DT15: A View From The Top Of The World (Timeline for DT15)

[Stadler]

I don't remember it being so literally, as in "OMG DT converted and became a christian band", but definitively the song titles gave concers about, if not a literal conversion, a very strong religious-oriented set of lyrics.

Not everyone took it so literally, but there were a few that took the assumption to the extreme and were freaking out. In any case, it was ridiculous any way you cut it.

I find that hard to believe....   

[emtee]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

[Max Kuehnau]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

and by next year, this current line up will be active longer than the lineup that made Met2.

[fadetoblackdude7]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

Definitely. It's crazy to think that Mangini will soon be on 1/3 of their catalog.

[gzarruk]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

and by next year, this current line up will be active longer than the lineup that made Met2.

This. How crazy is that?

[Kotowboy]

They should do a concept album about scummy Hollywood execs called MeTooPolis.

[Stadler]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

and by next year, this current line up will be active longer than the lineup that made Met2.

That happens quickly; the Tommy Thayer/Eric Singer Kiss is the longest iteration of that band (20 years, 25 for Singer; Ace was in for 15, and Peter for 14).   Steve Morse has been in Deep Purple longer than Ritchie Blackmore was (it's almost twice as long at this point, 16 vs. 28 years).

[Another_Won]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

and by next year, this current line up will be active longer than the lineup that made Met2.

That happens quickly; the Tommy Thayer/Eric Singer Kiss is the longest iteration of that band (20 years, 25 for Singer; Ace was in for 15, and Peter for 14).   Steve Morse has been in Deep Purple longer than Ritchie Blackmore was (it's almost twice as long at this point, 16 vs. 28 years).

When you put it like that it almost seems like the years should be weighted, like the early years count for more.  It's got to be more difficult to get a band going than joining an established band, right?

[krands85]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

and by next year, this current line up will be active longer than the lineup that made Met2.

[deggs37]

Bottom line...new DT music soon. Time has sure flown by since Mangini joined the band.

and by next year, this current line up will be active longer than the lineup that made Met2.

That happens quickly; the Tommy Thayer/Eric Singer Kiss is the longest iteration of that band (20 years, 25 for Singer; Ace was in for 15, and Peter for 14).   Steve Morse has been in Deep Purple longer than Ritchie Blackmore was (it's almost twice as long at this point, 16 vs. 28 years).

When you put it like that it almost seems like the years should be weighted, like the early years count for more.  It's got to be more difficult to get a band going than joining an established band, right?

That's a good point. Take Metallica for example - Rob has been in the band for as long as Jason and Cliff combined. But if Rob was thrown out of a bus in Sweden then he probably wouldn't have lasted nearly as long. Those early years are rough!

[MirrorMask]

Or Iron Maiden - from 1980 to 1986, in six years, they made six albums and became a legendary live band. In 6 years since The Book of Souls they did an album tour, a greatest hits tour and they got stopped by the pandemic. Not all periods of time are equal.

[Enigmachine]

Or Iron Maiden - from 1980 to 1986, in six years, they made six albums and became a legendary live band. In 6 years since The Book of Souls they did an album tour, a greatest hits tour and they got stopped by the pandemic. Not all periods of time are equal.

In all fairness, it's not quite as comparable, given that Dream Theater have been about as active album-wise as they've ever been and still aren't really settling with a legacy band status, despite a few anniversary tours.

[KevShmev]

In all fairness, it's not quite as comparable, given that Dream Theater have been about as active album-wise as they've ever been and still aren't really settling with a legacy band status, despite a few anniversary tours.

Not quite, but close.  The 1999-2010 lineup did six studio albums in 11 years, while the current one looks like to be releasing their 5th in 11 years (and both eras have a double, so that is a wash).  The next tour will tell the tale if they really are becoming a legacy band or not since their last two tours were (co-)promoted as playing albums from 20+ years earlier, which is generally what legacy bands do, so we will see.

[bosk1]

The next tour will tell the tale if they really are becoming a legacy band or not since their last two tours were (co-)promoted as playing albums from 20+ years earlier, which is generally what legacy bands do, so we will see.

I have literally never heard the term "legacy band" prior to about 2 minutes ago when I read the last few posts in this thread.  But if you mean "nostalgia act," which is what I take you to mean, there is a huge difference between the two. 

Relying on past music and not making a concerted effort to compose or to actively promote new material (i.e., not DT) = nostalgia act.

