Songs They've Never Played Live

[hefdaddy42]

MOST bands don't play the whole album on a tour for that album.  In fact, it seems like a strange thing to expect.

[SebastianPratesi]

MOST bands don't play the whole album on a tour for that album.  In fact, it seems like a strange thing to expect.

I suppose it depends on the band, too. Some bands I like work differently in that regard.

For instance, Blink-182 only played 5 out of 13 songs from their last album in 2011. YES hasn't played a lot from their last 2 albums either.

On the other hand, when Noctourniquet was released in 2012, The Mars Volta played all of it in a festival, and for the rest of the tour they continued to play songs from the album almost exclusively - they only included 2 other songs from their other 5 albums ("The Widow" & "Goliath").

Most bands from Argentina do the same - they prefer to showcase their new material. I guess it depends on the confidence a band has on their album, and whether it was written with a lot of filler (which, in my opinion, explains why pop or pop-punk artists rarely play more than a handful of songs).

[425]

MOST bands don't play the whole album on a tour for that album.  In fact, it seems like a strange thing to expect.

I know that, and I don't expect it. I do think that all headlining bands should do it unless there's a really good reason not to (like a Space Dye Vest good reason or a this is a 2 and a half hour long double album good reason). I think if you're promoting an album, and you have a 2+ hour set, you can dedicate ~half your setlist to that album, and still get in most of your obligatory classics plus one or two deep cuts.

It's really annoying to see a third of the album get skipped on its first tour, and then several of those songs never make it to the stage because the fan favorites from that album beat them out in subsequent tours. I don't think you should have 20% of your discography be songs that you've never played live. And the best way to ensure that doesn't happen is to play the whole album when you're promoting it.

[Kotowboy]

They've never once played any song from DT14...

[MirrorMask]

Someone with math skills should conjure up a formula that details how long it takes to a band to estabilish their cult albums to the point that they can just live by those album's "revenue" and keep releasing albums just as an excuse 

Of course this can't be applied to every band 'cause the style and history is different for everyone, but my ideal world is where everyone takes a mixed approach of Iron Maiden and Dream Theater; from Maiden, I want the courage to play a lot of new songs from whatever the new album is, and from DT the rotating of setlists to keep fans interested, and also to not condemn yourself into a corner.

Play the same songs for 20 years, the moment you skip them people get upset. "Educate" your fans into knowing that everything is fair game, and every concert will be exciting! Imagine DT always playing Pull Me Under and Metropolis, you'd have half the people pissed that they always play those songs, and the other half pissed the moment they finally stop playing them, 'cause they were counting on it.

Playing the whole new album everytime may be a bit overkill, but you wrote the album, you told in interviews that it's great, you go on tour to promote the album, well, play the damn new songs. Sometimes I feel cheated with certain bands, I "do my homework" and focus a lot on the new songs and then I go to the show and it's a greatest hits with 3-4 new songs. Show me you believe in your (new) music!

[425]

Yeah, I mean, realistically I know that no matter what I want, most bands won't play the whole thing. If they would do 80-90% of it every time, and then make sure to cover any songs they missed next time out, I would be content with that.

What gets me about the DT12 tour is (a) DT isn't a band that has to play obligatory hits, so I don't see why they'd skip so much of the new album, especially since, on the tours immediately before and after, they would play every song from the new album at some point on the tour. I don't think they really needed to play half of Awake and a third of scenes at the expense of a lot of their new stuff. And (b) the songs they skipped—The Bigger Picture, Behind the Veil (initially) and Surrender to Reason—weren't exactly filler tracks. I think a good portion of fans would have listed one of those three songs as their favorite on the album. So it's not like skipping Build Me Up, Break Me Down or Prophets of War and not many people care. It's like skipping Bridges in the Sky.

[Rodni Demental]

Assuming those Anniversary sets were gonna be there any way (which I thought was cool for an occasional thing) I guess you're expecting them to have played all of DT12 live then unless they cut out say; The Looking Glass or Along for the Ride maybe? But then you'd upset someone else that wanted to hear those ones.

