New DT Tour dates

[Prog Snob]

With all of these complaints about zig-zagging across the country, did anyone stop to think it might be because of the availability of the dates?

[Anguyen92]

Apparently, on November 18th, they will hit Temecula, CA at Pechanga Resort & Casino.  I've seen a show at that casino before when I saw Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.  It's an all right theater.  All right crowd, although maybe a bit too casual crowd that's just there to hear the GNR hits and nothing more.  I'll be intrigued of the crowd reaction that's going to see DT play The Astonishing.

Two shows in SoCal coming up.  I didn't see their shows in LA due to being busy with school, but I wouldn't mind seeing them in Anaheim or Temecula if the financial opportunity presents themselves.

[El Barto]

With all of these complaints about zig-zagging across the country, did anyone stop to think it might be because of the availability of the dates?

Of course. You have to allow for some wasted travel. At the same time, starting a tour from scratch you should be able to organize things with some semblance of sanity. I'm not seeing much of that here.

[El Barto]

Apparently, on November 18th, they will hit Temecula, CA at Pechanga Resort & Casino.  I've seen a show at that casino before when I saw Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators.  It's an all right theater.  All right crowd, although maybe a bit too casual crowd that's just there to hear the GNR hits and nothing more.  I'll be intrigued of the crowd reaction that's going to see DT play The Astonishing.

Two shows in SoCal coming up.  I didn't see their shows in LA due to being busy with school, but I wouldn't mind seeing them in Anaheim or Temecula if the financial opportunity presents themselves.

Now that's a really interesting point. I wouldn't call the audience at Pechanga "maybe a bit too casual," myself. I think I'd go with "shitfaced and highly raucous." They could make the show a real hoot, though not in the manner people might hope for. 

[TAC]

With all of these complaints about zig-zagging across the country, did anyone stop to think it might be because of the availability of the dates?

Of course. You have to allow for some wasted travel. At the same time, starting a tour from scratch you should be able to organize things with some semblance of sanity. I'm not seeing much of that here.

Might be the most bizarrely communicated tour I've ever seen. Perhaps they tried to give the fans a reason to check back everyday, kind of a new announcement daily. But like others have mentioned, the staggering of on sales amongst close cities is strange.

[Awaken]

With all of these complaints about zig-zagging across the country, did anyone stop to think it might be because of the availability of the dates?

Of course. You have to allow for some wasted travel. At the same time, starting a tour from scratch you should be able to organize things with some semblance of sanity. I'm not seeing much of that here.

Agreed - it's certainly not a complaint from me at all, just an odd way to work it that's all

[Setlist Scotty]

This second leg is just one WTF after another. A whole lot of ill-advised decisions. Corpus makes no sense. It's close enough to SA to cover that base, and too far from Houston to get any of those folks. It'll actually lessen sales of the SA gig, or it would if the handful of fans hadn't already blown their money on SA tickets. They won't get more than a handful doing both gigs.  Better still, the dates for the locales are batshit crazy. The KC to Tuscon leg of this tour clocks in at 2814 miles, and it doesn't include Houston. By putting the dates in order they could have knocked that down to 1802, and that was actually factoring in a stop in Houston. How does KC to Corpus and then back to Tulsa and down to Dallas make any sense?

The northeast segment makes me scratch my head, as well.  PA to NH, VT, NY, MA, NJ then on to . . .  Maine . . . before heading back down to NY.  It's odd.

As ProgSnob said, it probably has to do with venue availability. Even if you look at the tourdates for previous tours, you would see some odd routing of the tours where the band is zigzagging back and forth. And that's not just DT. I remember catching Rush on the Vapor Trails tour. I saw them in LA, then San Diego, then Phoenix, then....Irvine (which is between LA and San Diego). In any case, management wouldn't agree to this routing if it was going to be too costly. Certainly in the NE it's not that big of a deal to zigzag, given the close proximity to many of the cities.

As for why they booked Corpus Christi instead of Houston - good question. But maybe it was because there weren't any promoters/venues in Houston willing to book the show within the window of time given. And at least the show is in Corpus Christi as opposed to Austin, which is closer to SA and not that far away from D/FW.