Celebrating past music while also making a concerted effort to compose and actively promote new material (i.e., DT) =/= nostalgia act.

[Sebastián Pratesi]

The next tour will tell the tale if they really are becoming a legacy band or not since their last two tours were (co-)promoted as playing albums from 20+ years earlier, which is generally what legacy bands do, so we will see.

In addition to what bosk said: I'm also a huge fan of The Offspring - a band that, like DT, was formed in the mid '80s, and whose first album came out in 1989. Believe me, DT is far from being a nostalgia act/legacy band.

[TAC]

The next tour will tell the tale if they really are becoming a legacy band or not since their last two tours were (co-)promoted as playing albums from 20+ years earlier, which is generally what legacy bands do, so we will see.

I have literally never heard the term "legacy band" prior to about 2 minutes ago when I read the last few posts in this thread.  But if you mean "nostalgia act," which is what I take you to mean, there is a huge difference between the two. 

Relying on past music and not making a concerted effort to compose or to actively promote new material (i.e., not DT) = nostalgia act.

Celebrating past music while also making a concerted effort to compose and actively promote new material (i.e., DT) =/= nostalgia act.

Not for nothing, but they've straddled the fence. To have two consecutive tours playing entire albums over 25 years old certainly at least qualifies for a nostalgia tour.

If the album performance was a one off or done just a handful of times, I'd be ok with that.

I like what they did on the DT12 tour, where they played a suite of tracks. I think that's the way to pay proper tribute to past material.

[Ben_Jamin]

The next tour will tell the tale if they really are becoming a legacy band or not since their last two tours were (co-)promoted as playing albums from 20+ years earlier, which is generally what legacy bands do, so we will see.

I have literally never heard the term "legacy band" prior to about 2 minutes ago when I read the last few posts in this thread.  But if you mean "nostalgia act," which is what I take you to mean, there is a huge difference between the two. 

Relying on past music and not making a concerted effort to compose or to actively promote new material (i.e., not DT) = nostalgia act.

Celebrating past music while also making a concerted effort to compose and actively promote new material (i.e., DT) =/= nostalgia act.

Not for nothing, but they've straddled the fence. To have two consecutive tours playing entire albums over 25 years old certainly at least qualifies for a nostalgia tour.

If the album performance was a one off or done just a handful of times, I'd be ok with that.

I like what they did on the DT12 tour, where they played a suite of tracks. I think that's the way to pay proper tribute to past material.

The I&W&B tour was actually meant to be a small tour.

What ended up happening was the demand from promoters was high, so they in a business sense, made the decision to make the tour world-wide and playing these shows the promoters demanded.

These promoters were the only reason Dream Theater ended up playing in my area.

I think the reason for not bringing a video screen was so they can accommodate the venues that barely miss the requirements to house a video screen. My venue is one of those, and would not accommodate the video screens Dream Theater has used.

[bosk1]

^Exactly.  And they jammed it in between tours where they were actively promoting new material.  That's not a nostalgia act.  And let's look at the prior 4 album cycles:

-ADTOE:  They played the entire album. 
-DT12:  They played the vast majority of the new album. 
-TA:  Double album, and they still played the entire thing.
-D/T:  First leg, they played between 26 and 30 minutes (4 songs) from the new album.  Second leg, they upped that by adding another song over over 9 minutes. 

Bottom line is, they still put out new music, and they actively promote it.  This isn't, say, Queensryche, where they tour on the classics, and even though QR put out new albums, the sets are built around the hits, and you get 2, maybe 3 new songs tops at a show.

[jadiggerdt]

New single out end of mnd? Confirmed?

[RaiseTheKnife]

Legacy or nostalgia, either way, we've gotten some great rare tracks with these celebration tours:  Space Dye Vest, Don't Look Past Me.  If the next round of tours offers sprinkles of the unexpected like the last several live runs, then I'll be pleased as punch.

[Lax]

If the next videos are other winks to old albums, I'd put a coin on the new album just being a new best of hahaha
The trend is to remasters like did metallica, pantera, muse...

Surprise, no new song only remixes

[lucasembarbosa]

I'd be down for a re-recording of WDADU and pre-I&W unreleased songs. Or a remix of DT12 a la Vapor Trails.

[Architeuthis]

Perhaps the new album will be a two disc set. The first disc all new material, the second disc with new versions of songs from the albums shown in the video..   

