2017 Jan. 30 - Rome, Italy -- SPOILERS

[gzarruk]

Quite enjoying hearing the songs in a new key actually.

I am too! Great to see most people here don't have any complaints about the lower key on the IAW songs. Even though it's just a semitone lower, it helps James a lot to not force his voice too much.

How the hell there is no single clip of ACOS? I search youtube every hour, dammit!

I wonder about this too

I'm precisely uploading the only thing my bro filmed, and it happens to be a fragment of ACoS!...

Carpe Diem's ending up to near the end of The Darkest of Winters.. Youtube tells me it'll be ready in 1 hour.. As soon as is it, I'll post the link here..


EDIT: https://youtu.be/kHSEpviuOBE

I was wondering the same thing haha. Thanks for sharing! 

[V_R11]

I honestly don't even know for sure if ACOS is lower or not  (Good thing IMO!) If I had to, I would say it is...can anybody confirm?

[Adami]

Maybe it's because ACOS is my favorite DT song, and thus I'm a bit more sensitive to changes made to it, but this seems like another example of Mangini skipping a lot of Portnoy's cool drum parts and keeping it very basic.

[Ben_Jamin]

I just have a problem with Take The Time being in a lower key. Certain parts sound a bit odd, it messes with the mood a bit.

[pcs90]

Maybe it's because ACOS is my favorite DT song, and thus I'm a bit more sensitive to changes made to it, but this seems like another example of Mangini skipping a lot of Portnoy's cool drum parts and keeping it very basic.

Yep. I never thought I'd be saying it, but on this tour it seems especially noticeable. Sometimes I really like MM's changes (the double hi-hat work in Trial of Tears for example) and I also think MP was guilty of overplaying many times, but man, some of the IW songs, ACOS and HK feel really stripped back. I mean, it's the beginning of the tour, so maybe he'll add more of that stuff as he gets comfortable with the songs, but I don't know.

[ToT-147]

I honestly don't even know for sure if ACOS is lower or not  (Good thing IMO!) If I had to, I would say it is...can anybody confirm?

Yes.. It is..

Worth to mention though (because it was discused in this thread at some point) that my brother, musician -he actually plays bass in the same band I am- did not note that I&W and ACoS weren't in their original tuning..

He only watched the whole show, amazed as everyone should be before such setlist, so it didn't affect his experience..

[Jinx]

I wouldnt say I have THAT great of a musical ear or anything, but I heard the downtuning straight away. In fact the ACOS vid just sounds a bit... odd? 

[DreamerTV]

Don't know why but here in Padova they've skipped A Life Left Behind and The Spirit Carries On

[cramx3]

Don't know why but here in Padova they've skipped A Life Left Behind and The Spirit Carries On

Interesting, I wonder if they read this thread since those two songs seem to have gotten a lot of attention 

But more realistically, I do wonder why, like time reasons?  Or will they change the set?

[DreamerTV]

Actually so far it's just slightly disappointing (though I've seen both live)
But I've paid as the guys in Rome and so far I'm missing 15 minutes of music

And I don't think it's a time matter, the organizators were annuncing a first set of 75 minutes just before the beginning of the show

[pcs90]

Unless they add some other songs later in the set? Otherwise not sure what's up with that.

[FrostbiteZ]

How long did the show last?

[DreamerTV]

In Rome was about 75 minutes the first set, then I&W which is 1h but with solos could rich 1.15h and ACOS which is 23 minutes.
3 hours circa

[IDontNotDoThings]

So did they just extend the jams of the other songs then? Otherwise I'm not sure how the first set could be the same length with fewer songs.

[ToT-147]

I wouldnt say I have THAT great of a musical ear or anything, but I heard the downtuning straight away. In fact the ACOS vid just sounds a bit... odd? 

My point was that, as some said before, there's a big difference between hearing the show in youtube and actually being there and witness it.. I guess maybe we pay more attention to those kind of things by not having DT in front of us playing and kicking asses..

[Dream Team]

Man....Downtuning Take The Time was the worst decision ever. James looks all pissed or annoyed. It just doesn't work.

It sounded fine to me given the sound quality, and given my expectations about what a nearly 50-year-old singer is capable of on the first show of a tour.

Nearly 50? Lol, he'll be 54 this year.

[erwinrafael]

Maybe it's because ACOS is my favorite DT song, and thus I'm a bit more sensitive to changes made to it, but this seems like another example of Mangini skipping a lot of Portnoy's cool drum parts and keeping it very basic.

Yep. I never thought I'd be saying it, but on this tour it seems especially noticeable. Sometimes I really like MM's changes (the double hi-hat work in Trial of Tears for example) and I also think MP was guilty of overplaying many times, but man, some of the IW songs, ACOS and HK feel really stripped back. I mean, it's the beginning of the tour, so maybe he'll add more of that stuff as he gets comfortable with the songs, but I don't know.

I think he would add more elements to his playing of these tunes as the tour progresses. MM's posts indicate that he did not really have much time to work on it:

On ACOS: " I had to learn it during Christmas craziness with my family !!"

