2011-09-24 - Warfield Theater - San Francisco, CA

[CrimsonE]

Aside from the lack of TITL or BAI, I have no major problems with the setlist.  And I imagine they'll probably rotate some songs in and out as needed.  In particular, I think they'll switch between UAGM and LTL, much like they did LTL & PMU/Metropolis for the Octavarium tour.  If that is the case, I'm hoping I catch LTL, as I would love to see that song live. 

[bosk1]

Tired.  I'll just say the set was amazing.  The performance was perhaps the best I have seen, EVER.  Blob's animations were incredible--especially the opening.  I'll tell you more about it later.  And John Petrucci sends his personal thanks to all of you for supporing the band.

[Millais]

I'll tell you more about it later.  And John Petrucci sends his personal thanks to all of you for supporing the band.

awesome  and looking forward to it!

[Fiery Winds]

Btw, I glimpsed a sign on the wall at the venue with these times:

Trivium: 8 - 8:45

DT: 9:15 - 11:15

[Jamesman42]

Hmm, it seemed like it was longer than that from my end.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Tired.  I'll just say the set was amazing.  The performance was perhaps the best I have seen, EVER.  Blob's animations were incredible--especially the opening.  I'll tell you more about it later.  And John Petrucci sends his personal thanks to all of you for supporing the band.

lolsk1.

[TAC]

Btw, I glimpsed a sign on the wall at the venue with these times:

Trivium: 8 - 8:45

DT: 9:15 - 11:15

Thank you!

[lonestar]

btw, what a hell of a mic stand does JLB have!!!

The base was the Majesty logo.

[Fiery Winds]

To those who attended: did James actually hit all the F# in BMUBMD?

Those scream are actually higher than F#, if I''m not mistaken.  But I doubt he would have done the screams live.

I could be wrong.  Somebody help us out!

Correct, he did not do the screams.  He sang the main melody while JP sang the harmony.  I was really impressed with JP's backup vocals the whole night.  He was confident, having fun, and sounded great.

[lonestar]

To Bosk, H, and Fierywinds, it was a great pleasure to meet you all, and I'm glad we all had a rocking time.  As my buddy who was with us put it,"Very nice guys, though I had no idea WTF you guys were talking about."

[Mbarak]

Blob's animations were incredible--especially the opening.  I'll tell you more about it later.

Gonna be surely waiting for this. I really hope Blob posts the videos on his website soon for my/our viewing pleasure.

[dreamrafa]

Am i the only one who thinks the setlist is kinda "weak"?, i mean, its just the same setlist from last tour with 3 new songs on it, feels kinda lazy... Specially excluding TITL, FFH BAI and LNF, wtf? isnt this the tour to promote ADTOE? why would they leave out the best songs of the album?

[fadetoblackdude7]

Anyone who went to this show, can you post a picture of the t shirt you bought?

[teoevans]

Am i the only one who thinks the setlist is kinda "weak"?, i mean, its just the same setlist from last tour with 3 new songs on it, feels kinda lazy... Specially excluding TITL, FFH BAI and LNF, wtf? isnt this the tour to promote ADTOE? why would they leave out the best songs of the album?

I totally agree with you!

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

Dear God, this is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlzCdkGXyPI

[weddingnails]

Dear God, this is incredible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlzCdkGXyPI

wow,that is amazing,i like that song even more now.

[SystematicThought]

For those that went to the show. They keep talking about the production. The light show looks great, got live films, the screens obviously. Anything else?

The screens actually kind of look like they are hard to see

[yeshaberto]

I was going to watch the video  but then I realized I will see it for real in about an hour

[bosk1]

I'll probably post a detailed review in the morning, but a couple of things:

1.  The set list was NOT "weak" by any stretch. 
2.  As far as the lighting, screens, production, etc.:  There is nothing more elaborate than what you guys saw in the videos, but it just all worked together really well and made for a great atmosphere and backdrop for the music.

[Samsara]

The show was great. I really enjoyed myself. The new songs came across amazing as well.

The one thing I really noticed was how much more relaxed and engaged James is on stage. That has to be directly related to not having a drummer that wants to be a frontman talking to the crowd constantly sitting behind him. It's like James opened up, in a good way. Mangini really is energetic, and the band fed off it. Everyone was in great form and really high energy.

