New DT Tour dates

[Chino]

Dream Theater's Facebook page is still advertising the remaining shows as "The Astonishing" in its entirety, but it is my understanding that they lopped off two songs.  Just when I was really digging JP's univibe tone on "Road to Revolution."

Wait, what? They cut out tracks?

Yes, I think it's Road to Revolution, Heaven's Cove and Begin Again.

Wow. That blows.

[BelichickFan]

Dream Theater's Facebook page is still advertising the remaining shows as "The Astonishing" in its entirety, but it is my understanding that they lopped off two songs.  Just when I was really digging JP's univibe tone on "Road to Revolution."

Wait, what? They cut out tracks?

Yes, I think it's Road to Revolution, Heaven's Cove and Begin Again.

Wow. That blows.

It does.  I guess I would reluctantly trade those three for the new As I Am, The Spirit Carries On, Pull Me Under encore.  But adding the encore without cutting those other tracks would have been optimal for sure.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Dream Theater's Facebook page is still advertising the remaining shows as "The Astonishing" in its entirety, but it is my understanding that they lopped off two songs.  Just when I was really digging JP's univibe tone on "Road to Revolution."

Wait, what? They cut out tracks?

Yes, I think it's Road to Revolution, Heaven's Cove and Begin Again.

Wow. That blows.

It does.  I guess I would reluctantly trade those three for the new As I Am, The Spirit Carries On, Pull Me Under encore.  But adding the encore without cutting those other tracks would have been optimal for sure.

All I know is if I were in a place that had not seen the Astonishing at all, like North Carolina for instance, I would be pissed that I would be missing 3 songs from, and not getting a complete show. I was never hugely on board with the band NEEDING an encore, but I definitely don't need it in favor of songs from TA. They should have added the encore to the end of the whole album, or stuck to their guns and not done it at all.

That being said, I'm glad I got to see the album twice in it's entirety, but I'm good to see something else.

[El Barto]

As I said before, I think it's an improvement for a variety of reasons. And I say that as somebody who likes Road to Revolution.

[Ben_Jamin]

As I said before, I think it's an improvement for a variety of reasons. And I say that as somebody who likes Road to Revolution.

No it's not. We as fans are spoiled and them trading 4 songs to please us...it makes me feel, I don't know, spoiled. I am glad I get to see TSCO live but not at the expense of my four favorites from The Astonishing. Also, couldn't you get them for False advertising if they're not actually playing the entirety.

[Mr. Ister]

Road to Revolution is one of the only memorable songs on Disc 2.  Why would they cut that out?  Cut out the stupid beep boop tracks.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Road to Revolution is one of the only memorable songs on Disc 2. 

So memorable we forgot it was on Disc 1!

[bosk1]

[hefdaddy42]

lol

[Ben_Jamin]

That's why it's "on the road to revolution" to disc 2

[El Barto]

As I said before, I think it's an improvement for a variety of reasons. And I say that as somebody who likes Road to Revolution.

No it's not. We as fans are spoiled and them trading 4 songs to please us...it makes me feel, I don't know, spoiled. I am glad I get to see TSCO live but not at the expense of my four favorites from The Astonishing. Also, couldn't you get them for False advertising if they're not actually playing the entirety.

Were you able to see both versions? The pacing was better and I thought the first act ended better with the ANW solo. Frankly, the biggest fault in the whole thing is cutting any songs at all. It wasn't that long a show to begin with.

And we the fans should be spoiled. They only get to  do what they do because of us. Christ, Dio sang a song he despised every night for most of his career because he understood what it was really about.

[Mr. Ister]

Oh fuck I was thinking of moment of betrayal

stupid DT and their overuse of prepositional phrases

[Prog Snob]

Sure, blame it on grammar. Where's King?

[Ben_Jamin]

As I said before, I think it's an improvement for a variety of reasons. And I say that as somebody who likes Road to Revolution.

No it's not. We as fans are spoiled and them trading 4 songs to please us...it makes me feel, I don't know, spoiled. I am glad I get to see TSCO live but not at the expense of my four favorites from The Astonishing. Also, couldn't you get them for False advertising if they're not actually playing the entirety.

Were you able to see both versions? The pacing was better and I thought the first act ended better with the ANW solo. Frankly, the biggest fault in the whole thing is cutting any songs at all. It wasn't that long a show to begin with.

And we the fans should be spoiled. They only get to  do what they do because of us. Christ, Dio sang a song he despised every night for most of his career because he understood what it was really about.

No we as "fans" shouldn't be spoiled. Imagine DT playing in the '70's. Blame MTV and the radio. Hell, I'm glad I get to these great acts, and others don't get to witness this great music.

