The setlist so far... (DT-Side Tour Thread)

[N4Player]

Would love the setlist more if they had BTV and TBP in there. Really want to hear those songs live.  I wish they would do a couple less from Awake and SFAM to make room for these 2. Nevertheless I love this band live and I can't wait to see them! Also, I am thrilled at TSF getting played!

[Zydar]

I'm not really a fan of the "non-rotating" setlist, which means I won't get to see any I&W songs yet again when I see them a month from today. But the songs that are in there are mostly awesome, so I can't really complain about that.

[Nefarius]

I was surprised to see there's no A/B like last time but I love the setlist and can't wait for Saturday in Vienna. The only song I'm missing is TBP as it's my DT12 favorite, maybe instead of OTBOA (but later in the set) which was probably somewhat overplayed due to being the single and having it on the last tour. I'm perfectly happy with BAI though, many people seem to love it (me too), the guys obviously like to play it, and it's definitely one of those songs that - however great on the album - is reaching a whole new level (probably over 9000) when experienced live.

Greetings...
Nef

[genome]

The only songs I would swap are OTBOA (which won't happen) and Scarred. I love the rest of the setlist.

15/19 of the songs I haven't seen live before.

[adastra]

Overall , I think it is a pretty good setlist!

Only thing I would change is to get rid of OTBOA and TEI     Not very big fan of those songs.
thenigmachine can stay in setlist so I can go take a piss without missing anything "important"


This is not really the right topic , but i'll ask anyway ;
Has anyone noticed if Petrucci has played that new Majesty guitar on this tour?

And I'll answer myself, haha   It seems like he has!

[The Stray Seed]

Home from yesterday's show. I've been to DT gigs since 1999, and James has NEVER had such a powerful voice. Man I just couldn't believe how he could nail all songs from AWAKE, flawlessly. I cried at the end of Scarred (I beg of you, if you find a bootleg, go listen to it and believe your own ears), he hit all the notes, and with a full, amazing voice, without holding back and with no sign of fatigue whatsoever not even at the end of the concert, and the whole band's performance was just stellar, I've never been this much blown away.

[Perpetual Change]

I never bought the whole thing about James having an issue with the line in ACoS containing crude language. If anything, I think it was just a diplomatic way of him telling MP that the original line was bad. "I don't need your sympathy" is much, much better.

[Tomislav95]

I was listening to bootlegs on YT and only night he wasn't top notch was first night. I was a bit worried but now I know he is back (as he was on ADTOE tour). If you haven't, listen to ToT from Barcelona, he's flawless

[IdoSC]

I've noticed a few things over some Youtube videos, actually:
1. Yes he makes a little less direct contact with the crowd, but that's probably done to maintain stamina and sanity as he has to run around like that for 3 hours straight. He does seem to smile and he does seem to enjoy himself, it doesn't seem like the level of "frustration" he had during the early 2000s so I wouldn't worry about that.

2. He sounds really, really tired. It did get better, or slightly on and off, throughout these 4-5 shows they had so far, but it is consistent. I seriously hope this trend will end soon, I'd rather have him sing these songs lower and sounding like he's up for the task than just barely hitting everything and sounding strained and nearly bringing his voice to the point of breaking down while doing so.

3. Some notes have been missed, yes. What's more interesting is that he doesn't scream his voice out with random altered high notes like he did during 2011-2012. And he really seems to have issues with that F5 in Illumination Theory. I mean their ADTOE tour was incredible on his side and I could never expect anything close to it from a 50 years old singer, but the downfall is kind of worrying - I hope he doesn't strain himself too much on one tour, just to have a really weak tour as a payoff a few months later.

[The Stray Seed]

^ Totally disagree with all of the above. Yesterday he sounded better than ever. In fifteen years I've never seen him sound the way he did last night in Florence and interact with the crowd so much and so enthusiastic. He's over the top at the moment. Really in great, no, more than great shape!!

