2016-02-18 & 19 - Palladium, London UK

[ResultsMayVary]

I still trying to believe how much JP uses the 7 string on TA. It's incredible. I've always loved that extended range.

[IdoSC]

James sounds fantastic on this guy's recordings!

+1

My friend of mine said he sang like a old woman ,but he doesn't like his voice.(His favorite album are SC, BC&SL, ToT and FII)

Funnily enough these exact 4 albums fill the bottom 4 of my list (maybe replace FII with WDADU for 4th least favorite, depending on the day).

I love his voice and I'm more into what he does in most of this album compared to typical Metal vocalists - soft, almost operatic voice when possible, and a menacing Freddie Mercury when he needs to go more metal.

Specifically talking about this performance though, minus a few hiccups in those quick transitions from his low-mid to high range (which admittedly happen a lot in this album), he sounded really spot on based on these videos. The Gift of Music was easily the worst performance there and it's the first song where he sings on the album/show, and it's VERY high, and VERY quick, so it's highly understandable; it took him quite a while to nail The Looking Glass and that song has similar problems, except it has slower vocal melodies than TGOM so it's even easier.

The performance was great otherwise though, something that cannot be said (IMO) about his earliest performances in either of the last two tours - namely the DT12 tour and the 2015 short festival/anniversary tour (though in the latter he was sick, and the former had craziness like Illumination Theory so it's quite understandable).

Regarding his "possibly autotune" moments in the album that stirred a pretty large debate previously, I'm impressed with how well he sang them here (even if it still doesn't prove anything to some people). "People just don't have the time for music..." was done decently enough, and "Now I can be a voice for change" (in "Astonishing") was very accurate to the album's rendition, at least as far as I can hear. Which may not be too far, but still. I'm glad about that.

Whoops, sorry for the rant. At least it's a mostly positive rant!

[genome]

Apologies for the pretty poor photos here, my camera phone is quite shit and I had to take them quickly before the photo police ran over to threaten me with certain death. A decent view of the stage and lighting if nothing else. Open in a new tab for full-res blurriness.

[CharlesPL]

Thx for the upload genome

[Clancy Wiggum]

Yeah, thanks for the photos.

One thing I forgot to mention from my earlier post; the lighting was really good.

[CharlesPL]

MM :

MM :

Thank you London. I am stunned at the reactions to this show. There wasn't a soul that commented even remotely critical and I've never seen an entire DT thread be so overwhelmingly positive and simply satisfied. I cannot explain the care and stress of the last many months behind the scenes getting such an over the top show production to actually work on night #1. If you only knew what was put into this show from so many people that it is overwhelming. Back where I am, I had no idea what anybody was thinking until the end. I never saw such a total reaction like that in my life. Everything in my body hurts and I'm going to sleep 12 hours. Thank you again.

[CharlesPL]

[mike099]

Thanks for the pictures.  For anyone that went to the show:

Did DT actually play the 2 overtures?  There was talk that these may be tapes.
Did DT's playing get buried in the backing tracks of the choir, orchestra,etc?  In other words, was there good balance.
If anyone got a pic of the merchandise for sale, please post. 

Also, I would like to say that MM seems like a really nice and appreciative guy based on the two posts I have read.

[ResultsMayVary]

Thanks for the pictures.  For anyone that went to the show:

Did DT actually play the 2 overtures?  There was talk that these may be tapes.
Did DT's playing get buried in the backing tracks of the choir, orchestra,etc?  In other words, was there good balance.
If anyone got a pic of the merchandise for sale, please post. 

Also, I would like to say that MM seems like a really nice and appreciative guy based on the two posts I have read.

Here's a video of Descent / Dystopian / The Gift of Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fxUj1LvSNY

They played the first overture, so I imagine the second was played as well. But I wasn't there, so don't take my word as fact.

[Ben_Jamin]

It's only the first show. There's gonna be plenty of hiccups and flaws....

I'm more excited now.

[CrimsonSunrise]

Thanks for the pictures.  For anyone that went to the show:

Did DT actually play the 2 overtures?  There was talk that these may be tapes.
Did DT's playing get buried in the backing tracks of the choir, orchestra,etc?  In other words, was there good balance.
If anyone got a pic of the merchandise for sale, please post. 

Also, I would like to say that MM seems like a really nice and appreciative guy based on the two posts I have read.

Here's a video of Descent / Dystopian / The Gift of Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fxUj1LvSNY

They played the first overture, so I imagine the second was played as well. But I wasn't there, so don't take my word as fact.

