(pun intended)
I noticed that they're no longer playing all of The Astonishing in full, and instead are cutting out some songs and replacing them with an encore of more standard songs.
Has anyone heard why this might be the case? I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it's b/c the new album is just too much to digest in one sitting, and they're finally realizing it. For all the praise it's received, I've heard just as much criticism. I've seen a lot of criticism from people (myself included) that it's just too much to ask of people to sit through so much stuff that's simply padding (pretty such the 2nd half of Act I). All said, they've cut out 5 songs from the album, some I agree with in terms of album flow, some I don't. Surprisingly, they've cut mostly from Act II, which near unanimously seems to be the more coherent and better of the two acts. Too much same-sounding stuff in the second half of Act I that doesn't advance the story in a significant way, yet they left a lot of that in. Not sure their reasoning, unless that wanted to somehow make Set 1 still long(er) so that the encore of more traditional songs rounds out the back half of the show, while at the same time preserving the Act I/Act II intermission.
Anyway, poked around a bit and haven't seen any discussion of this major change in the tour, which surprises me. What has the reaction been by people who expected to see the entire album? Has the band said anything?
ETA: Did see some discussion buried in threads that were already 10 pages long, but still surprised there wasn't a thread dedicated to it to alert people.
But yeah, can't say I blame them for making the change. Just too much negative reaction to the album which I'm sure translated to live attendance and energy.
Topic: Has Dream Theater lost Faythe in The Astonishing? (new 2016 setlist spoilers) (Read 1635 times)