[El Barto]

As I said before, I think it's an improvement for a variety of reasons. And I say that as somebody who likes Road to Revolution.

No it's not. We as fans are spoiled and them trading 4 songs to please us...it makes me feel, I don't know, spoiled. I am glad I get to see TSCO live but not at the expense of my four favorites from The Astonishing. Also, couldn't you get them for False advertising if they're not actually playing the entirety.

Were you able to see both versions? The pacing was better and I thought the first act ended better with the ANW solo. Frankly, the biggest fault in the whole thing is cutting any songs at all. It wasn't that long a show to begin with.

And we the fans should be spoiled. They only get to  do what they do because of us. Christ, Dio sang a song he despised every night for most of his career because he understood what it was really about.

No we as "fans" shouldn't be spoiled. Imagine DT playing in the '70's. Blame MTV and the radio. Hell, I'm glad I get to these great acts, and others don't get to witness this great music.

A privilege you pay them handsomely for. They don't do what they do out of a sense of generosity. Frankly, they're luck as fuck to get to make a nice living doing what they enjoy.

[Ben_Jamin]

As I said before, I think it's an improvement for a variety of reasons. And I say that as somebody who likes Road to Revolution.

No it's not. We as fans are spoiled and them trading 4 songs to please us...it makes me feel, I don't know, spoiled. I am glad I get to see TSCO live but not at the expense of my four favorites from The Astonishing. Also, couldn't you get them for False advertising if they're not actually playing the entirety.

Were you able to see both versions? The pacing was better and I thought the first act ended better with the ANW solo. Frankly, the biggest fault in the whole thing is cutting any songs at all. It wasn't that long a show to begin with.

And we the fans should be spoiled. They only get to  do what they do because of us. Christ, Dio sang a song he despised every night for most of his career because he understood what it was really about.

No we as "fans" shouldn't be spoiled. Imagine DT playing in the '70's. Blame MTV and the radio. Hell, I'm glad I get to these great acts, and others don't get to witness this great music.

A privilege you pay them handsomely for. They don't do what they do out of a sense of generosity. Frankly, they're luck as fuck to get to make a nice living doing what they enjoy.

Well duh. But they don't have to cater to the fans whom are the most spoiled fans I know. I mean, people aren't enjoying music anymore, ironically it shows at the shows. JP and others are right, music is dying and machines are what is creating it. Look at the popularity of EDM shows.

[El Barto]

As I said before, I think it's an improvement for a variety of reasons. And I say that as somebody who likes Road to Revolution.

No it's not. We as fans are spoiled and them trading 4 songs to please us...it makes me feel, I don't know, spoiled. I am glad I get to see TSCO live but not at the expense of my four favorites from The Astonishing. Also, couldn't you get them for False advertising if they're not actually playing the entirety.

Were you able to see both versions? The pacing was better and I thought the first act ended better with the ANW solo. Frankly, the biggest fault in the whole thing is cutting any songs at all. It wasn't that long a show to begin with.

And we the fans should be spoiled. They only get to  do what they do because of us. Christ, Dio sang a song he despised every night for most of his career because he understood what it was really about.

No we as "fans" shouldn't be spoiled. Imagine DT playing in the '70's. Blame MTV and the radio. Hell, I'm glad I get to these great acts, and others don't get to witness this great music.

A privilege you pay them handsomely for. They don't do what they do out of a sense of generosity. Frankly, they're luck as fuck to get to make a nice living doing what they enjoy.

Well duh. But they don't have to cater to the fans whom are the most spoiled fans I know. I mean, people aren't enjoying music anymore, ironically it shows at the shows. JP and others are right, music is dying and machines are what is creating it. Look at the popularity of EDM shows.

They do have to cater to those fans if they want to be as successful as they were when they had a bandmate that spoiled all of those fans. As somebody (maybe it was you) the other day said, Portnoy was a fan's musician. That's awesome. DT are musician's musicians and those, by definition, exclude most of the public. It showed this tour.

[Prog Snob]

EB is right. Unless they want to wind up like the next Geoff Tate, they do need to go along with the greater majority of the fans. You can't make everyone happy but I think they realized adding this second leg, to cities they rarely go to, would have been better served mixing up the setlist. Those cities want to see their "hits" so throwing The Astonishing in its entirety at them probably disappointed many of them. Now, because of the poor ticket sales, those cities will probably never see Dream Theater again.

[El Barto]

My problem is that if they can't come back here it'll be the fault of us spoiled fans. I don't think that's fair at all. However, I can't speak for San Antonio and the bafflingly chosen Corpus Christie, but attendance in Dallas was pretty good. It seemed to be nearly, but not quite, on par with their other gigs here. It probably wasn't cost effective, but that's owning to their always poor choice of venue.