And apparently, they never rehearsed the show in full before the first show. That's how tight the schedule is.

[pcs90]

I think he would add more elements to his playing of these tunes as the tour progresses. MM's posts indicate that he did not really have much time to work on it:

On ACOS: " I had to learn it during Christmas craziness with my family !!"

And apparently, they never rehearsed the show in full before the first show. That's how tight the schedule is.

I hope you are right! And as many of the parts he creates for the recent albums are very detailed, I guess he just wants to perfect the skeleton of each song first before adding more accents and fills.

[erwinrafael]

I remember many people complaining about how he played TSCO during the ADTOE tour. Then when he played it again in the 30th anniversary tour, people saw that he already is comfortable with the song and put his personality in it.

[NOMAC2107]

So ACOS is tuned down as well? That's cool. Good to hear that most of the song is kept the same, but JR is still doing the WTWB tag

[Jinx]

In Rome was about 75 minutes the first set, then I&W which is 1h but with solos could rich 1.15h and ACOS which is 23 minutes.
3 hours circa

Yeah setlist.fm says that both ALLB and TSCO were skipped. Bit strange? 

[Jinx]

Since theres not a thread for last night, heres Metropolis from the 1st Feb show:
https://youtu.be/jlkaajJHmQY

This tour just looks so fun!

[ytsejam89]

As a whole the band sounds pretty good, looking forward to the UK dates. My only gripe is the sampled background vocals. They really don't do it for me and I feel they only highlight James' flaws, they're especially unnecessary in that Metropolis video, Petrucci miming along to them just looks silly.

[CharlesPL]

Surrounded :

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

Take The Time :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1ELTk-uXz4

[TAC]

  Petrucci miming along to them just looks silly.

It's been like this for a bit. I agree. Just do live backing vocals. We get that it may not be perfect.

[devieira73]

Surrounded :

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

Nice MM work on JP solo, as MM himself already demonstrated previously.

[devieira73]

Hell's Kitchen in better quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69GLKdH_-YI
IMO it's the only song from this show that seems that MM didn't have the time to learn in details, like Another Day on ADToE tour (on Happy Hollidays 2013).

[mikemangioy]

Went to the premier, nothing to say.
It was incredible: the setlist, the band, the light show. I was really surprised by Hell's Kitchen and didn't even notice that they tuned down some stuff. I'm glad they did it, if anything, a band should do what they can to sound as better as possible, and a semitone makes nearly a difference.
The solos were spot on too! I was surprised also by the fact that some jams and changes came back, like the pause in Metropolis or Enter Sandman (that really caught me off guard  )

Overall, it was really different from last time, but it was also appreciated!

[NOMAC2107]

Hell's Kitchen in better quality: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69GLKdH_-YI
IMO it's the only song from this show that seems that MM didn't have the time to learn in details, like Another Day on ADToE tour (on Happy Hollidays 2013).

I'm not worried about Mike as much as JR not harmonising the finale with JP. It's a little off to not hear it harmonised between them, like he does on Instrumedley and like Derek on FII.

[lordnafaryus]

The set looks incredible, thank you everyone for the details and info.

CANNOT wait to see them in Cardiff, it's gonna be my first ever DT show! Just have to wait until April 22nd now...   

In an absolutely perfect world, The Count of Tuscany would either be in Set 1 or the encore as it's my favourite DT epic, but otherwise nothing really to complain about from me..... I'm guessing the people complaining about Spirit and As I Am being played are because they've heard them live a bunch of times before, but as it'll be my first time hearing them played live I'm fine with it 

[Stewie]

Okay, just got back home after a long trip - the show was overall awesome. No gripes about the setlist, or the down-tuning. Although he struggled a little here and there, James did great overall. I'm sure he'll get better as the tour progresses. Obviously, the second set and encore were highlights for me, although the first set was cool too.

My only complaint was Mangini's playing on Hell's Kitchen...he really didn't do MP's parts justice with that one. All those cymbal flourishes are, in my opinion, compositionally important to the overall piece; they add a lot. He didn't do them. It felt very half-assed. Kinda like, "okay, I'm going to just play in the right time signature, and as long as I play the same basic kind of groove, it should be fine". Having said that, it was the first show of the tour, and maybe as the tour goes on he'll stick to the original, but who knows. There are times where it's not a big deal to do your own thing, but that song sure as hell wasn't one of them - at least, not in my opinion.

Overall, solid performance.

[devieira73]

I agree with the above (and I'm a big MM suporter)
Just to remind how that this song has a perfect drums composition: :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9uMr5HIhQM

[Jinx]

Anyone have an idea why A Life Left Behind and Spirit Carries On got dropped from the past 2 shows? Is that permanent do you think? 

[hebaojr]

I truly believe that MM has a weakness. He does not know how to work with the cymbal.

[mikeyd23]

I truly believe that MM has a weakness. He does not know how to work with the cymbal.

Yup, that must be it. After all these years as a professional drummer, he still can't figure it out.