[SebastianPratesi]

What gets me about the DT12 tour is (a) DT isn't a band that has to play obligatory hits, so I don't see why they'd skip so much of the new album (...)

Well, they still did play 45 minutes worth of DT12 on that tour, so I don't agree that they skipped "so much". They skipped less than 1/3 of the album, really.

That tour's setlist surprised me (in a good way) quite a bit, actually. They included "Trial Of Tears" (which hadn't been played in a long time) and "The Shattered Fortress" (which I thought would never get played). "Lifting Shadows Off A Dream" had also been absent for a while, I believe. They did play some favourites/hits (the SFAM and ADTOE songs), but they gave Images & Words a rest for some time, which I think was an interesting and ballsy move.

In fact, I'm happy with the band's setlists since then. Last year, they represented all of their albums equally (more or less), and now they are confident enough on their new material to just rely on it. I think it shows that the band doesn't rest on their laurels.

[KevShmev]

Agreed.  While some take the narrow view of saying that they don't rotate from night to night like they used to, if you look at the set lists from each tour they have done with Mangini (three major ones, and two shorter ones) on a macro level, they have been pretty ballsy.  I mean, I never thought we would see one major tour with nothing played from I&W, much less two in a row (last summer was a mini tour, not a major one).   That takes major stones to ignore what is probably their biggest album on two major tours in a row.

[SebastianPratesi]

I'm curious as to what kind of set-list will they arrange for the next tour(s). It seems to me like they've enjoyed experimenting in that department. So, they did rotating set-lists in the past, they did a fixed set-list paying tribute to 2 older albums, they did the 'one song per album' set-list, now they are playing the new material exclusively...

I guess other possibilities could be a set-list of never before played stuff, but there's not that much of it, so that wouldn't really work, would it? I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell. There could also be an all-acoustic tour, but I think I watched an interview a few years ago in which John said that an unplugged show wasn't likely. An instrumental show is probably not going to happen either, seeing how much comfortable James is feeling the band, and how much he is being praised.

When the "Enigma Machine" video was released, I was surprised by the choice of dancers/choreography for a heavy prog instrumental. So, I thought for a while that they would team up with a dancing/theater company and create a choreographed show. That didn't happen, obviously, but with the recent interest we've discovered John has for theater/musicals, and the talks about a musical around The Astonishing, I guess that could still be possible.

[Tony From Long Island]

" . . . . . just wanted the band to play classics. But Dream Theater shouldn't have that problem for the most part, because their fanbase is much less classics-inclined . . . . . "

I agree that most DT fans do not have a list of "classics" that they must hear at any DT show.    Maybe Metropolis but that's about it                           

[cramx3]

I'm curious as to what kind of set-list will they arrange for the next tour(s). It seems to me like they've enjoyed experimenting in that department. So, they did rotating set-lists in the past, they did a fixed set-list paying tribute to 2 older albums, they did the 'one song per album' set-list, now they are playing the new material exclusively...

I guess other possibilities could be a set-list of never before played stuff, but there's not that much of it, so that wouldn't really work, would it? I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell. There could also be an all-acoustic tour, but I think I watched an interview a few years ago in which John said that an unplugged show wasn't likely. An instrumental show is probably not going to happen either, seeing how much comfortable James is feeling the band, and how much he is being praised.

When the "Enigma Machine" video was released, I was surprised by the choice of dancers/choreography for a heavy prog instrumental. So, I thought for a while that they would team up with a dancing/theater company and create a choreographed show. That didn't happen, obviously, but with the recent interest we've discovered John has for theater/musicals, and the talks about a musical around The Astonishing, I guess that could still be possible.

I'd expect either a evening with format with a mix of songs (more heavy on TA) with a static setlist or a more standard tour with an opener and we get a A/B setlist and still heavily favored by TA.  That is assuming the next tour is not the same as the current one.

[Prog Snob]

I'm curious as to what kind of set-list will they arrange for the next tour(s). It seems to me like they've enjoyed experimenting in that department. So, they did rotating set-lists in the past, they did a fixed set-list paying tribute to 2 older albums, they did the 'one song per album' set-list, now they are playing the new material exclusively...