[Prog Snob]

I didn't get Corpus Christie either. Who is the man responsible for actuarial research? I think he should be fired. I'm sure there is someone crunching numbers for them, trying to figure out what's best for the band to make money. I'm also assuming if they're playing some random location, like CC, that they would look at how far fans from other nearby cities would have to travel. Is CC near anything else that would justify them choosing that location?

[El Barto]

I didn't get Corpus Christie either. Who is the man responsible for actuarial research? I think he should be fired. I'm sure there is someone crunching numbers for them, trying to figure out what's best for the band to make money. I'm also assuming if they're playing some random location, like CC, that they would look at how far fans from other nearby cities would have to travel. Is CC near anything else that would justify them choosing that location?

Yeah, San Antonio. 

My guess is that they just booked places where people were willing to book them. Somebody in CC said yeah and nobody in Houston did. But honestly, this whole tour has been baffling.

[Ben_Jamin]

JLB kicked ass tonight. He hit all the notes, and then some. We rocked so hard he even told us to sing along. The best was when he forgot the lyrics to The beginning of Losing Faythe. My gosh, I can't believe how on for they were. JLB even held the mic out for us to sing the last chorus of PMU

[Prog Snob]

I didn't get Corpus Christie either. Who is the man responsible for actuarial research? I think he should be fired. I'm sure there is someone crunching numbers for them, trying to figure out what's best for the band to make money. I'm also assuming if they're playing some random location, like CC, that they would look at how far fans from other nearby cities would have to travel. Is CC near anything else that would justify them choosing that location?

Yeah, San Antonio. 

My guess is that they just booked places where people were willing to book them. Somebody in CC said yeah and nobody in Houston did. But honestly, this whole tour has been baffling.

I concur. Your first sentence is probably more along the lines of what happened. I'm sure the band wanted to play places like Houston but wound up in...Corpus Christie. Looking back at my list, they did play there in 2005 but it was for Gigantour.

[El Barto]

I didn't get Corpus Christie either. Who is the man responsible for actuarial research? I think he should be fired. I'm sure there is someone crunching numbers for them, trying to figure out what's best for the band to make money. I'm also assuming if they're playing some random location, like CC, that they would look at how far fans from other nearby cities would have to travel. Is CC near anything else that would justify them choosing that location?

Yeah, San Antonio. 

My guess is that they just booked places where people were willing to book them. Somebody in CC said yeah and nobody in Houston did. But honestly, this whole tour has been baffling.

I concur. Your first sentence is probably more along the lines of what happened. I'm sure the band wanted to play places like Houston but wound up in...Corpus Christie. Looking back at my list, they did play there in 2005 but it was for Gigantour.

Corpus does get shows. It's just not really a standalone destination or a substitute for Houston. If you're playing 3 dates in Texas, Corpus makes no sense. If you're playing 6, then it's a reasonable spot to hit.

And others here would have better knowledge, but it was one of the Southern Texas cities that actually put DT on the map. Not sure if it was Corpus or Galveston (which would be a halfway viable alternative to Houston), but one of those towns had a DJ that started the initial run with Pull Me Under.

[cramx3]

JLB kicked ass tonight. He hit all the notes, and then some. We rocked so hard he even told us to sing along. The best was when he forgot the lyrics to The beginning of Losing Faythe. My gosh, I can't believe how on for they were. JLB even held the mic out for us to sing the last chorus of PMU

Nice, the band really was on fire this tour.  That's one thing that gets lost in the complaints and other commentary on the tour is that the band was really performing at a high level.  I thought the show in NJ they may have sounded better than ever before.  I guess that's part of them having played it so many times now.

[Ben_Jamin]

JLB kicked ass tonight. He hit all the notes, and then some. We rocked so hard he even told us to sing along. The best was when he forgot the lyrics to The beginning of Losing Faythe. My gosh, I can't believe how on for they were. JLB even held the mic out for us to sing the last chorus of PMU

Nice, the band really was on fire this tour.  That's one thing that gets lost in the complaints and other commentary on the tour is that the band was really performing at a high level.  I thought the show in NJ they may have sounded better than ever before.  I guess that's part of them having played it so many times now.

Plus it seemed that they were just presenting a DT show. I guess it helped the video screen wasn't really working

[cramx3]

JLB kicked ass tonight. He hit all the notes, and then some. We rocked so hard he even told us to sing along. The best was when he forgot the lyrics to The beginning of Losing Faythe. My gosh, I can't believe how on for they were. JLB even held the mic out for us to sing the last chorus of PMU

Nice, the band really was on fire this tour.  That's one thing that gets lost in the complaints and other commentary on the tour is that the band was really performing at a high level.  I thought the show in NJ they may have sounded better than ever before.  I guess that's part of them having played it so many times now.

