Time for Instrumedley II on Next Tour?

[?]

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.

I think this is true, although MP was also the one who shortened Take the Time and Voices to make them easier for James to sing. This quote from this interview convinces me that James should have an important role in picking the songs:

You've been shortening some of the old songs on recent tours, like Voices and Take the Time. Whose idea was that?

Yeah... I don't know! (gives a sarcastic look) Heh! Wasn't mine, but... You know, I'm not saying... That's what Mike wanted and he was partly right, because to sing those songs every night and all those sections would've been extremely taxing on my voice. But the way we like to work it out now, like doing Learning to Live and doing all these songs where I'm singing like F#s and stuff like that, is, ,,let's put that in the set, but I'll sing it one night here and I'll sing it another night here, but I won't sing it every night." – and that way, I can do the whole frickin' tune.

SPACE DYE VEST

prob not.

Well, James and Jordan do obviously like that song, but unfortunately I don't think DT have the courage to play it live. But of course I wouldn't mind if they played it the next time they come to Finland!

[Setlist Scotty]

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.

Way ahead of you on this one PetFish - I already brought up the idea to JP back in Dec. of 2011. I mentioned that I know he doesn't like medleys, but that the first Instrumedley was almost more like an instrumental song of it's own. I also brought up the fact that this would allow them to include excerpts of songs that they might otherwise not feel comfortable playing (the instrumental section in Never Enough, the guitar solo in The Best of Times, etc). JP seemed to like the idea, but then again, I don't know to what extent he would have told me directly that they wouldn't consider doing such a thing.

[The Letter M]

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.

I think this is true, although MP was also the one who shortened Take the Time and Voices to make them easier for James to sing. This quote from this interview convinces me that James should have an important role in picking the songs:

You've been shortening some of the old songs on recent tours, like Voices and Take the Time. Whose idea was that?

Yeah... I don't know! (gives a sarcastic look) Heh! Wasn't mine, but... You know, I'm not saying... That's what Mike wanted and he was partly right, because to sing those songs every night and all those sections would've been extremely taxing on my voice. But the way we like to work it out now, like doing Learning to Live and doing all these songs where I'm singing like F#s and stuff like that, is, ,,let's put that in the set, but I'll sing it one night here and I'll sing it another night here, but I won't sing it every night." – and that way, I can do the whole frickin' tune.

Good point. And since they're doing (more) static set lists now, any songs they pick, they'll likely have to do EVERY show, so I doubt they'd pick songs like "Voices", "Take The Time" or "Learning To Live" to do EVERY night unless James was VERY sure he could hit those notes.

Besides, I wouldn't mind seeing some more Post-Awake tunes, especially lesser played songs (like the FII B-sides, "Through Her Eyes", "Disappear", and tunes from SC and BC&SL that didn't get played often)... or at very least, songs that James is comfortable singing every night.

-Marc.

[senecadawg2]

I'm in!

[krands85]

I like instrumedley, but like others have said - I'd rather the time be given to full songs. Especially if they are still doing shorter shows around 2 hours in length.

The same goes for some of the instrumental jams at the end of songs. Not a problem in an 'Evening With' show, but you sort of feel you're missing out a bit on more songs when they do that at shorter shows (eg. the huge extended Solitary Shell I saw at Prog Nation 09 which was only a 90minute set), even though it's cool to see the guys doing something different.

[DebraKadabra]

Um... I'll pass on v.2.

[robwebster]

But Raw Dog! 

I repeat, in the same weird syntax as before:

They've only written Stream of Consciousness since.

Disclaimer: I was one of the four people who actually didn't mind Raw Dog. Shit title, though. Christ.

[PetFish]

FYI an Instrumedley doesn't just consist of instrumental-only tracks (ie. Stream of Consciousness), but any instrumental parts of any song.

When was the last time we heard Blind Faith?  Throw that insane unison into an Instrumedley so we can enjoy that part at least if they don't want to take 12 minutes out of a setlist.  Will we *ever* hear JP's outro solo on The Best of Times, or the aggressive machine-gun part in the middle of Raw Dog, or even the Never Enough unison, etc?

Given the choice between hearing a great part of a song or nothing at all I'll choose a great part of a song every time.

[ResultsMayVary]

^Nailed it. I'd love to hear those parts, for sure.

[Setlist Scotty]

FYI an Instrumedley doesn't just consist of instrumental-only tracks (ie. Stream of Consciousness), but any instrumental parts of any song.

When was the last time we heard Blind Faith?  Throw that insane unison into an Instrumedley so we can enjoy that part at least if they don't want to take 12 minutes out of a setlist.  Will we *ever* hear JP's outro solo on The Best of Times, or the aggressive machine-gun part in the middle of Raw Dog, or even the Never Enough unison, etc?