I guess other possibilities could be a set-list of never before played stuff, but there's not that much of it, so that wouldn't really work, would it? I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell. There could also be an all-acoustic tour, but I think I watched an interview a few years ago in which John said that an unplugged show wasn't likely. An instrumental show is probably not going to happen either, seeing how much comfortable James is feeling the band, and how much he is being praised.

When the "Enigma Machine" video was released, I was surprised by the choice of dancers/choreography for a heavy prog instrumental. So, I thought for a while that they would team up with a dancing/theater company and create a choreographed show. That didn't happen, obviously, but with the recent interest we've discovered John has for theater/musicals, and the talks about a musical around The Astonishing, I guess that could still be possible.

I'd expect either a evening with format with a mix of songs (more heavy on TA) with a static setlist or a more standard tour with an opener and we get a A/B setlist and still heavily favored by TA.  That is assuming the next tour is not the same as the current one.

I also think they'd definitely play the songs from DT that weren't included on that tour.

[cramx3]

I'm curious as to what kind of set-list will they arrange for the next tour(s). It seems to me like they've enjoyed experimenting in that department. So, they did rotating set-lists in the past, they did a fixed set-list paying tribute to 2 older albums, they did the 'one song per album' set-list, now they are playing the new material exclusively...

I guess other possibilities could be a set-list of never before played stuff, but there's not that much of it, so that wouldn't really work, would it? I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell. There could also be an all-acoustic tour, but I think I watched an interview a few years ago in which John said that an unplugged show wasn't likely. An instrumental show is probably not going to happen either, seeing how much comfortable James is feeling the band, and how much he is being praised.

When the "Enigma Machine" video was released, I was surprised by the choice of dancers/choreography for a heavy prog instrumental. So, I thought for a while that they would team up with a dancing/theater company and create a choreographed show. That didn't happen, obviously, but with the recent interest we've discovered John has for theater/musicals, and the talks about a musical around The Astonishing, I guess that could still be possible.

I'd expect either a evening with format with a mix of songs (more heavy on TA) with a static setlist or a more standard tour with an opener and we get a A/B setlist and still heavily favored by TA.  That is assuming the next tour is not the same as the current one.

I also think they'd definitely play the songs from DT that weren't included on that tour.

Agreed.  I can't see them not playing those songs on the next tour.

[Prog Snob]

I'm curious as to what kind of set-list will they arrange for the next tour(s). It seems to me like they've enjoyed experimenting in that department. So, they did rotating set-lists in the past, they did a fixed set-list paying tribute to 2 older albums, they did the 'one song per album' set-list, now they are playing the new material exclusively...

I guess other possibilities could be a set-list of never before played stuff, but there's not that much of it, so that wouldn't really work, would it? I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell. There could also be an all-acoustic tour, but I think I watched an interview a few years ago in which John said that an unplugged show wasn't likely. An instrumental show is probably not going to happen either, seeing how much comfortable James is feeling the band, and how much he is being praised.

When the "Enigma Machine" video was released, I was surprised by the choice of dancers/choreography for a heavy prog instrumental. So, I thought for a while that they would team up with a dancing/theater company and create a choreographed show. That didn't happen, obviously, but with the recent interest we've discovered John has for theater/musicals, and the talks about a musical around The Astonishing, I guess that could still be possible.

I'd expect either a evening with format with a mix of songs (more heavy on TA) with a static setlist or a more standard tour with an opener and we get a A/B setlist and still heavily favored by TA.  That is assuming the next tour is not the same as the current one.

I also think they'd definitely play the songs from DT that weren't included on that tour.

Agreed.  I can't see them not playing those songs on the next tour.

Surrender to Reason and The Bigger Picture are my two favorites on the album, besides IT. Behind the Veil was played during the summer tour, so I'm not sure if they'll include it, but since North America didn't get it they just might.

[bosk1]

I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell.

I'll take that bet and go on record now as saying it ain't happening.

[cramx3]

I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell.

I'll take that bet and go on record now as saying it ain't happening.

I'll double down on that one too.  I can't think of a single reason why they would do that.