Is this shaping up to be one of their more extensive USA tours?

It's odd they aren't doing something like this with a more career spanning setlists for the cities that haven't seen DT in a long time.

Definitely the most extensive run they've done through North America in quite a few years - probably at least the M2000 if not before. They always seemed to stick with the maximum of 5 weeks on the road at one time. Perhaps now that most of their kids are high school/college age, they're finally lifting that restriction.

Might be the most bizarrely communicated tour I've ever seen. Perhaps they tried to give the fans a reason to check back everyday, kind of a new announcement daily. But like others have mentioned, the staggering of on sales amongst close cities is strange.

I don't know if I'd say that Tim. I mean, it does seem a bit strange in comparison to how DT's announced tourdates for years, but back in the day, the trickling in of tourdates was a normal thing, and this resembles that. Why are they going this route as opposed to having everything lined up ahead of time and just announcing them all at once is a mystery, but I wouldn't be surprised if it is as you suggested - giving fans a reason to check back on a regular basis.

[El Barto]

As for why they booked Corpus Christi instead of Houston - good question. But maybe it was because there weren't any promoters/venues in Houston willing to book the show within the window of time given. And at least the show is in Corpus Christi as opposed to Austin, which is closer to SA and not that far away from D/FW.

The thing is, Corpus isn't an alternative to Houston (or anything else, for that matter). It's essentially a standalone destination out in the middle of nowhere, and they're going out of their way to play there. Again, I can't claim to understand all of the intricacies of putting together a tour, but I think I am qualified to surmise when something was organized by a monkey strung out on tequila and meth. 

[bosk1]

...strung out on tequila and meth. 

Would that even work?  I mean, hypothetically speaking.

[El Barto]

...strung out on tequila and meth. 

Would that even work?  I mean, hypothetically speaking.

Sure. Not sure why it'd be questionable. Strung out doesn't imply that either was taken to excess. Just over a relatively long duration. Also, speedfreaks can drink pretty hard. Just a matter of maintaining a balance between the two.

[TAC]

...strung out on tequila and meth. 

Would that even work?  I mean, hypothetically speaking.

Sure. Not sure why it'd be questionable. Strung out doesn't imply that either was taken to excess. Just over a relatively long duration. Also, speedfreaks can drink pretty hard. Just a matter of maintaining a balance between the two.

Apparently NOT hypothetically speaking!

[bluehaze]

This slow drip of shows doesn't really give a lot of time between tickets sales and the show. Two and a half months is ample I guess. I just hope that South Florida can be added soon. I've been waiting on buying tickets to Orlando because I am expecting a show down here. I hope they finalize their tour one way or another.

[Prog Snob]

With all of these complaints about zig-zagging across the country, did anyone stop to think it might be because of the availability of the dates?

Of course. You have to allow for some wasted travel. At the same time, starting a tour from scratch you should be able to organize things with some semblance of sanity. I'm not seeing much of that here.

Like you said, what goes into organizing a tour involves monkeys on meth, and unless you have experience with that, it's probably beyond you or any of us. 

[Ben_Jamin]

This is making me nervous. It's looking plausible they'll hit up NM.

[El Barto]

There doesn't look to be any dates available when they pass through NM. At the same time, maybe they'll swing down there between their Vermont and NY gigs.

[Nick]

Chalk it up to a combination of saturation on this tour, and my area sucking for decent music, but take a look at what you could grab for Dream Theater a month out from the show:

https://www.ticketmaster.com/dream-theater-presents-the-astonishing-live-bethlehem-pennsylvania-10-05-2016/event/020050FCA6B06344

It's been like this for awhile now. At pretty much any point over the past month I could have decided to buy 3rd-6th row tickets at face value. I have a suspicion I won't be seeing Dream Theater coming back here.

Edit: On the saturation thing, I've always been fortunate with DT in the northeast, but my god, within a two hour drive of me I could hit *5* shows, 6 if you tack on another half hour. And to think there was a time I might do most of them. Now I'm only going to 1 show because I have a front row ticket.