[ibosmiley]

Overall, I like the set list.  They are playing most of DT12 and they are showcasing Awake and SFAM for the anniversaries.  I like the addition of Finally Free as I don't think I've seen it live in full since the SFAM tour (discounting the piece of it in the encore medley on the Systematic Chaos tour).  Playing the second half of the Awake makes sense since they played 6:00 and Caught in a web last tour and LSOAD hasn't seen the light of day in a while and SDV has never before been played.  I have no problems with Scarred because I actually really like that song and we missed it on the SC tour here in Bmore/DC due to time constraints at Pier Six.  The Shattered Fortress (never before played) and Trial of Tears are good picks and make sense since FII and BC&SL weren't represented on the last tour.  I get the inclusion of OTBOA, but I do agree with others that BAI is an odd choice and probably could have been substituted for something off of another album. 

As for not including TBP, BTV or STR from DT12, I have no issue with that, because DT usually does two legs on each tour, so assuming they do a second leg, those songs will probably come out then, along with a wider variety of albums being represented in the set list since they probably wouldn't repeat the album anniversary blocks.  That's not to say I have a problem with so many albums not being represented, because as was said before, when you have 12 albums, that's going to happen.  DT does a good job of playing a variety of songs from all of their albums through the tours over the years.

So, in summary, good set list! 

[emtee]

I'm indifferent about SDV but other than that I really like the set list.

[Perpetual Change]

3. Some notes have been missed, yes. What's more interesting is that he doesn't scream his voice out with random altered high notes like he did during 2011-2012. And he really seems to have issues with that F5 in Illumination Theory. I mean their ADTOE tour was incredible on his side and I could never expect anything close to it from a 50 years old singer, but the downfall is kind of worrying - I hope he doesn't strain himself too much on one tour, just to have a really weak tour as a payoff a few months later.

Yeah, I've seen a couple videos, and I don't think I've seen him nail that part of Illumination Theory yet.

Personally, I wouldn't like Dream Theater less if they stopped utilizing James as this powerhouse guy. I'd be fine for him to just sing like a normal tenor. He doesn't need to hurt his voice more trying to knock everyone's socks off like that.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I never bought the whole thing about James having an issue with the line in ACoS containing crude language. If anything, I think it was just a diplomatic way of him telling MP that the original line was bad. "I don't need your sympathy" is much, much better.

[KevShmev]

For me especially, the Awake slew of songs is awesome.  I saw eight of the 11 songs from it on the Awake tour, and they are playing two of the three I didn't see (Scarred and Space Dye Vest), leaving only Innocence Faded (which has barely been played live, ever, if I am not mistaken) as the only song from Awake I will not have seen, so that is awesome for a guy like me whose favorite DT album is Awake.

[GasparXR]

For me especially, the Awake slew of songs is awesome.  I saw eight of the 11 songs from it on the Awake tour, and they are playing two of the three I didn't see (Scarred and Space Dye Vest), leaving only Innocence Faded (which has barely been played live, ever, if I am not mistaken) as the only song from Awake I will not have seen, so that is awesome for a guy like me whose favorite DT album is Awake.

IF indeed hasn't gotten a whole lot of plays. If I recall, it was played a bit on the Awake tour, and again on the Octavarium tour in preparation for the Score DVD.

[Cool Chris]

The Awake slew is indeed awesome, the SFaM slew is not. Though I do love Finally Free.

I never listen to TSF, but I feel like it would be a killer song live. Have not checked out any youtubes of tour yet.

Not sure it would have occurred to me there is not one song from IaW, I don't keep track of how many songs from each album are featured, just the awesomeness of the songs they do play.

[CodyWanKenobi]

I was hoping for Pull Me Under cause when they played it last time it cut off at the end.

[Laughingplace56]

The Shattered Fortress (never before played) and Trial of Tears are good picks and make sense since FII and BC&SL weren't represented on the last tour.  I get the inclusion of OTBOA, but I do agree with others that BAI is an odd choice and probably could have been substituted for something off of another album. 

As for not including TBP, BTV or STR from DT12, I have no issue with that, because DT usually does two legs on each tour, so assuming they do a second leg, those songs will probably come out then, along with a wider variety of albums being represented in the set list since they probably wouldn't repeat the album anniversary blocks. 