[Prog Snob]

I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell.

I'll take that bet and go on record now as saying it ain't happening.

I'll double down on that one too.  I can't think of a single reason why they would do that.

I think the likelihood of them playing that is about the same as Kevin Moore doing a keyboard duel with Jordan.

[bosk1]

SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE?

[darkshade]

Where can I find the live version of Honor Thy Father? I remember reading it was available on the Buokan DVD/Blu Ray but I've never found it...

[cramx3]

Where can I find the live version of Honor Thy Father? I remember reading it was available on the Buokan DVD/Blu Ray but I've never found it...

Wrong DVD, it's a bonus song on Score

[gmillerdrake]

Surrender to Reason is a big one for me.  I thought that would be killer live.  I was shocked they didn't play it last tour.

I was as well. This is such a great song...it needs to be played and hear live.

[hefdaddy42]

I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell.

I'll take that bet and go on record now as saying it ain't happening.

Agreed.  Forget about it.

[OpenYourEyes311]

I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell.

I'll take that bet and go on record now as saying it ain't happening.

Agreed.  Forget about it.

I'm in the camp of "That will probably be played.... but not by Dream Theater."

My guess is that it'll be something like MP, Derek Sherinian, Eric Gillette, Billy Sheehan, and Ted Leonard.

But I can always hold onto hope that one or two of the guys make it on the boat (JP or JR) and maybe do an LTE reunion.

[Prog Snob]

[IdoSC]

I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell.

I'll take that bet and go on record now as saying it ain't happening.

I'll double down on that one too.  I can't think of a single reason why they would do that.

I too think it's highly unlikely, but you're being a little extreme there - he's doing a show supposedly encapsulating his entire career for his 50th birthday, so the songs that are the most personal he has ever written with the band he spent the longest portion of his career in is not
that absurd to imagine would be a part of it. Members of both parties have gone on record saying they're on good terms (not all of them, but some) and people can dream.

And while I think it's unlikely that he will play that on stage with the other (current) Dream Theater members on stage, I can't think of a Mike Portnoy 50th birthday celebration show where doesn't play even a single song out of his 6 DT songs about addiction or 3 DT songs about his parents. Especially when he basically covers DT songs all the time with either teenagers, vocalists who don't know the lyrics, or both.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, I think too that Jordan and John Petrucci may be showing up, especially Jordan. Can't see the other two being there however.

[bosk1]

I'm convinced that they'll play the 12-step suite on MP's birthday show next year, but time will tell.

I'll take that bet and go on record now as saying it ain't happening.

I'll double down on that one too.  I can't think of a single reason why they would do that.

I too think it's highly unlikely, but you're being a little extreme there - he's doing a show supposedly encapsulating his entire career for his 50th birthday, so the songs that are the most personal he has ever written with the band he spent the longest portion of his career in is not
that absurd to imagine would be a part of it. Members of both parties have gone on record saying they're on good terms (not all of them, but some) and people can dream.

And while I think it's unlikely that he will play that on stage with the other (current) Dream Theater members on stage, I can't think of a Mike Portnoy 50th birthday celebration show where doesn't play even a single song out of his 6 DT songs about addiction or 3 DT songs about his parents. Especially when he basically covers DT songs all the time with either teenagers, vocalists who don't know the lyrics, or both.

I misunderstood and thought you were referring to a DT show, rather than a show MP is planning where he will be doing his own thing.  But still, I don't think there is a realistic shot at all that he will play the suite.  Maybe a song or a medley that encompasses parts of it, but I would bet that the won't be playing the entire thing (and the poster I was discussing with mentioned playing the suite, not just a song).

As for playing "songs about his parents," I never said anything about that, so I'm not sure what you are even arguing there.  Not sure whether he would or not.  But anyway, that doesn't really have anything to do with DT playing songs they've never played, so not sure why it is being mentioned here. 

[IdoSC]

I misunderstood and thought you were referring to a DT show, rather than a show MP is planning where he will be doing his own thing. 