[the_silent_man]

"Hugh Syme cover art confirmed"

It's not confirmed is it? Just speculation.
Of course it's 99% likely to be him.

[Max Kuehnau]

"Hugh Syme cover art confirmed"

It's not confirmed is it? Just speculation.
Of course it's 99% likely to be him.

confirmed, because of this here being present in the viewfinder: http://www.hughsyme.com/#651 

[pg1067]

New single out end of mnd? Confirmed?

Huh?  What does "end of mnd" mean?  Confirmed by whom?

I'd be down for a re-recording of WDADU and pre-I&W unreleased songs.

I don't understand why this keeps getting brought up as though it's something that has ANY chance of happening.

[noxon]

There are no re-recordings.

[ReaPsTA]

I'd be down for a re-recording of WDADU and pre-I&W unreleased songs.

I don't understand why this keeps getting brought up as though it's something that has ANY chance of happening.

I know DT likely wouldn't do it but it can't be that hard to build click tracks, record songs that are already written, then have a mix/mastering engineer work their magic.

Taylor Swift is re-recording her entire discography because of label issues DT can do one album. Could bring on guest musicians. Could re-release one of the songs with a music video celebrating the good old days. People these days love nostalgia and energetic/technical music. There will likely never be another Through the Fire and Flames, but you can catch the same energy.

Dream Theater are older guys who think like an older rock band but the world now runs on content and DT could produce all the content in the world if they wanted. Easy opportunity that shouldn't be wasted.

[bosk1]

What "easy opportunity" are you referring to?  They can't do WDADU for legal reasons, so there is no opportunity.  And as far as other pre-I&W unreleased songs, as far as I know, there isn't anything "unreleased."  They have put just about everything they can out there, through one means or another. 

[MirrorMask]

Also, on this forum we're all diehards and we love everything, debut album included, but it's not that there's a huge demand to have another version of an album "everyone" (as in, the general public) has forgotten about.

Also, James, Jordan and Mike weren't even on that album, what emotional attachment would they have to the songs?

[RodrigoAltaf]

A grand total of ZERO fans are longing for re-recordings of old DT material.

[Lonk]

A grand total of ZERO fans are longing for re-recordings of old DT material.

Didn't you read the posts? There are at least 2 here  kidding kidding!

I'm just excited for new music, and it seems we are very close to getting information about it. I am particularly intrigued to see what JP is doing with that 8-string guitar. If this album catches my attention the way D/T did, I'd call that an absolute win.

[gzarruk]

What "easy opportunity" are you referring to?  They can't do WDADU for legal reasons, so there is no opportunity.

Just to clarify, they can't do anything with the original recordings/masters for legal reasons (their original label or whoever bought them has the rights), but they can and could re-record the songs if they wanted to. IIRC, Michael Sweet of Stryper said something similar about wanting to re-record some of their old songs just to gain control over them again. It's not something unheard of.

Now, whether DT want to it's a completely different matter, as they don't seem to have any interest in doing so.

IMO they could've re-recorded the whole WDADU and maybe a couple of the Majesty demo songs and released everything as a special WDADU 30th anniversary edition in 2019. They were already in a studio all for themselves (D/T sessions) and could've done it without major issues. But now? It doesn't make too much sense unless they want to do a career-spanning box set later down the road.

[Ben_Jamin]

They have no interest in doing so because...

Also, on this forum we're all diehards and we love everything, debut album included, but it's not that there's a huge demand to have another version of an album "everyone" (as in, the general public) has forgotten about.

Also, James, Jordan and Mike weren't even on that album, what emotional attachment would they have to the songs?

They know this and why waste the time re-recording when you could be writing, touring, or hanging out with family.

I like the original and don't need a re-record. I enjoy the album as a stamp in time. Everything about it is part of that time stamp.

[gzarruk]

They have no interest in doing so because...

Also, on this forum we're all diehards and we love everything, debut album included, but it's not that there's a huge demand to have another version of an album "everyone" (as in, the general public) has forgotten about.

Also, James, Jordan and Mike weren't even on that album, what emotional attachment would they have to the songs?

They know this and why waste the time re-recording when you could be writing, touring, or hanging out with family.

I like the original and don't need a re-record. I enjoy the album as a stamp in time. Everything about it is part of that time stamp.

And I agree, but I think it'd be cool to do it, and much more interesting than re-releasing the Ytse Jam stuff + other things that were already out there for a while.