Yeah....  just got a lil chubby....

[Peter Mc]

Visually it was easily the best show in terms of the staging (no costumes though Dave!). Whilst the visuals were striking though, they did not really help in any way in terms if understanding the story. Like someone has already said, if you go in to this not knowing the story, you'll be none the wiser when you come out.

Sound was fine where I was, a little off at first but great once the first couple of songs were out of the way.

I will say though that the band were quite static (even more than usual!). I think this is largely down to it being the first show though and them concentrating on not cocking anything up. They will probably loosen up more as it goes on.

Maybe because they were a little static, and maybe because I was pretty high up looking down on the show, I spent a lot of time watching Mangini and he was incredible tonight. That swing blastbeat thing was awesome as was the section of the title track he described earlier in the thread. He was actually playing two separate drum rolls simultaneously with his two different hands, just incredible to watch.

They did play the two overtures, I wondered if they would after the SDOIT overture was piped in, as was False Awakening Suite last time. NOMAC stuff was pretty cool with the visuals included as well. Some of the vocals were piped in, not a huge amount of them, but occasionally.

There was no encore at the end and this did result in a smattering of boos. It seemed fairly lighthearted booing though, I don't think anyone was genuinely storming out of there in disgust that they didn't come back for an encore.

Overall a great show, not my favourite DT show, that probably goes to the SFAM tour or SDOIT tour, but awesome nonetheless. Highlights for me were mainly my favourites anyway but Brother Can You Hear Me was an unexpected one as it is not one of my faves on the record. Well deserved standing ovation at the end.

[CrimsonSunrise]

While understandable, it was weird to hear James basically doing a duet with his pre-recorded self in "The Offer"

[SebastianPratesi]

Thanks to everyone here who talked about the show.

I have a few questions, if anyone cares to comment:

1. I guess most of the animation from the album trailer was shown tonight, right? I'm curious as to what songs were playing when Xander is flying on the bird, and when that guy (Arhys, maybe?) is dancing before throwing his hammer (you know, at 0:52).

2. Which songs did you like more in the show than in the album, and why?

Also: not a question, but I just watched the "Astonishing" video posted before, and I'm amazed at Mike's playing during Nafaryus lines. Wow!

[KevShmev]

Thanks for the pictures.  For anyone that went to the show:

Did DT actually play the 2 overtures?  There was talk that these may be tapes.
Did DT's playing get buried in the backing tracks of the choir, orchestra,etc?  In other words, was there good balance.
If anyone got a pic of the merchandise for sale, please post. 

Also, I would like to say that MM seems like a really nice and appreciative guy based on the two posts I have read.

Here's a video of Descent / Dystopian / The Gift of Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fxUj1LvSNY

They played the first overture, so I imagine the second was played as well. But I wasn't there, so don't take my word as fact.

Cool to see, and while I know that is not a pro shot, that sound is not that good.  You could barely even hear the choir at about the 5-minute mark of the video, and that is one of the coolest moments of Act I, yet was drowned out in the mix.  First night, I know...

[Progmetty]

I dunno why I thought there was gonna be an orchestra there, looks cool anyway.

[As I Am]

from a few different people on the Voices UK (ex fanclub) group on Facebook:

Video presentation is good, but missed opportunity in conveying the story. If you don't know what it's about going in, you won't coming out.

Some of what is on the screens is pretty cringeworthy. I was expecting a lot more to be honest.

This is SO F'N weak! Why bother with the big screens if it doesn't convey the story. What a waste.

[SystematicThought]

I dunno why I thought there was gonna be an orchestra there, looks cool anyway.

I thought I had read somewhere that the screens were gonna have choirs and orchestras, but I guess not

[SwedishGoose]

I dunno why I thought there was gonna be an orchestra there, looks cool anyway.

I thought I had read somewhere that the screens were gonna have choirs and orchestras, but I guess not

From what I understood of that the sound of the orchestra and choir was in the same file as the video playing on the screens. I never thought the screens would show the orchestra and choir but would tell the story.

[nikatapi]

Seems like a cool stage production, even though i expected more given the comments from the band.

[jbrum77634]

Soo jealous of you in London now....

11 days and it's Swedens turn.

I'm curious about the merch they have... can you tell us something

Guess a tourbook will be a must for this tour.. but how about hoodies, shirts t-shirts...

Don't have any pics but on the merch -

1 x hoody
1 x longsleeve
1 x album cover tee
1 x tee with characters on the front

and at least 2 other tees related to the new album.