FII and BC&SL were represented by Peruvian Skies and The Count, but I think that was only before ADToE came out. And I think they chose BAI because they needed a song to close the first set that wasn't too harsh on Jame's vocals and strong enough to close a set. I personally think they should've let ToT close the set, take out BAI and add in TBP and StR.

But like you said about not adding those 3 songs from DT12/6 of their albums, I've never thought they wouldn't play them. It's more rare than common that a band plays their entire new album on the first legs of touring. They usually start with a majority then start adding/swapping the rest. And I think after the Evening With Europe/US dates they'll have to drop the anniversary segments due to time constraints alone. Then they'll bring out I&W/SDOIT/ToT etc.

The only song I'd get rid of is BAI because I don't see why they had to bring that one back after playing it nearly every night of the ADToE tour but I don't mind it. OtBoA was always happening just like TEI will be back on the tour for DT13. They're singles, and on top of that GRAMMY nominated singles (which is a worthless award imo but it looks good to have one). They wouldn't leave those songs out based on that premise alone.

[CodyWanKenobi]

Do you know what I like though? He doesn't swear when speaking to the crowd anymore.

Yeah, nothing worse than casual fucks, "fucking good to be here", "fucking great crowd". Which reminds me, MP sort of called JLB a hypocrite in Lifting Shadows because he wouldn't sing "I don't need your mercy fuck" in ACOS, like it was originally written, saying he doesn't want to be labeled as a guy who swears on a record, yet he had no problem swearing live or in BMS, AIA.

I also think a lot of that was during ACOS he had the backing of the producer who didn't really like the 'mercy fuck' line either, whereas when train of thought came out, MP was one of the producers and probably just told James to sing the lines.

And the producer of FII probably didn't care enough, and by that point there was tension within the band so James probably didn't mind dropping some profane language. haha.


But back to the topic, I think James has been kicking ass over the last four years or so, and he should be very proud of his performances. He's not 20 anymore, and he's singing really demanding songs, and I think he is doing a fantastic job, plus during ADTOE he was certainly becoming more the of the 'front man' of the group which I was very pleased to see. Overall, I think James is absolutely right on track, and should keep it up, because he and the rest of the guys seem very happy and I absolutely love seeing that.

[John94]

I'm checking out the audio bootleg of the Milan show that was posted in the thread. My word James is great on Lifting Shadows.

EDIT - And he's awesome on Scarred too.

[ibosmiley]

FII and BC&SL were represented by Peruvian Skies and The Count, but I think that was only before ADToE came out. And I think they chose BAI because they needed a song to close the first set that wasn't too harsh on Jame's vocals and strong enough to close a set. I personally think they should've let ToT close the set, take out BAI and add in TBP and StR.

Gah!  You are correct!  I forgot about the summer festival tour before the album came out!  I guess then... those two albums were represented.... less... on the last tour.   

[Jinx]

I was hoping for Pull Me Under cause when they played it last time it cut off at the end.

[MoraWintersoul]

Two things:

1) James has toned down his jumping around and talking silly things about ex-keyboardists signing up to be an astronaut to go to Mars back in the mid-90's and people open threads here about his seeming lack of frontmanship every year. In the recent inties with Myles Kennedy he's stressed how much he doesn't like talking on stage and how much he prefers just focusing on the performance, so there's that.

2) About his being pissed off: I grew up on a steady diet of metal concerts so I'm probably used to vocalists looking like they've just been kicked in the groin, but he doesn't seem so mad at all. And besides, do you people ever look at James? He's born with a permanent bitchface, it's not his fault that he looks pissed off when he's just resting his face I was honestly surprised when I saw him smiling during the Strabge Deja Vu Barcelona video.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

MILENA YOU'RE BACK


Now we just need Scorp....