Given the choice between hearing a great part of a song or nothing at all I'll choose a great part of a song every time.

Well said PetFish!

[PetFish]

Thanks, Scotty!

I would be just a damn shame to never hear JP's Best of Times solo played live.

[Jaq]

It might be a shame, but there's no way they're playing ANY part of Best of Times live. C'mon guys, can you imagine the shit storm that would start?

No medleys of any kind. I was kind of annoyed when I saw them on the first Prog Nation tour that I didn't get a couple of full songs, instead getting a medley that seemed to exist largely because someone had come up with an allegedly clever nickname for it. And while the first Instrumedley kind of won you over by sheer skill, one made of instrumental bits of non-instrumental songs would be a train wreck.

[Setlist Scotty]

It might be a shame, but there's no way they're playing ANY part of Best of Times live. C'mon guys, can you imagine the shit storm that would start?

Perhaps, but not necessarily. The song is Dream Theater's, not MP's. I'd imagine there'd be controversy if they did the whole song, but the solo or an instrumental excerpt (none of the personal lyrics) doesn't seem unreasonable or controversial.

No medleys of any kind. I was kind of annoyed when I saw them on the first Prog Nation tour that I didn't get a couple of full songs, instead getting a medley that seemed to exist largely because someone had come up with an allegedly clever nickname for it. And while the first Instrumedley kind of won you over by sheer skill, one made of instrumental bits of non-instrumental songs would be a train wreck.

Not sure what medley you're referring to - only a few of them actually had names and the one played during most shows on the first PN wasn't one of them. Unless you're speaking of Schmedley Wilcox which was played at a few of the PN dates, and I'd wager is not cleverly nicknamed.

Regarding an Instrumedley made up primarily of the instrumental bits of non-instrumental songs, why would that be a train wreck? It's not as if all DT's songs are verse-chorus-verse-chorus-solo-chorus. There's a lot of instrumental stuff going on in many of their songs. And the original Instrumedley had several instrumental bits from non-instrumental songs, and it doesn't appear that you think that was a train wreck. I'm not understanding you're point. If done well, where all the parts flowed into one another, I can't see why it would be bad.

[robwebster]

It might be a shame, but there's no way they're playing ANY part of Best of Times live. C'mon guys, can you imagine the shit storm that would start?

No medleys of any kind. I was kind of annoyed when I saw them on the first Prog Nation tour that I didn't get a couple of full songs, instead getting a medley that seemed to exist largely because someone had come up with an allegedly clever nickname for it. And while the first Instrumedley kind of won you over by sheer skill, one made of instrumental bits of non-instrumental songs would be a train wreck.

While I agree with Scotty on the trainwreck thing (it'd be fine, they're good musicians!) I do tend to agree about the medley eating up into time that could be used on full songs.

I mean, take something like Schmedley Wilcox, (which... I don't get, as a nickname!) that's what, 20 minutes long? If they're not playing the full Count of Tuscany because it's too long, I'm not sure why they'd want to dedicate that time to bits of songs instead. This is a band led by a man who wrote the song, "I fucking hate when Rush does medleys, why don't they play the whole damn song, it makes me feel like medley schmedley, something something all day long!" And sang it while dancing across a stage, apparently.

More academically, he said that the song's the statement. Mike Portnoy disagreed, he thinks medleys have got their own kind of art and creativity to them, with the segues and such. And that makes sense, too. John's the writer, Mike's the arranger. But this does mean that the optimum circumstances for DT to arrange a medley would be a. plenty of set time, and b. Mike Portnoy being in the band. Which are exactly the circumstances that would allow them to play all those songs that they'd otherwise be more likely to put in a medley!

I do think it's a moderately cool idea - and much love for appreciating the Never Enough instrumental section, PetFish! Criminally underrated. But I don't know that now's necessarily the right time. But then, I'd define the right time as "Whenever DT want to cobble a medley together," so what do I know?

[MoraWintersoul]

I'm pretty sure the people who'd start a shitstorm over DT playing The Best Of Times aren't the people who would visit a DT show nowadays. I wouldn't be glad if they played it because they have a million, not even slightly controversial songs they haven't played in a while, or ever, to play before they do that song, and also a lot of them which are way better. If they did, however, I wouldn't criticize them for it. And since people worship that solo, maybe it would be a wise idea if the solo at least ever made it to a DT show. This medley idea is one of the ways it can work out.

Having said that, if they ever decide to do an instrumental medley, I hope it wouldn't be over six or seven minutes long, just so it doesn't make up a lot of time in the set but that's still enough time to incorporate some cool stuff. I know JP doesn't like medleys, but we have acknowledged that in the opening post(s), this is purely hypothetical really and besides, the last time he said that was years ago, opinions can change, they're not set in stone.