The tour stops are on the back of the album cover tee but not the dates.

And a tourbook obviously and I spotted a tote bag.

Tees were £25, long sleeve was £30, I think the hoody was £45 and the tourbook is £15 but pretty thick/large.

[rude boy]

It seems to me that Mangini sonuds much better on these youtube videos than on the album itself (the cymbals in particular).

I'm not sure if anyone else shares this opinion.

[jbrum77634]

I think the camera police issue is largely the venue policy in London, it's a traditional theatre and they tend to enforce that rigidly and quite rightly for that type of event.    The 3-4 announcements before the show about switching off phones (and pagers) ) will be par for the course for the venue along with selling ice cream at the interval for a huge profit.

I'm hoping this wont be the case at in Amsterdam next week, last time I was there I could take pics as much as I wanted.

[ariich]

Just wondering if anyone is going to tonight's show and heading to the Argyll Arms beforehand?

[Kotowboy]

An encore doesn't mean anything any more. It's just panto.

Well that's our last song..No it isn't !

Going off stage for 3 mins to play the rest of the set which is written down ?

Act 2 is the "encore". . .

[Clancy Wiggum]

Thanks to everyone here who talked about the show.

2. Which songs did you like more in the show than in the album, and why?

Not saying it's the only one, but Our New World really stood out. The audience were fairly subdued but were most definitely impressed by that one.

[?]

Does anybody know how long the show and the intermission were? Was there anything on the screen during the break, like the Youtube compilation 2 years ago?

So what was all that "Dress rehearsal" thing about? and James posting on FB that he couldn't wait to bring the wardrobe he received on stage... they all look in normal "DT stage clothes" as always.

A dress rehearsal in this case (probably) means playing the whole show (with lights, screens and all) from start to finish without an audience.

[Jinx]

I really thought Brother Can You Hear Me stood out, as well as A New Beginning (which is my favourite track anyway). But yeah as the Chief pointed out, Our New World was just rocking and got everyone on their feet (finally!).

Also I would say Astonishing would be the encore. Just wraps the whole thing up after the power of Our New World

[Jinx]

Does anybody know how long the show and the intermission were? Was there anything on the screen during the break, like the Youtube compilation 2 years ago?

Think it was about 20 mins. Whole show was 2 hrs 30. Nothing at all during the intermission though. And when they started again there was a ton of people not in their seats so most of the 2nd Overture was spent by people rushing back.

One more thing I forgot to mention. This show seemed a little less personal due to there being no talking to the crowd from James. He came out and asked how everyone was doing on the intros off Gift and Astonishing. I understand that due to the nature of the show and interrupting the flow but I kinda enjoy his awkward banter. 

[jbrum77634]

Does anybody know how long the show and the intermission were? Was there anything on the screen during the break, like the Youtube compilation 2 years ago?

Think it was about 20 mins. Whole show was 2 hrs 30. Nothing at all during the intermission though. And when they started again there was a ton of people not in their seats so most of the 2nd Overture was spent by people rushing back.

One more thing I forgot to mention. This show seemed a little less personal due to there being no talking to the crowd from James. He came out and asked how everyone was doing on the intros off Gift and Astonishing. I understand that due to the nature of the show and interrupting the flow but I kinda enjoy his awkward banter. 


The queue for the toilet was probably where most of the missing people were after the break, took me most of that time to get there and back.

Or maybe checking out the smallest merch stand in the history of rock 

[ariich]

So what was all that "Dress rehearsal" thing about? and James posting on FB that he couldn't wait to bring the wardrobe he received on stage... they all look in normal "DT stage clothes" as always.

A dress rehearsal in this case (probably) means playing the whole show (with lights, screens and all) from start to finish without an audience.

That's what it means in all cases - performing something in full exactly as you will on the night. Implies nothing about costumes.

On the point about encores, 1. we knew this already, and 2. the title track basically is an encore. The actual story has finished by that point, and it mainly serves to go over a few of the main themes again.

[Estiui]

My god, James sounds terrible, just like those people who are not listening to themselves while singing. 

[Lloyd]

I managed to get last minute tickets for tonights show, seeing the photos here is getting me pretty excited!

I don't care too much for epic visuals and stage creativity, as long as the music is conveyed well, it's all that matters to me.

I'm also glad last nights performance went well, if there was any hitches I hope they can tweak them in time for the second bout.

[krands85]

 I've already been on the train to London for almost an hour, this is gonna be a long day 

[CharlesPL]

Chosen - solo audio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_kp0x0ehHw