I DID feel the set list was a little lacking. I totally support the band playing songs off their new record. I believe it was five cuts. But when your songs are long like that, and you play two hours, you don't really do justice to the back catalog either. Playing one song (acoustic) from Awake and one song (the encore of UAGM) from I&W, and completely ignoring FII and Black Clouds is a bit ridiculous.

Again, I get it. I fully endorse them supporting their new record. I believe in bands that do that. But in DT's case, it made the set a little unbalanced.  Still totally enjoyable. But noticeably unbalanced.

Had dead center and a great view. The show and the energy really re-ignited my fandom of the band. I also felt the new songs translated great live and man, what an absolute epic Bridges in the Sky is. Hell of a way to open a show...and a tour.

[Ħ]

To Bosk, H, and Fierywinds, it was a great pleasure to meet you all, and I'm glad we all had a rocking time.  As my buddy who was with us put it,"Very nice guys, though I had no idea WTF you guys were talking about."

Definitely nice meeting you as well!

I thought the show was fantastic.  I hadn't heard any of the songs live before.  I was actually happy they played Outcry over BAI since I like it more.  The only disappointment was the short encore, but UAGM still blew us away.

Also, Mangini is an incredible drummer.  As well as an incredible person to talk to.

[Chrissalix]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UeNf7mvMAE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Myung is playing the moog taurus in the choruses with his feet whilst playing bass.

[The Silent Cody]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UeNf7mvMAE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Myung is playing the moog taurus in the choruses with his feet whilst playing bass.

Impressive, anyway BMUBMD is a killer live!

[lonestar]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UeNf7mvMAE&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Myung is playing the moog taurus in the choruses with his feet whilst playing bass.

Impressive, anyway BMUBMD is a killer live!

Agreed. It worked so well.

[Dream Team]

It makes me sad that James went online and saw people bitching about the setlist.

[bosk1]

It makes me sad that James went online saw people bitching about the setlist.

[visitor]

It makes me sad that James went online saw people bitching about the setlist.

Why? Are we machines now that we cant express our opinions freely?  Is 'bitchin' the new synonym of a normal opinion?  I'm sure James appreciates the interest and emotions that the fans are showing towards this tour.  What makes Dream Theater a great band is that they listen to their fans. Love you James  (in case you read this)

[bosk1]

There's a difference between "I really like song X and REALLY hope they can find a way to incorporate it into their set" and "I can't believe they didn't include song X; there are so many crappy songs in the set they could have pulled so that they could fit this in instead."  The former is expressing an opinion.  The latter is ingratitute and immature whining.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

For some reason, I really liked they shaked up things a bit with Under A Glass Moon as a closer.

[erik16]

Do we know then (or can we speculate) which forum (DTF or official DTF?) was in the orbit of JLB's internet voyage?

[bosk1]

I'm going to take a wild guess that it was this one. 

[Ħ]

Do we know what he said, specifically?

[erik16]

I just hope they (band) won't dwell on the negatives when it comes to forumers. There's so much positive energy here and (from your other thread, bosk) it's nice to know that JP loves this forum. I guess it dates back to the September events when JP was very active on the webs and he got to read the worship thread here.

I mean, we don't want another Never Enough, do we?

[Samsara]

There's a difference between "I really like song X and REALLY hope they can find a way to incorporate it into their set" and "I can't believe they didn't include song X; there are so many crappy songs in the set they could have pulled so that they could fit this in instead."  The former is expressing an opinion.  The latter is ingratitute and immature whining.

No, the latter is also expressing an opinion. If someone else doesn't like songs they are playing live, they have a right to express that. Sure, saying "crappy songs in the set" isn't very articulate, but that isn't a big deal.

The problem happens when fans of the songs that were called "crappy" then cry foul (which is ridiculous) and start labeling fans who don't like something as "immature whiners."

Please.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be a line. Obviously, if you have some guy dropping a boat load of F-Bombs about certain songs and what not, yeah, that is a little overboard. But just because someone thinks a song or songs are "crappy" is not whining.

I don't hate "These Walls," but I do think the song is boring and would much rather have had something off of Awake or FII in its place. That's not whining, that's mature criticism.

[Ħ]

I don't hate "These Walls," but I do think the song is boring

wut