I guess what I am trying to say is, given what they are specifically trying to accomplish with this tour, I do not anticipate a second leg or second "tour" of them just presenting The Astonishing. The fact that the number of shows on this tour is somewhat limited is by design, and I don't see them going back and trying to fill the gaps and play this same show in other places that they missed. I would instead anticipate a more traditional tour sometime soon after, whether late summer/fall, or early next year. I could easily be mistaken, but that type of thing seems in line with JP's mindset.
That sounds promising. 
Well, I do want to make sure I am not creating any misimpressions though. I do not have any insider knowledge specific to
this tour. I am basing that off of just some other things I know and have learned over time, most of which is either public knowledge or can easily be deduced from things that are public knowledge. To kind of summarize a couple of the main things that jump out in my mind:
-A few years back, I had a brief conversation with JP about Mike's proposal that they take a hiatus and reform. Remember the timing of that for a second and put it in context. For Black Clouds, they had NOT done a regular DT headlining tour in North America. They did Prog Nation, which was a shorter set and, if I'm not mistaken, was 23 dates, and they opened for Maiden, which was a short set and was, I think, 26 dates. A lot of fans held out waiting for that proper headlining tour to support the albums, which ultimately never came. I said that I felt like, even though PN is cool enough, and the Maiden tour was definitely a good idea for the band in terms of exposure, they lost some momentum by not doing a tour supporting an album that had had such a high chart release, and that it seemed like the proposal to take a hiatus for a couple of years would have slowed their momentum even further. John said my instincts were dead-on, and that was pretty much how they felt. To kind of restate and paraphrase on of the themes of that conversation: JP seems to be strongly of the opinion that, while it is a good idea to break the mold and try new things, it is important to make sure to consistently give the fans what they want in a live setting so that they keep coming back and the momentum does not lose steam.
-On the present tour, JP has said that they want to do a
limited run of shows in a different kind of venue so that they can present his vision of The Astonishing. They key to me here is that these are different venues, and this is a limited run. So I don't think they are planning to do another North American leg where they do the same thing and book more of these types of theaters to present The Astonishing.
Putting both of those together, I just think they will do some sort of more traditional tour later on in this tour cycle so that the larger fan base will get more of the type of show they are used to and can hear some of their favorite songs. That just makes the most sense to me. John understands that, although the band was fortunate to have garnered a huge fanbase doing something completely different than "mainstream music," they have found a formula that works. And despite that this album and tour are very different for DT, he has shown in the past that he is careful about straying
too far (in his mind) from that formula.
So...that's basically my thinking. I could be totally off base. But time will tell.
Topic: The tour after "The Astonishing" tour (Read 27335 times)