[cramx3]

I love the set so Id be happy if they stuck with it during the NA tour.  I wouldn't mind them doing a couple song rotation, but that's mostly because I will see them on two separate shows so otherwise that wouldn't matter to me.  I would like to see the three songs from DT12 that everyone else seems to be upset about, but I am not sure which songs id have them replace, I guess the ADTOE songs.

[Sad Wings]

For me especially, the Awake slew of songs is awesome.  I saw eight of the 11 songs from it on the Awake tour, and they are playing two of the three I didn't see (Scarred and Space Dye Vest), leaving only Innocence Faded (which has barely been played live, ever, if I am not mistaken) as the only song from Awake I will not have seen, so that is awesome for a guy like me whose favorite DT album is Awake.

Agreed.  I was blown away when I saw the second set.  It's pretty much what I've always wanted to experience live but figured they'd never play all of those at the same show.

[cramx3]

Yea, of the Awake songs, Ive only seen Scarred before and for the SFAM, I've only seen TDOE, so almost all of the 2nd set is new live material for me.

[philmcson]

I think it's a bit strange because as far as I recall, in a few interviews they suggested that MM has put some time into learning lots of stuff from their catalogue (read between lines)..... and then they honor it by forming a static setlist? Wow. However, the setlist itself is great, although it totally omits certain albums. I mean, every of their setlists did so, but they effectively play only stuff from 3,5 albums (3 you-know-them + ADTOE).....

[Onno]

MILENA YOU'RE BACK


Now we just need Scorp....

Agreed!

[jcmoorehead]

Two things:

1) James has toned down his jumping around and talking silly things about ex-keyboardists signing up to be an astronaut to go to Mars back in the mid-90's and people open threads here about his seeming lack of frontmanship every year. In the recent inties with Myles Kennedy he's stressed how much he doesn't like talking on stage and how much he prefers just focusing on the performance, so there's that.

Yeah this is one thing I keep on wanting to say in these threads, James is probably the first to admit that he doesn't really enjoy the whole 'Frontman' thing and would rather just focus on his performance. I believe both he and Myles expressed those opinions in that series which I thought was quite good of them to both be upfront about it and say "Yeah it isn't something we are good at, and we do find it awkward."

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

For a band like Dream Theater, that's not really about "stage presence" anyway, I think that makes a lot of sense.

[erwinrafael]

I think not having a rotating setlist makes sense in this age where concerts have become a full multi-media experience with snchronicity in the lights, backing tracks and videos. It would be hell for any production to have rotating setlists in a tour especially with a multimedia setup as elaborate as DT.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I think not having a rotating setlist makes sense in this age where concerts have become a full multi-media experience with snchronicity in the lights, backing tracks and videos. It would be hell for any production to have rotating setlists in a tour especially with a multimedia setup as elaborate as DT.

I agree completely. The rotating setlist thing (as awesome and as was hard for the band to pull off) was far more likely back when DT's stage setup wasn't 50% of what it is today. I like Rudess' interpretation of things, saying that they feel that this show is like a theater play. People know what they're gonna get, but they're gonna get an incredibly rehearsed and solid version of what they know is coming to them. Their times, video cues, lightning cues, etc. are far more precise now that they're playing to a click track and a constant set, and these elements make this show the most professional they've put out so far.

[rickhawk80]

I'm fine with the setlist as is.  Are there other things I'd like to hear in addition/in place of some of these?  Sure, but it's still kinda like picking your favorite kids to me -- all of it will be an awesome experience.

Regarding rotating setlists, I like what Metallica has done for their last few tours -- they have a basic framework where, for example, 11 of the first 15 songs stay the same, the 4 remaining slots rotate between a pool of songs, then the encore -- which is 3 songs -- consists of the first song being something rare or unusual , the next song being a random cover song, and the final song being "Seek and Destroy."  And Lars looks back over the setlists of the shows they've played in that city for all tours dating back over time to ensure the songs they rotate in for that night are, to the extent possible, not repeats of the last time they were in that town.  Kinda cool if you always tend to see the band in the same city.  It also means that you know what the bulk of the setlist will be and the band can get very tight on most of the set list, but still liven it up with some variety for a few slots each night and you get a few surprises every time.