Time for Instrumedley II on Next Tour?

[PetFish]

With many songs likely not being played ever again since MP left, and the fact that there's been 5 albums since the last one (6DOiT, ToT, 8V, SC, BC&SL (ADToE wouldn't be included)), is it time to put some riffs together for Instrumedley II?  There's so much killer DT music that it would be a shame to never hear them again, and so much that we have never heard at all.

[SystematicThought]

I don't think JP really liked the medley's so I wouldn't bet on it

I enjoy them, but I'd rather hear a whole song that I never have seen than a snippet

[Unlegit]

Cool idea, but I think for the most part, the original instrumedley was MP's idea.

[TheGreatPretender]

Yeah, JP mentioned that he wasn't crazy about medleys because they might exclude certain parts that fans might like. So without MP, it's likely not gonna happen. But I wouldn't mind if they came up with some creative ways to flow from certain songs directly into other ones. Kind of like they did with AROP into Home on the Iron Maiden tour.

[Hayden]

I'd actually much rather a new covers medley. I just recently saw Voyager live (they opened for Alestorm in Perth, Western Australia), and they played a medley which featured Slayer, the Ghostbusters theme, Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?", John Farnham's "You're the Voice", Europe's "The Final Countdown", and Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name", and it was one of the best concert experiences of my life. I would LOVE to see Dream Theater do something similar - mixing up seemingly incompatible pieces of music, in a way that's really cool and interesting. As they displayed in "The Dark Eternal Night", that's kinda their forte anyway.

[wasteland]

I would say please no. If you want to take the time to play a little instrumental intermission, just play one or two songs entirely. It will make much more sense.

[Zydar]

I'm not that crazy about medleys either, although Instrumedley was kinda cool as a one off thing for that tour.

[wasteland]

I'm not that crazy about medleys either, although Instrumedley was kinda cool as a one off thing for that tour.

It was played regularly on the second half of the previous tour, though.

[Zydar]

Ok, didn't know that.

[KevShmev]

Pass.

I thought the first Instrumedley was a trainwreck of massive proportions. "Here, let's play 30 seconds of this song and then 30 seconds of that song, in no real order, with no real flow, and for no real reason other than to show off our chops."  No thanks.

[Zook]

I'll never understand the "band x is only playing that because they want to show off their chops" Maybe they're playing it or that way because they think it's cool, or sounds good. Why do all prog bands have to be pretentious show offs?

Anyway, Instrumedley was cool, but like others have said, use that time for songs that haven't been played in a while or some more fan favorites.

[robwebster]

Loved the first instrumedley... but they've only written Stream of Consciousness since! And they were playing that alongside the first one, anyway.

Beisdes which, I don't think there's many songs they'll exclude now Mike Portnoy's not drumming. If they played The Root of All Evil, they'll play anything. Possibly songs like Octavarium, The Count of Tuscany, they might be less keen to play since they take up so much of the set, but that's been true for a while now.

If they've got some songs they want to pop into a medley, cracking. If they want to make that medley instrumental, double-cracking. The idea's good. Don't know if the next tour's necessarily the right time for it, though.

[BlobVanDam]

The first Instrumedley was excellent, but I feel like that was a special one, and I don't think they should make a habit of it. I'd rather them play full songs, and as rob pointed out, they haven't exactly been pumping out instrumentals since then.

[The Presence of Frenemies]

But Raw Dog! 

[BlobVanDam]

But Raw Dog! 

I don't think anybody's lining up to hear the Instrudogley.

[wasteland]

But Raw Dog! 

I don't think anybody's lining up to hear the Instrudogley.

Featuring exclusively the second half of TDOE, the second hald of ANTR, Raw Dog in its entirety (albeit in different pieces), the uncensored version of the bebot solo in AROP and the outro of Misunderstood 

[The Letter M]

I'd rather hear "Stream Of Consciousness" in full over any sort of Instrumedley anyday. These guys are tight and hearing complete songs out of this version of DT is more entertaining, I think. I'd love to see them do "Stream Of Consciousness". "Erotomania" or "The Dance Of Eternity", especially after having done "Ytse Jam".

They do have other instrumentals they can do, in full. I think over the next few tours, they may cover much of their have-played-live catalog with MM, so it wouldn't really be proper to bring out any medleys if Mangini is just going to eventually play most of their songs live anyway.

-Marc.

[Lolzeez]

EVE

[MoraWintersoul]

But Raw Dog! 

I don't think anybody's lining up to hear the Instrudogley.

