Dear Dream Theater

[noxon]

As someone who talks to many many fans both online and at concerts etc, I can say that the amount of love out there for TA is much greater than what you see on facebook or here. And on the IAW tour right now, the TA songs are recieved well. But DT has been on a steady decline in popularity ANYHOW since Octavarium.

[cfmoran13]

Great post!

Honestly, I think there are some (a handful or so of people on this forum, for one) who want to not like anything without Portnoy.  These are peeps who are always the first ones to stick up for Portnoy whenever there is controversy or anything regarding him, and surprise, surprise, these same posters rarely have much good to say about the music in the Mangini era.  It's kind of sad, really.  It's like they are going out of their way to not like music by one of their favorite bands. 

I'm definitely a bigger fan of the MP-era DT.  However, the last few albums with him weren't my favorites.  AND, there is definitely MM-era DT material that I like.  I believe one thing that factors into my liking the MP material more is that I had more time to digest the music.  I would sit down with each album and its CD booklet after I got it, reading the lyrics, really listening to the music.  Nowadays, music is pretty much background noise - in the car, mowing the lawn, sitting at my desk at work.  There's really no dedicated listening time.  So, I just haven't had the time to let it all sink in.  That being said, I still like the first 2 MM-DT albums infinitely more than TA.

I don't pretend to know what "most" fans think about TA, the current tours or incarnation of the band.  I only speak on behalf of myself.

[rumborak]

But DT has been on a steady decline in popularity ANYHOW since Octavarium.

That's true, but in my limited experience this has only really started affecting concert attendance in the past few years. It was for the DT12 tour where my brother in Germany told me the concert he went to (Gelsenkirchen Amphitheater) was barely half full. A German DT concert not filling up before that was unheard of.

[MirrorMask]

At least in Italy the attendance is always the same. I see them live since 1999, they always play the same venue, and I never noticed any significant change in the volumes. The place is always, if not packed, still quite full.

[mikeyd23]

I don't even attempt to make statements regarding their draw, my window of it is pretty small, basically when they come close to Pittsburgh, I go see them. They have played the same place two tours in a row (DT12 tour and TA tour) and it was sold out both times. Before that, they played an outdoor venue that doesn't exist anymore, but probably drew about the same. Going back further than that, I saw them open for IM and do a one-off on that tour.

Actually now that I think of it, the smallest crowd I ever saw them play to was in Buffalo on the Progressive Nation tour in support of SC. They played the same size theater there that they have been playing in Pittsburgh, only they didn't fill it on that tour.

[ToT-147]

I don't pretend to know what "most" fans think about TA

I guess you don't pretend to have the answer...



But now, being serious, I don't think any of us pretend to be doing that.. We're all just guessing..

[Prog Snob]

As someone who talks to many many fans both online and at concerts etc, I can say that the amount of love out there for TA is much greater than what you see on facebook or here. And on the IAW tour right now, the TA songs are recieved well. But DT has been on a steady decline in popularity ANYHOW since Octavarium.

I've reiterated that multiple times here. The fan base in the forum is less than 1% of the actual fans out there, so using this place as a microcosm of the whole is moronic.

[ToT-147]

I don't think anyone is doing that..

[Prog Snob]

[MirrorMask]

As someone who talks to many many fans both online and at concerts etc, I can say that the amount of love out there for TA is much greater than what you see on facebook or here. And on the IAW tour right now, the TA songs are recieved well. But DT has been on a steady decline in popularity ANYHOW since Octavarium.

I've reiterated that multiple times here. The fan base in the forum is less than 1% of the actual fans out there, so using this place as a microcosm of the whole is moronic.

One thing that I remember from statistic classes at high school is that once you get a large enough pool, the predictions you can make from said pool are reliable, that's why exit polls, more or less, get the elections right.

Now, we have to determine if this forum is a pool large enough, and as ToT-147 said no one is doing that anyway, but the idea that a small section can account for the rest of the "population" is not THAT absurd.

[Mosh]

But you also have to account for bias and the sampling method. Using a Dream Theater forum to gauge any useful information about the band's public perception is never going to give you useful results, no matter how large.

[Prog Snob]

As someone who talks to many many fans both online and at concerts etc, I can say that the amount of love out there for TA is much greater than what you see on facebook or here. And on the IAW tour right now, the TA songs are recieved well. But DT has been on a steady decline in popularity ANYHOW since Octavarium.

I've reiterated that multiple times here. The fan base in the forum is less than 1% of the actual fans out there, so using this place as a microcosm of the whole is moronic.

One thing that I remember from statistic classes at high school is that once you get a large enough pool, the predictions you can make from said pool are reliable, that's why exit polls, more or less, get the elections right.

Now, we have to determine if this forum is a pool large enough, and as ToT-147 said no one is doing that anyway, but the idea that a small section can account for the rest of the "population" is not THAT absurd.

This forum is certainly not a large enough pool. How many active posters are there on the DT-side? Compare that to the tens of thousand of fans around the world. We're a drop of water that is the DT swimming pool.

And if you haven't seen people use this forum as a microcosm for the rest of the world, maybe you've unknowingly glanced over it because it seemed insignificant to you.

[phospheneSOI]

But DT has been on a steady decline in popularity ANYHOW since Octavarium.

That's true, but in my limited experience this has only really started affecting concert attendance in the past few years. It was for the DT12 tour where my brother in Germany told me the concert he went to (Gelsenkirchen Amphitheater) was barely half full. A German DT concert not filling up before that was unheard of.

Really!? I thought they got a huge bump when they signed for Roadrunner and released SC...?