Just to let you know this is probably my first post in this thread, I just pointed out that the original post you replied to said "MP's birthday show next year". Also I was replying to the other dude who said he can't think of a single reason they would do that -- and I suggested it might because it's basically a show about MP, and both DT and the suite and what it stands for are big staples of MP's life.

But still, I don't think there is a realistic shot at all that he will play the suite.  Maybe a song or a medley that encompasses parts of it, but I would bet that the won't be playing the entire thing (and the poster I was discussing with mentioned playing the suite, not just a song).

Possibly, like I said I agree with you that it's unlikely. But I brought up the "single reason they would do that", I didn't argue they actually would.

As for playing "songs about his parents," I never said anything about that, so I'm not sure what you are even arguing there.  Not sure whether he would or not.

That was kinda random maybe, but I was trying to say that he wrote many extremely personal lyrics for Dream Theater, and it's possible that one would think that in a big epic show about himself he would include them in this show in one way or another. There's a total of 8 songs about 2 subjects that I assume would be in that show, so I believe he would go with one or the other and include either the suite or one of the other 3 personal songs in some way. I was kind of doing my own thing in this part of the post and wasn't trying to argue about anything, I guess. Sorry.

But anyway, that doesn't really have anything to do with DT playing songs they've never played, so not sure why it is being mentioned here.

I agree, the sub-thread that we got into here dealt with the MP show and how likely it is that he plays the suite there or that DT members will show up and there seemed to be some confusion around it so I tried to clear it up a little bit. Wasn't doing a great job unfortunately.

[cramx3]

I, also, had assumed we were talking about DT playing those songs given this is a DT threat about songs DT has not played live.  I had no idea about a MP solo birthday bash show.  I can see some reason why he may do that on his own.

[hefdaddy42]

I, also, had assumed we were talking about DT playing those songs given this is a DT threat about songs DT has not played live.

A reasonable assumption.

[ToT-147]

Ok, I was about to open a new topic but found this one..

Let's update the list:

As far as official releases, I believe the only pieces the band hasn't played live are now:

the SDOIT Overture (always an intro track - or an orchestra)
The Best of Times
Raw Dog
The Bigger Picture
Behind the Veil
Surrender to Reason

Other than that, the great white whale of unperformed DT songs is Don't Look Past Me.

Also, I would add False Awakening Suite.. Just read on here that maybe it shouldn't be counted as not played because it was probably only meant to open the AFTR tour as tape and never be played again in the future, but 1) we don't know that for sure and 2) is still a DT track that they haven't performed live yet... just like Overture from 6DOIT or the mid section of IT..

So these would be the songs DT has never played live as of 2018:

Overture
The Best of Times
Raw Dog
False Awakening Suite
Surrender to Reason


Three of them are instrumental (only 1 with likelihood to be played live if you ask me -RD-) and, out of the other two, one with highly chances to make it sometime soon and the other with almost zero chances to make it ever..



PS: oddly enough, according to DT.net the only song they haven't played live is Raw Dog, as can be checked out here: https://dreamtheater.net/randomizer/as-of-2017-the-only-songs-in-dream-theaters-catalog-that-havent-been-performed-live-are-dont-look-past-me-and-raw-dog/ (I suppose they also put DLPM in there because the wrong info was written before they played it last year)

[MirrorMask]

Never Say Never, but Surrender to Reason is the only one of those songs who has a chance of being played live in the future.

The two intros are intros, they'll always be played over the PA, just like the intro to Metropolis, nobody knows Raw Dog exists anyway (they got "which song is this?" faces for Don't Look Past Me, an outtake from their most famous album that is on a moderately famous fanclub CD... why would they get a better reaction for an instrumental song played for a videogame?), and The Best of Times is too personally close to Portnoy, and the lyrics are not vague enough to be applied to loss in general (like A Change of Seasons was).

[DTA]

I would also count You Or Me as being unplayed as it has a few unique sections that do not appear in YNM. It’s the only FII era b-side not to appear live and would be a cool way to reintroduce that song to the setlist (though I’m guessing it was mainly MP who had the issue with YNM).

[KevShmev]

I wouldn't count a demo as a real DT song, though, for the purposes of this particular discussion.