Featuring exclusively the second half of TDOE, the second hald of ANTR, Raw Dog in its entirety (albeit in different pieces), the uncensored version of the bebot solo in AROP and the outro of Misunderstood 

Why throw in the Misunderstood intro when it is clearly good

No, seriously, I'd flip for Misunderstood.

[Scorpion]

EVE

[wasteland]

Why throw in the Misunderstood intro when it is clearly good

No, seriously, I'd flip for Misunderstood.

I said outro and you meant outro as well  AND, you know my new stance on Misunderstood, so don't neverusethis me

Also:

EVE

[MoraWintersoul]

I said outro and you meant outro as well  AND, you know my new stance on Misunderstood, so don't neverusethis me

Also:

EVE

Yes I did

And yes, EVE. Seriously, is DT going to ignore that one forever or what?

[darkshade]

Noooooo medleys of any kind. Put that effort into bringing back epics like Octavarium or A Change of Seasons. Or at the least, some "forgotten" songs like The Glass Prison, Eve, Finally Free, Strange Deja-Vu, or Scarred.

[MoraWintersoul]

Noooooo medleys of any kind. Put that effort into bringing back epics like Octavarium or A Change of Seasons. Or at the least, some "forgotten" songs like The Glass Prison, Eve, Finally Free, Strange Deja-Vu, or Scarred.

You're a good man.

[wasteland]

I remember the band members being quite disappointed by the crowd reactions at the performances of Scarred in the god-forsaken CiM tour, as I stated in the dream setlist thread. But it's also true that as of 2010, if I remember correctly, it was allegedly James's favourite song to sing, which might earn it a chance.

If it happens we need to be overwhelmingly positive about it, as what happened at the first ADTOE US tour demonstrated that the band has in fact checked out DTF for reactions to the setlists. 

[MoraWintersoul]

If it happens we need to be overwhelmingly positive about it, as what happened at the first ADTOE US tour demonstrated that the band has in fact checked out DTF for reactions to the setlists. 

Well they fucking should. We're the cross section of the part of the fanbase which cares, and the ones who have a reasonable opinion of what should be played. And by "a reasonable opinion", I meant that we're aware there needs to be some balance between albums in the setlists, and that they can't whip out all the epics/our favorite songs every night.

[?]

Yeah, hopefully James can convince the other guys to bring Scarred back. I also remember him saying that he loves Trial of Tears and would like to perform it again. Damn, they could let James be the setlist designer that MP was - he knows what we want!

[MoraWintersoul]

Yeah, hopefully James can convince the other guys to bring Scarred back. I also remember him saying that he loves Trial of Tears and would like to perform it again. Damn, they could let James be the setlist designer that MP was - he knows what we want!

And people ask me why James is my man.

[wasteland]

I agree that James should be the setlist designer. After all, he's the one that, being the singer, the setlist should be shaped around.

[Lolzeez]

Noooooo medleys of any kind. Put that effort into bringing back epics like Octavarium or A Change of Seasons. Or at the least, some "forgotten" songs like The Glass Prison, Eve, Finally Free, Strange Deja-Vu, or Scarred.

You're a good man.

He really is a good man.

[?]

I agree that James should be the setlist designer. After all, he's the one that, being the singer, the setlist should be shaped around.

That's true - he knows his capabilities and limitations, and if he wasn't in the best condition at some point, he could make the setlist lighter on his voice that night, perhaps by adding an instrumental or some ballad(s).

[Rattlehead]

I would say please no. If you want to take the time to play a little instrumental intermission, just play one or two songs entirely. It will make much more sense.

[The Letter M]

Yeah, hopefully James can convince the other guys to bring Scarred back. I also remember him saying that he loves Trial of Tears and would like to perform it again. Damn, they could let James be the setlist designer that MP was - he knows what we want!

Or... we just happen to really like what he likes! Either way, he does have good taste in DT song choices, and I think because it IS his voice singing the songs, he should really pick a lot of the songs in the set. I think when MP did it, he probably picked some songs that were out of James' range at the time, especially older ones, or put songs back-to-back that might have had some strain on his voice. Then again, on shows like Live At Budokan, there were strategically placed extended instrumental sections to give James' voice a rest.

-Marc.

[Lolzeez]

I agree that James should be the setlist designer. After all, he's the one that, being the singer, the setlist should be shaped around.

That's true - he knows his capabilities and limitations, and if he wasn't in the best condition at some point, he could make the setlist lighter on his voice that night, perhaps by adding an instrumental or some ballad(s).

SPACE DYE VEST

prob not.

[Zydar]

JOHN THINKS HE'S RANDY SONG