Plus it seemed that they were just presenting a DT show. I guess it helped the video screen wasn't really working

The screen wasn't working?

[RaiseTheKnife]

For those going to Anaheim, see ya'll tonight!  I'll be in general admission section (GA tix near stage still available today   )

[cramx3]

For those going to Anaheim, see ya'll tonight!  I'll be in general admission section (GA tix near stage still available today   )

There's a GA pit?  That's interesting for these shows.  Have fun!

[RaiseTheKnife]

For those going to Anaheim, see ya'll tonight!  I'll be in general admission section (GA tix near stage still available today   )

There's a GA pit?  That's interesting for these shows.  Have fun!

The seated area at The Grove is a more appropriate dinner theater with a tables, full meal, wait staff, etc.  An enjoyable, communal DT experience, but couldn't do it this time due to the show falling on a work day (dinner service starts at 6:30pm and there is no way I could navigate the 405 freeway in time).

[Prog Snob]

I didn't get Corpus Christie either. Who is the man responsible for actuarial research? I think he should be fired. I'm sure there is someone crunching numbers for them, trying to figure out what's best for the band to make money. I'm also assuming if they're playing some random location, like CC, that they would look at how far fans from other nearby cities would have to travel. Is CC near anything else that would justify them choosing that location?

Yeah, San Antonio. 

My guess is that they just booked places where people were willing to book them. Somebody in CC said yeah and nobody in Houston did. But honestly, this whole tour has been baffling.

I concur. Your first sentence is probably more along the lines of what happened. I'm sure the band wanted to play places like Houston but wound up in...Corpus Christie. Looking back at my list, they did play there in 2005 but it was for Gigantour.

Corpus does get shows. It's just not really a standalone destination or a substitute for Houston. If you're playing 3 dates in Texas, Corpus makes no sense. If you're playing 6, then it's a reasonable spot to hit.

And others here would have better knowledge, but it was one of the Southern Texas cities that actually put DT on the map. Not sure if it was Corpus or Galveston (which would be a halfway viable alternative to Houston), but one of those towns had a DJ that started the initial run with Pull Me Under.

That's a good trivia question. Where's Scotty?

[gzarruk]

I found a couple clips of the Encore songs from Grand Prairie on Youtube:


- Pull Me Under
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUoM4vnismc


- As I Am (solo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azHJJp-l4CY


- The Spirit Carries On (solo)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zov1SWUOQ0

[Ben_Jamin]

JLB kicked ass tonight. He hit all the notes, and then some. We rocked so hard he even told us to sing along. The best was when he forgot the lyrics to The beginning of Losing Faythe. My gosh, I can't believe how on for they were. JLB even held the mic out for us to sing the last chorus of PMU

Nice, the band really was on fire this tour.  That's one thing that gets lost in the complaints and other commentary on the tour is that the band was really performing at a high level.  I thought the show in NJ they may have sounded better than ever before.  I guess that's part of them having played it so many times now.

Plus it seemed that they were just presenting a DT show. I guess it helped the video screen wasn't really working

The screen wasn't working?

It seemed like it at parts.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Observations on my third time seeing The Astonishing live:

Abridged Album:  From what I recall, five songs were nixed: X-Aspect (too bad  ), Road to Revolution, Heaven's Cove, Begin Again and Whispers on the Wind.

Having Act I end with A New Beginning was perplexing for many because there was no indication that the set would wrap early.  James was long gone from the stage during the instrumental section and JP solo, so once the song ended, and the band ran off stage and the lights went up, a few people were scratching heads.  Awkward.  As far as better pacing, I can understand that argument, but having grown accustom to the song order, the missing tracks were very noticeable to me. 

Our New World:  Lizzy sounded great live! 

Heard rumblings that Astonishing was given space as an encore, but not last night. Hymn, Power Down and Astonishing played consecutively without a break. 

The added "classic" encore gave a much needed boost in energy to the audience, and the band responded in kind.  Didn't expect a mini-solo spot before Spirit, which was nice.  Perhaps the classic encore was trade up from those missing tracks after all.

This was the first time that I noticed that the NOMAC picture kiosk in the lobby was transmitting fan images onto the stage screen during the intermission.  I suppose that's the interactive element that was advertised.  Pretty cool though.

[El Barto]

This was the first time that I noticed that the NOMAC picture kiosk in the lobby was transmitting fan images onto the stage screen during the intermission.  I suppose that's the interactive element that was advertised.  Pretty cool though.

Huh. Didn't see that at any of my shows. Actually, Sunday night was the first time I even saw one in the lobby.