[El Barto]

Chalk it up to a combination of saturation on this tour, and my area sucking for decent music, but take a look at what you could grab for Dream Theater a month out from the show:

https://www.ticketmaster.com/dream-theater-presents-the-astonishing-live-bethlehem-pennsylvania-10-05-2016/event/020050FCA6B06344

It's been like this for awhile now. At pretty much any point over the past month I could have decided to buy 3rd-6th row tickets at face value. I have a suspicion I won't be seeing Dream Theater coming back here.

Yeah, it's like that everywhere. I saw front row yesterday or the day before for one of those gigs up North. And that's not even including the seats they're still holding on to. Even Southern states are selling poorly. Certainly saturation has something to do with it, but the format doesn't help their cause, either.

[Chino]

I just spent my lunch break going through every section of the Port Chester NY show's venue. 615 tickets have been sold out of the 1800 available.

Some of the seats that were shown as already purchased made no sense though. There were so many better seats for the same price, I can't imagine someone not choosing them if given the choice.

[OpenYourEyes311]

I just spent my lunch break going through every section of the Port Chester NY show's venue. 615 tickets have been sold out of the 1800 available.

Some of the seats that were shown as already purchased made no sense though. There were so many better seats for the same price, I can't imagine someone not choosing them if given the choice.

I was looking the other day at the Worcester MA show, and I'm pretty sure there were under 10 sold in the balcony. No doubt those people will be bumped up a section. I'm just glad I was able to grab a front row ticket, otherwise I'd be pissed paying the prices they're selling tickets for. That has to be part of the reason for them not selling very well. Can't imagine paying $75 for a seat in the back of the theater, the same price for a front row ticket. Makes no sense to me.

[El Barto]

I just spent my lunch break going through every section of the Port Chester NY show's venue. 615 tickets have been sold out of the 1800 available.

Some of the seats that were shown as already purchased made no sense though. There were so many better seats for the same price, I can't imagine someone not choosing them if given the choice.

You got two things working there. One is that people who jumped on the presale might have bought the best available tickets at the time, which are never the best tickets. Three days later they went on sale to the general public and people were buying tickets in front of the presale folk. Happens all the time. The bigger culprit is tickets held back by the band, the promoters, the venue, the local radio stations, etc. A hundred of those seat that show as sold are sitting in will call waiting to be given away.

I was looking the other day at the Worcester MA show, and I'm pretty sure there were under 10 sold in the balcony. No doubt those people will be bumped up a section. I'm just glad I was able to grab a front row ticket, otherwise I'd be pissed paying the prices they're selling tickets for. That has to be part of the reason for them not selling very well. Can't imagine paying $75 for a seat in the back of the theater, the same price for a front row ticket. Makes no sense to me.

I initially suggested that people buy the balcony seats for that very reason. Cheapest seats at face, and you'll get moved down into the good seats. I then backtracked off of that in favor of buying $12 seats on Stub Hub.

[greyghost]

I'm going to be hitting up the Capitol Theatre show in NY. Do I want VIP Platform seats, or do I want front row balcony?

I'm hitting that one--I got front row balcony! (20 bucks cheaper than the Worcester show, which is closer to me, but that one's on a Tuesday--Saturday works much better).
I'm excited for this one partly because I had open-heart surgery right before the Radio City show, so I had to miss this show on the earlier leg.

[Chino]

I went to the RCMH show and thought it wasn't as good as the CT show. I've seen them in CT 7 times including the Astonishing tour, and I think it was their best performance there to date. Where are your seats at the Port Chester show?

I'm sitting in;
SEC Balcony Center A-F   ROW A   SEAT 111
SEC Balcony Center A-F   ROW A   SEAT 112

I'm hoping the view is good. I'm not sure if that Loge section will be directly in front of us or if it will feel as though we're truly in the front row of the balcony. It's a small venue, only 1800 people, so I'm sure it'll be fine either way.

*edit*

Damn. Looks like the front row of the balcony isn't actually the front row of the balcony. I think 'front row' means first row behind that rail. Lame.

[El Barto]

The CT show kicked the hell out of RCMH. Sound was better. Venue was better. Performance was better.