[Jaq]

It might be a shame, but there's no way they're playing ANY part of Best of Times live. C'mon guys, can you imagine the shit storm that would start?

No medleys of any kind. I was kind of annoyed when I saw them on the first Prog Nation tour that I didn't get a couple of full songs, instead getting a medley that seemed to exist largely because someone had come up with an allegedly clever nickname for it. And while the first Instrumedley kind of won you over by sheer skill, one made of instrumental bits of non-instrumental songs would be a train wreck.

While I agree with Scotty on the trainwreck thing (it'd be fine, they're good musicians!) I do tend to agree about the medley eating up into time that could be used on full songs.

I mean, take something like Schmedley Wilcox, (which... I don't get, as a nickname!) that's what, 20 minutes long? If they're not playing the full Count of Tuscany because it's too long, I'm not sure why they'd want to dedicate that time to bits of songs instead. This is a band led by a man who wrote the song, "I fucking hate when Rush does medleys, why don't they play the whole damn song, it makes me feel like medley schmedley, something something all day long!" And sang it while dancing across a stage, apparently.

More academically, he said that the song's the statement. Mike Portnoy disagreed, he thinks medleys have got their own kind of art and creativity to them, with the segues and such. And that makes sense, too. John's the writer, Mike's the arranger. But this does mean that the optimum circumstances for DT to arrange a medley would be a. plenty of set time, and b. Mike Portnoy being in the band. Which are exactly the circumstances that would allow them to play all those songs that they'd otherwise be more likely to put in a medley!

I do think it's a moderately cool idea - and much love for appreciating the Never Enough instrumental section, PetFish! Criminally underrated. But I don't know that now's necessarily the right time. But then, I'd define the right time as "Whenever DT want to cobble a medley together," so what do I know?

This guy gets it. I enjoyed the medley, mainly because PN 2008 was my first time seeing DT, but after the fact I did say to myself "with a medley that long, why didn't they do a couple of the songs that they excerpted in the medley instead?" Especially since there were dates on the Systematic Chaos tour where you got the entirety of ITPOE, which I would have much rather heard!

[johncal]

I would only want to see another one if it made sense. I thought the first one was great because it gave you a look into all the LTE stuff and not only sounded tremendous, but it promo'd their other albums. I don't see where it would really make any sense at this point. But if they decided to do one, I'm sure it would be great as well.

[KevShmev]

The Best of Times solo/main melody is a slight reworking of the melody from Elton John's Funeral from a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding anyway , so I can't see incorporating that into a medley being an issue.

[Setlist Scotty]

While I agree with Scotty on the trainwreck thing (it'd be fine, they're good musicians!) I do tend to agree about the medley eating up into time that could be used on full songs.

I mean, take something like Schmedley Wilcox, (which... I don't get, as a nickname!) that's what, 20 minutes long? If they're not playing the full Count of Tuscany because it's too long, I'm not sure why they'd want to dedicate that time to bits of songs instead.

I definitely agree with a medley not taking up too much time. And for the most part, they really don't. The Instrumedley is roughly 12 minutes which seems to be a good length. More than that, you might as well do 2 other songs or an epic.

BTW, I don't know where "Wilcox" came from either. I think it was just something stupid that MP called it, and it stuck. I did give him the suggestion "Trial of Finally Learning the Name Octavarium" but he didn't dig it.     The one cool thing I'll say about Schmedley Wilcox is that it's comprised just of the final tracks from their respective albums as well as each being the longest song (aside from Finally Free, which was the second longest). Still, IMO it doesn't transition as smoothly as Instrumedley or some of the other medleys they've done in the past.

More academically, he said that the song's the statement. Mike Portnoy disagreed, he thinks medleys have got their own kind of art and creativity to them, with the segues and such. And that makes sense, too. John's the writer, Mike's the arranger. But this does mean that the optimum circumstances for DT to arrange a medley would be a. plenty of set time, and b. Mike Portnoy being in the band. Which are exactly the circumstances that would allow them to play all those songs that they'd otherwise be more likely to put in a medley!

Very interesting insight about MP being the arranger and why he would like medleys, as opposed to JP being a writer not liking medleys - never thought of that, but it makes sense. As for medleys in DT's older sets, I think generally one of the points MP made to convince JP to do Evening With shows with rotating sets was so that there wouldn't be a need to play medleys. Once the Evening With shows disappeared (and as much variation in the setlists, since there were "core" songs played at all shows), the medleys began to reappear (as they also did for co-headlining shows). The only exception to that rule is the Instrumedley (played during the last Evening With leg of Six Degrees of Tourbulence in Europe, and the show at the Budokan in 2004), and I think that was because it's almost more like an instrumental song instead of just a medley. I would hope JP would consider it from that viewpoint in the future for a second Instrumedley.

