Those New Tour Songs!

[wasteland]

So, it has been recently brought to my attention (I believe it was 35 seconds ago) that the band has gone for a minor and yet completely unexpected shakeup of the setlist for the US leg of the IAW and beyond tour.

Replacing the Astonishing mini-set, two more songs heavily associated with Images And Words have been played: To Live Forever and Don't Look Past Me.

For those who wonder, TLF has been played once (19/07/2012) in the last 13 years, and I believe less than 20 times since 1993, when it was a staple of the latter half of the original IAW tour. As many of you will know, the song, despite being written in 1988 when CD was still in the band, was slated to appear on IAW and served as the testing ground for the singer auditions in 1989-1990. Eventually the song was set aside when the label's request to write more approachable songs in mid-1991 resulted in Another Day and Surrounded. TLF was however, as said, heavily featured in the following tour and ended up being officially released as a B-Side in the Awake era.

For the first couple years of its existence, Don't Look Past Me fate was inextricably linked to that of To Live Forever. It was too written in the early stages of the pre-IAW wilderness years (I believe early 1990, approximately at the same time Take The Time and Under A Glass Moon were being conceived, and substantially after Metropolis and Learning To Live had been shaped into a coherent form) and just like To Live Forever was used heavily in the auditions. For this reason just like TLF and A Change Of Seasons, several version of this songs being sung by various vocalists exist and to this day float around the darkest and least explored corners of youtube. Don't Look Past Me shared TLF's fate of being shelved in favour of AD and Surrounded, but unlike the Petrucci penned song, it was never to receive the warm touch of the limelight or the soaring roar of the crowds.
It is to this date, or I should say, was up to yesterday, the oldest song composed under the name Dream Theater to never have been played, and, since the debut of Space Dye Vest in 2014, the only set of lyrics by Kevin Moore to have suffered that fate.

Personally, it's a song that I have always loved to bits, and that still frequently listen when in need of uplifting notes. It's a wonder how it was ignored for so long. I guess it has to do with the extremely complicated backing vocal line. But still, I'm very happy about, although unfortunately being a citizen of the Old World I didn't get to see it played. I'll be on the lookout for audience videos on youtube!

So, did you know about this song? Are you happy with the choice of dusting out a 7-minute long obscure song from their early catalogue? Would you have liked that slot to be occupied by something else? That's the place to discuss it!

P.S. More of a TLDR, really:
- Astonishing songs in setlist phased out, To Live Forever and Don't Look Past Me phased in
- Both were supposed to end up on IAW, were put aside in favour of AD and Surrounded
- DLPM has never been played before
- Happy about this?

P.P.S. First post in such a long time! How are you all doing?

[MirrorMask]

OMG THEY PLAYED DON'T LOOK PAST ME??  

I love the song, it's a pity that they entirely sacrificed The Astonishing for that but holy cow, what a wonderful treat it must have been!!! I would have loved to hear it, and probably sang it all the way through.  Awesome song, and perfectly in style with I5W.

[Weymolith]

I'm glad JP finally brought it out. I've mentioned it to him in the past as one of the few songs to never have been played.

I think all that leaves now is Raw Dog.

[wasteland]

First video of the song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZsmhg3K_Yc

[Architeuthis]

I'll be disappointed if they replace The Astonishing songs for the US leg of the tour..

[KevShmev]

That is great to hear! The band continues to give especially special treats to the fans at live shows. 

[nattmorker]

That is great to hear! The band continues to give especially special treats to the fans at live shows. 

This! I would prefer they keep The Astonishing mini set, since I love it and I'm not overly fond of DLPM and TLF (although I know them well), but I love when they make changes and play rarities and obscure songs.

[Mladen]

First video of the song! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZsmhg3K_Yc

Somebody named it Speak to me on YouTube. 

[noxon]

I'm glad JP finally brought it out. I've mentioned it to him in the past as one of the few songs to never have been played.

I think all that leaves now is Raw Dog.

I do believe theres two more thats never been performed live: Best of Times and Surrender to Reason.

[MirrorMask]

Surrender to Reason sooner or later will be played. The Best of Times? probably never.

[wasteland]

So, I believe now the mantle of the "song-that-has-not-been-played-for-the-longest-time" has been passed onto Eve (last performance 29.12.1998). Here's hoping for that precious gem to make a live return as well, sooner better than later.

Also, notice how the backing vocals (one of the main features of DLPM) have been completely scrapped in the live rendition. It does take something from the song, to be honest.

[MirrorMask]

I was thinking about those, I thought that maybe they would pipe them in.

[Mladen]

I've always known about Don't look past me but was never interested enough to listen to it. I've always thought of it as a raw demo version of a song that probably wasn't worth listening to if the band didn't think it was good enough to be on the album.

However, seeing a super obscure song being played live is exciting, no matter which one it is. I'm looking forward to some better clips that might surface over the next few months. Did JLB introduce the song? Was there any word about it?

[mikeyd23]

Awesome changes to the set.

[lonestar]

Everyone whose seen Don't Look Past Me live, raise their hand....

*raises hand*

[Zydar]

[lonestar]

Hey, I get to enjoy it for about 14 hours...

[The Curious Orange]

Got to be said those Astonishing songs stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of that first set. Not the choices I'd have gone for, but they fit in to the I&W theme, so I approve heartily!

