise at least okay. Maybe they good play it in a shortened form, WITHOUT that shitty ending!

I hate Disappear, so please no.

I really hope they don't waste over 40 minutes of show-time playing all of Six Degrees on the next tour. About to Crash by itself is out, because it's in the current tour's set list.
War /Test is in BOTH Budokan AND Luna Park, so I don't think we want them again this time.

I don't like Goodnight Kiss, except for the second half.

I wouldn't mind if they played Solitary Shell and AtC (Reprise) together, and maybe include the "jam" from GK at the beginning  as well, but otherwise I would just as soon they leave "6 Degrees, Disc Two" out of it.

[Setlist Scotty]

They haven't played The Glass Prison much-if at all-since the 6-DoiT tour, and I'm sure plenty of other people would love to hear it again, so it seems like a no-brainer, other than that it might be too long to fit in with whatever they end up doing on the next tour. And one more time: ALL of 12-step or a MEDLEY!

It's been a while since they played TGP, but they did play it a decent amount of the time beyond World Tourbulence:
https://www.mikeportnoy.com/dates/MPTourography/SearchResults.aspx?SearchMode=Songs&SearchValue=The%20Glass%20Prison

The Great Debate is another good song, but it might be too long to fit in with the set-list for the next tour.

As much as I like the song, I doubt they'll play it again unless MP returns to the band and writes the setlists again. They did that song during 2011 and dropped it. I asked JP why and it was because it was long and wasn't getting much of a crowd reaction.

I hate Disappear, so please no.

Well, nobodies perfect!    Actually I love that song - my fave on SDoIT, so I'd love to see it again.

I really hope they don't waste over 40 minutes of show-time playing all of Six Degrees on the next tour.

Agreed - and I agree with the fact that WIMH/TTTSTA are already well represented live. But while AtC was on this summer's setlist, I wouldn't have a problem if they did it and the reprise together - think that might be kinda cool.

[chaossystem]

Next Tour, #8-

Scenes from a Memory:

Since Overture/SDV was played on the AftR tour and is in the Bt4thW DVD, I think it's obvious that it shouldn't be included on the next tour.

They haven't played Fatal Tragedy for a long time. What I would like to see them do is and extended thing, similar to what they did with Beyond This life on the ToT tour / Live at Budokan.

Speaking of Beyond This Life, they haven't played it for a long time, so I, for one, would welcome it's return. I also wouldn't mind if they did something different with the arrangement, but not quite as long as the LaB version.

Through Her Eyes is a song I can't listen to, because it reminds me too much of a horrible thing that happened around that period (1999) of Time.

Home is another song that I think has been absent for a long time. Again I think it might be good if they did something different with it.

The Dance of Eternity was part of ALftR/Bt4thW, so no.

I don't think One Last Time has ever been played by itself, and I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's short enough that it wouldn't take up too much space in the set, or they could work out a longer arrangement for it if necessary and as time permits.

I think most people are getting sick of The Spirit Carries On, so I hope they leave it this time. But at some point in the future I would like to see them play it acoustically and/or with an orchestra.

Finally free was also part of the whole "12" thing, so one more time: no.

[KevShmev]

Most people are getting sick of The Spirit Carries On?  I doubt it, considering crowds go crazy for it every time.  I am sure there are a small percentage of online fans who want to see it put down for a while, but it's always a favorite of the live crowds.

I do think that Home is long overdue to get some serious live love, for sure.

[TAC]

Home was played in the summer of 2010. That's only two tours ago. That's not that long.

Overrated anyway. Gotta sit through the whole bloated thing just to get to the last minute and a half or so.

[Darkstarshades]

I hope they don't play Learning to Live.
Bloated as hell and takes too much setlist time.

[chaossystem]

Most people are getting sick of The Spirit Carries On?  I doubt it, considering crowds go crazy for it every time.  I am sure there are a small percentage of online fans who want to see it put down for a while, but it's always a favorite of the live crowds.

I do think that Home is long overdue to get some serious live love, for sure.

If you are paying attention to what's being said here on the forum, then yes, you WILL notice that a lot of people are tired of TSCO, and a lot of us think it HAS been overplayed since it's debut. But I ALSO said that after a few years I would like to see them bring it back in a different form. I said as well that I would like to see pretty much ALL of the songs from SFaM played with different arrangements. But no more than one or two of them being played on each night of the next tour.

And Tac and DSS: I don't think LtL or Home are all that "bloated," and I think a lot of us would like to have one or both of those songs in DT's live show once every few years.

[Darkstarshades]

I have never seen TSCO live, a lot of people haven't either, so stop saying it shouldn't be played because you think it's overplayed. If you go to a venue and it gets played, I'm sure you'd start crying instantly.