[Chino]

The CT show kicked the hell out of RCMH. Sound was better. Venue was better. Performance was better.

I've been to a lot of concerts around New England, and the Oakdale is hands down my favorite place to see a concert. The sound in that venue is perfect.

[Prog Snob]

Are they hitting CT between South America and Australia?

[Chino]

Hopefully

[greyghost]

I went to the RCMH show and thought it wasn't as good as the CT show. I've seen them in CT 7 times including the Astonishing tour, and I think it was their best performance there to date. Where are your seats at the Port Chester show?

I'm sitting in;
SEC Balcony Center A-F   ROW A   SEAT 111
SEC Balcony Center A-F   ROW A   SEAT 112

I'm hoping the view is good. I'm not sure if that Loge section will be directly in front of us or if it will feel as though we're truly in the front row of the balcony. It's a small venue, only 1800 people, so I'm sure it'll be fine either way.

*edit*

Damn. Looks like the front row of the balcony isn't actually the front row of the balcony. I think 'front row' means first row behind that rail. Lame.

I've got balcony right center, seats 14 and 16.

[kaos2900]

Just got my tickets to the KC show. Had a shot at 3rd row but didn't want to spend the money. Ended going cheap and getting 1st row of the balcony. Can't wait!

[chrisbDTM]

The CT show kicked the hell out of RCMH. Sound was better. Venue was better. Performance was better.

I've been to a lot of concerts around New England, and the Oakdale is hands down my favorite place to see a concert. The sound in that venue is perfect.

The sound was good but that CT show has discouraged me from seeing them anytime soon. I think my DT fanboyism has faded. In the past I would have jumped at opportunities to see them on the second leg of a tour. But definitely not this tour

[Shadow2222]

Looks like they'll be in Columbus, OH on November 5:

https://m.ticketmaster.com/dream-theater-columbus-ohio-11-05-2016/event/0500512EFAD05146

[bluehaze]

According to their latest Facebook post, another Florida date is coming. My guess: Thursday Dec 1 at the Fillmore on Miami Beach or Pompano Beach Amphitheater for a hopefully cool (temp-wise) night outdoors. It's very possible they could prolong the agony with a St. Pete. show announcement and then another announcement later for Southeast Florida. We'll see.

[Dream Team]

I can't believe after all these years they are finally playing in Vermont! Tickets have been purchased.

[bluehaze]

It turns out my second thought was right. They ARE stringing Miami and South Florida along with giving Clearwater, Fl. a date: Dec 1. Three northern dates and none so far in South Florida...onward with the Chinese water torture. Actually, I think the drip is over. It is extremely doubtful that they will play South Florida on Nov 30 or Dec 3rd as that would mean playing each day of the week for almost the whole week. Not likely. At least the Orlando and Clearwater shows are on my days off. I guess I'll drive up to see the Salvador Dali museum in St. Pete and catch their show there.

[Setlist Scotty]

Well, you can't necessarily get everything, bh! Bummer that it's almost certain that they're not coming to southern Florida, but you still got 3 dates in your state nonetheless. Beggars can't be choosers, at least this time. Once they've played northern/central FL on several tours, then you can start banging the drum for them to hit southern FL! 

Anyhoo, there are some noticeable holes in the schedule, so I'm curious to see what cities they'll choose to fill them with, if at all. DT.net shows the Rochester show on the 15th canceled, which means there's no shows the 13-16, but now that this is less than a month away, I can't imagine them announcing any new shows on such short notice. There's also nothing scheduled for Nov. 2-4 (or 5th, since DT.net doesn't list the Columbus date), so I'm wondering what they might try to schedule there - perhaps a show in Iowa, Rochester MN, or maybe hit Chicago and/or the twin cities again? Then there's the 21-27 - I'd still imagine they'll schedule a show in Salt Lake City, maybe Vegas and/or Albuquerque, and probably a show in TN and/or VA as they make their way back to the east coast. I guess time will tell, altho the clock's ticking!

[Ben_Jamin]

Kinda getting less likely for Albq. I don't mind. Will most likely head to Arizona.