Sound quality of "Along for the Ride" 2014 tour?

[Volante99]

I know this is highly dependent on the venue, but I've been hearing quite a few negative comments (not necessarily on this forum) about the sound quality on this tour not being up to par.

I've been seeing a trend of "too loud", "muddy", "couldn't tell what song they were playing", etc etc.

I've seen Dream Theater 3 times in the past and they've never been overly loud (in fact on ADTOE and Octavarium tour I thought they were lacking a bit of oomphf if anything), but I'm used to going to concerts like Mastodon and Pantera back in the day where you're still partially deaf 3 days after the concert 

I'm curious as to what people's experiences around here have been as far as the tour so far? Are these complaints valid? Or do people just have unrealistic expectations of what a live metal concert is going to sound like?

[GentlemanofDread]

"couldn't tell what song they were playing" is unfounded. It's easy to tell what song they're playing. Too Loud is probably. Not sure if they're going to change it but it sounds like they added more speakers to be loud and audible for most of it.

[Laughingplace56]

My complaint for most concerts I've been to so far (Including A7X twice Floyd 3 times and others) are that they aren't loud enough so if they're "too loud" I'm happy. 

I feel concerts, especially metal concerts, should be LOUD. Not inaudible of course, but theater shaking pulsating in your face loud. Enough to leave your ears ringing for hours. When TEI starts it should be BAM, not BAM.

For example, whenever there's a big BAM section where a song or riff kicks in on the new A7X tour, they have a RIDICULOUSLY loud explosion. I mean it sounds like a shell that could blow apart a fucking metal fortress (or, shatter it? ) THAT's what should be done at a metal concert.

[Volante99]

I'm kind of in agreement with you there. When I go to a concert I dont want to just hear the music, I want to FEEL it as well. If I want a sparkling clear performance where I can hear every nuance of each performer, I'll throw the CD on.

That said, in my experience DT live (and again maybe this is a venue problem) always seemed a notch too soft on the low end/volume. So seeing all these comments of this tour being "too loud" has surprised me.

[?]

I saw DT in Helsinki and I thought the sound and the mix were pretty good and balanced, and the volume wasn't too loud if you had earplugs.

[keys76]

Been to 5 gigs this tour and Nigel is doing an awesome job.
Very balanced, not too loud so enough room for dynamics.
Sure it depends on where you're standing but inmho the quality of the sound is top notch!

Jeroen

[dodido253]

I've been at barcelona - Sant jordi club and the sound was AMAZING! so balanced and clean