[TAC]

That's cool that DLPM is being played. That's a good tune.

Honestly, for me, I've always thought that TLF is one of their worst songs.

[cramx3]

Really excited they worked these into the setlist.  Totally fit the theme of the show, although I'd rather them keep TA songs and drop TDEN personally.  I'll be seeing this show twice in a few weeks 

[bosk1]

JP mentioned to me a couple of months ago that he was thinking about doing this.  Or rather, he asked me what I thought the reaction would be if they decided to.  Obviously, my response was along the lines of:  "DO IT!!!!"

I have been dying to let you guys know that they were thinking about doing it, but I obviously couldn't say anything.  Really glad they did this.

[MirrorMask]

JP mentioned to me a couple of months ago that he was thinking about doing this.  Or rather, he asked me what I thought the reaction would be if they decided to.  Obviously, my response was along the lines of:  "DO IT!!!!"

Excellent move 

[cramx3]

JP mentioned to me a couple of months ago that he was thinking about doing this.  Or rather, he asked me what I thought the reaction would be if they decided to.  Obviously, my response was along the lines of:  "DO IT!!!!"

Excellent move 

Agreed.  I know you hinted about the setlist change, but I certainly wasn't thinking this.

[mikeyd23]

JP mentioned to me a couple of months ago that he was thinking about doing this.  Or rather, he asked me what I thought the reaction would be if they decided to.  Obviously, my response was along the lines of:  "DO IT!!!!"

Excellent move 

Agreed.  I know you hinted about the setlist change, but I certainly wasn't thinking this.

Ditto. This is really cool, some great rarities. Can't wait for the Pittsburgh show!

[bosk1]

And just an FYI:  Those were the ONLY two songs he talked about adding, so it's not like they had 3 or 4 that he asked me about, and whittled it down to those two.  Under the circumstances, I think those were excellent choices for this tour.

[JayOctavarium]

I hate myself so much for not having a ticket for the LA show tonight. I've always adored that song. I may have even shed a fucking tear while watching that video.


IF I had bought a ticket, I would have not spoiled the setlist for myself, and then probably legit cry when they broke into it.

(I don't have a problem..)

[bosk1]

  I really wish I could attend one of these shows.  The scheduling was REALLY unfortunate for me, and I just can't find a way to make any of these shows work.  I was even thinking about driving down to L.A. for tonight, but can't.

[The Walrus]

I spent so long trying not to spoil the set and then I clicked on this thread... 

Can't wait to hear the crowd reaction to those being played.

[wasteland]

I spent so long trying not to spoil the set and then I clicked on this thread... 

Can't wait to hear the crowd reaction to those being played.

My apologies, I should have been more thoughtful in my choice of title. It is known I can hardly resist a pun. 

[The Walrus]

It's okay, honestly I thought they would just fill out the set with Spirit Carries On and some other predictable tunes, but it's no big deal I didn't even catch the pun until I read the post 

[Nick]

I'm changing the thread title on this. You're of course able to talk about spoilers here, but just don't want those who might be browsing the main site or DT forum to get a dose of the spoiler if they are avoiding it.

[BlobVanDam]

JP mentioned to me a couple of months ago that he was thinking about doing this.  Or rather, he asked me what I thought the reaction would be if they decided to.  Obviously, my response was along the lines of:  "DO IT!!!!"

I have been dying to let you guys know that they were thinking about doing it, but I obviously couldn't say anything.  Really glad they did this.

Oh. So you're to blame?

[gzarruk]

JP mentioned to me a couple of months ago that he was thinking about doing this.  Or rather, he asked me what I thought the reaction would be if they decided to.  Obviously, my response was along the lines of:  "DO IT!!!!"

Excellent move 

Agreed.  I know you hinted about the setlist change, but I certainly wasn't thinking this.

Ditto. This is really cool, some great rarities. Can't wait for the Pittsburgh show!

This is astonishing (obvious pun), Bosk! 

I'm glad JP finally brought it out. I've mentioned it to him in the past as one of the few songs to never have been played.

I think all that leaves now is Raw Dog.

I do believe theres two more thats never been performed live: Best of Times and Surrender to Reason.

Indeed, the only DT songs they haven't played live untill now are TBOT, Raw Dog and Surrender to Reason. Hopefully, they'll play STR on the next tour.

So, I believe now the mantle of the "song-that-has-not-been-played-for-the-longest-time" has been passed onto Eve (last performance 29.12.1998). Here's hoping for that precious gem to make a live return as well, sooner better than later.

Would love it if they replaced Hell's Kitchen with Eve, but I don't think it'll happen.
IIRC, when the band did a live Q&A around the time DT12 was released, somebody asked Jordan why Eve and Anna Lee (songs played by the previous two keyboardists) have never been played during all his time as a member of DT. He answered, with some sarcasm, something along the lines of "There must be a reason neither song has been played for all these years, don't you think?".

[cramx3]

I'd love Anna Lee live, but I could live without Eve.  I know people here love it, but I find it fairly boring and certainly not a song I really want to see live over the rest of DT's catalogue.  I know people feel the same about Anna Lee too.

[Chris Hinton]

Great to hear, and now I'm even more sad they are not coming to Seattle.