I enjoyed the medley, mainly because PN 2008 was my first time seeing DT, but after the fact I did say to myself "with a medley that long, why didn't they do a couple of the songs that they excerpted in the medley instead?" Especially since there were dates on the Systematic Chaos tour where you got the entirety of ITPOE, which I would have much rather heard!

I get what you're saying, but if you look, *none* of the PN08 dates got the entire ItPoE (Mexico City doesn't count as it wasn't a part of the actual PN tour). With the shorter 90 minute set, I think the decision was that it was better to include a medley containing several songs to cover more ground. Admittedly, with only 90 minute sets on PN09, the band did feature ANtR and TCoT in all of the sets, but I believe this was because they had already made the determination to only do a single leg thru North America and Europe that time around and they felt it important to include both those songs.

I would only want to see another one if it made sense. I thought the first one was great because it gave you a look into all the LTE stuff and not only sounded tremendous, but it promo'd their other albums. I don't see where it would really make any sense at this point. But if they decided to do one, I'm sure it would be great as well.

Well, if DT continues with the 2 hour shows, likely you'll never hear any of their epics again (assuming they continue feeling that songs that long are too long to include in the set). So scratch out 8v (the song), ItPoE, TCoT and perhaps semi-epics like ANtR, ItNoG, TGP, TMoLS and others in the 14-17 minute range. And then the other aforementioned songs that might be too controversial to play in their entirety (Never Enough, TBoT, etc.). And then there's still plenty that could be drawn from the LTE albums that wasn't included in the first Instrumedley, not to mention songs (or sections of songs) from earlier in DT's catalog that weren't part of the first Instrumedley. I think there's plenty to pick from, and it would make sense, especially if the band continues with 2 hour sets and stops playing most of their epic or semi-epic tracks.

[TAC]

I love the instrumedley that is on LaB. Great stuff. I thought it was very effective. But I would not want another Shmedley Wilcox. A complete waste of time, if you ask me.

[JayOctavarium]

I really enjoyed most of Shmedly Wilcox.

[GasparXR]

I kind of share MP's and JP's viewpoints on medleys. I would much rather hear full songs, but if the medley itself is constructed well, then I will still enjoy it. I don't enjoy Instrumedley all that much, but I really like Schmedley Wilcox. The extended ToT opening is mindblowingly uplifting, and the Xanadu reference worked really well, at least on the CiM DVD version, since that's the only recording of it I've heard.

[Aythesryche]

Instrumedleys can go away completely and I'd be all the more content. I'm not interested in half-assed DT music. It's like reading just one line of a story and going right into a line from a different story, or a poem, or just seeing Mona Lisa's nose painted over a portrait of Groucho Marx and then the artist decides to paint a green apple covering his face. It doesn't make any sense! No more Instrumedleys, please.

[Sketchy]

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!

TRIAL OF TEARS YES PLEASE THANKYOU MUCH

Seriously, that's my second favourite song. Ever. (My favourite is PF's Echoes, which they also did half of in a soundcheck and it's sodding epic), but please yes Trial Of Tears. That song is so amazingly wonderful.

[PetFish]

Instrumedleys can go away completely and I'd be all the more content. I'm not interested in half-assed DT music. It's like reading just one line of a story and going right into a line from a different story, or a poem, or just seeing Mona Lisa's nose painted over a portrait of Groucho Marx and then the artist decides to paint a green apple covering his face. It doesn't make any sense! No more Instrumedleys, please.

I dunno what to say to this.

I think your definition of "half-assed" is wrong or something cuz that would imply that the guys aren't even trying to play the music perfectly cuz it's in a medley.

And what's wrong with reading one line of a story?  How many people have one-line or small quotes from books and movies and poetry that they say all the time or post on Facebook?  As soon as I see "No, *I* am your father" quoted it immediately brings back the intense memory of that particular scene.

And the painting?  Gimme a break.  Dream Theater aren't playing the Blind Faith unison over top of the intro to Universal Mind.  I've seen the Screamer from The Scream many times on his own and I immediately know what it's from even though I don't see the bridge or the background.  What about when there's a medley of all the characters from a video games like Marvel vs Capcom?  This is a medley of super heros so do you say forget it cuz you only want to play a game with each one individually?  Or The Avengers, that's a medley movie, or Oceans 11, that's a medley (ensemble) of movie stars.

It seems like people think a medley is the end of the world or something.  One medley every 10 years isn't anything to freak out over.  Jeez.