Distant Memories - New live release

[faizoff]

So after trying many times to get the Blu Ray to work and it keep on skipping, I sent it back to Amazon and in the meantime they sent me out a replacement whicb came today. Just popped in the second disc to check it out and to my annoyance its doing the exact same thing!

Anyone else playing it on a PS4 and having the same issue? It just keeps freezing and skipping. 2nd BluRay disc.

If not could someone try it on a (Base) PS4 and let me know? I'm amazed its happened again tbh. If I cant get it to work I will just send back and get money back screw it.

I used to have this all the time with certain discs that just would not play. Turned out my bluray disc player either had dust on it or some issue prevented it from recognizing the disc. I got a new one and it read all the discs that I had issues with flawlessly. Bluray players are weird.

[KevShmev]

Sometimes I wonder why people bother showing up to this board anymore if everything DT has done since Portnoy left has been so lackluster.

Sidebar: I suspect that while the music gets them here, many stay for the community.  So, even if you are not a fan of their newer music, you can still enjoy the community enough to stick around and keeping discussing this, that and the other.

[ytserush]

Bosk already made an insightful post as to why they didn't record a live DVD but as far as the band abandoning The Astonishing...is there any official or non-official word that they dropped The Astonishing in the middle of the tour? Were they planning on playing the entire album throughout 2016 & 2017?

They were gonna play it through the end of 2016, but there was never any promise of them continuing the tour in 2017. I'd honestly be surprised for them to do that anyway, given that they had been playing it throughout all of 2016. That said, they did cave  to a degree towards the end of the last leg of the tour. At that point, they dropped 5 songs from TA and added a 3 song encore of AIA, TSCO and PMU.

That's true. But the optics of the sequence of events during that period that bother me. Logistics forcing them to abandon filming the DVD; swapping out songs and then jumping right into the Images And Words Anniversary tour. That always looked bad to me.

[Ben_Jamin]

Bosk already made an insightful post as to why they didn't record a live DVD but as far as the band abandoning The Astonishing...is there any official or non-official word that they dropped The Astonishing in the middle of the tour? Were they planning on playing the entire album throughout 2016 & 2017?

They were gonna play it through the end of 2016, but there was never any promise of them continuing the tour in 2017. I'd honestly be surprised for them to do that anyway, given that they had been playing it throughout all of 2016. That said, they did cave  to a degree towards the end of the last leg of the tour. At that point, they dropped 5 songs from TA and added a 3 song encore of AIA, TSCO and PMU.

That's true. But the optics of the sequence of events during that period that bother me. Logistics forcing them to abandon filming the DVD; swapping out songs and then jumping right into the Images And Words Anniversary tour. That always looked bad to me.

But you have to put why they toured I&W&B in context. It was only meant as a small tour. But then promoters found out about it, and they had been getting requests for the band to come to their city, and venue. Remember, Images and Words, is a breakthrough album for the band. Even, though Dream Theater came here to New Mexico, It wasn't as packed as I thought, but it still was a great turnout, we don't have a very big Prog Metal market at all.

[Herrick]

Maybe I'm alone in this, but I really cannot make any sense of the "DT has no heart now" argument.

I miss lots of things of the MP era, but one of the things I cherish the most from the MM era live shows is that the band looks happier and more engaged in their live performance than ever. There's a moment at the very end of At Wit's End when JLB smiles and looks at JP while he's playing the outro solo that just made me happy. If that's not "heart", then I really don't know what it is.

In my opinion, we all sometimes make the mistake of confusing "I don't like this" with "this has no heart". We want to try and explain things, so we start throwing words at the wall. I remember reading that someone thought The Astonishing was "uninspired", to which I was very confused, because the band probably spent ungodly amounts of money producing that record, and would not have done so if they were not inspired.

Spot on, both of you.

This whole "feel" and "heart" stuff is soooooooooooo subjective people might as well start saying, "My problem with DT now is they just aren't cool anymore. They're just lacking it."

Sometimes I wonder why people bother showing up to this board anymore if everything DT has done since Portnoy left has been so lackluster.

I mean, I was worried with The Astonishing which I pretty much hated. There was a moment where I even thought, "Gee, if this next album isn't that great, I think I'm going to find another place to dick around when I'm killing time on the web." I mean, I barely will respond to anything when The Astonishing comes up because it's actually pretty boring to repeat, "Nyah, I don't like it." Plus, I LOVE that other people like it. I would be bummed if nobody did because then it truly would have been a waste. As it stands, that period in DT's history was a waste for me. DT has no responsibility to me.

This.

Agreed.

[Shooters1221]

So after trying many times to get the Blu Ray to work and it keep on skipping, I sent it back to Amazon and in the meantime they sent me out a replacement whicb came today. Just popped in the second disc to check it out and to my annoyance its doing the exact same thing!

Anyone else playing it on a PS4 and having the same issue? It just keeps freezing and skipping. 2nd BluRay disc.

If not could someone try it on a (Base) PS4 and let me know? I'm amazed its happened again tbh. If I cant get it to work I will just send back and get money back screw it.

Just an FYI...i watched both blurays on my PS4 no skips or problems..perfect on my end.

[devieira73]

So finally I watched the blu-ray...
I really liked this one! Combining footage and sound, my favorite live release from the Mangini era, no doubt! Just slightly above the unofficial Live at Budokan 2017. The footage is almost perfect! Right, there could have been more space for some improvisations or new arrangements for the songs, but their performances were excellent and, altered or not, they seem real (like the crowd noise) - which, in the end, it's the most important to me.
Even though Labrie had his irregular moments, he also had excellent moments on the show (well, I have followed DT since 93 and that was almost always my impression of him, except on Score and Live at Budokan). Comparing Labrie's intro to Home, the CD version (where he shouts HOOOOOME - and the audience repeats it, in a funny reaction ), would it be different from the BD version? As far as auto-tunes are concerned, I suck at recognizing that sort of thing, but I think the most striking was the auto-tune of the audience choir during One Last Time. They were super-tuned!
I was also unable to notice Petrucci's overdubes comparing to what was shown in the footage.
I think it's not often mentioned here, but I think Jordan always has a really cool stage presence! It's more something in his attitude than in his movements.
About the audience, I take back what I said about my first impression of the audience's participation in this show, due to what I saw from the first videos released. In fact, for a seating show, the audience participation was excellent... congratulations, London!

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I've always felt that ITPOE was underrated. I really love that song(s). The live version on Distant Memories is absolutely killer.

[TAC]

Seeing the show live, it was one of the best songs of the night, I thought.

[Ben_Jamin]

Highlight of the first set, for me.

[Cool Chris]

Happy to see the ItPoE love.

[Kotowboy]

I like Part one. Part two not so much.

[Madman Shepherd]

I've always felt that ITPOE was underrated. I really love that song(s). The live version on Distant Memories is absolutely killer.

I get chills when Petrucci plays the guitar melody at about the 2:10 mark. I vividly remember them playing it on the SC tour and Petrucci sort of stepping forward and more center to play that. I was with a chick I started dating that was going great and I had a moment where I was like, "Damn, life is so good." Then later in Part 2 where Jordan plays the same melody at about the 13:10 mark and it is sooooo good.

Anyway, that girl and I broke up shortly thereafter...but I still love that song!

[Architeuthis]

I like Part one. Part two not so much.

Killer review man!!!   
Part 1 does have a greatness to it, but part 2 is just so much fun too.

[gzarruk]

Somehting that has been bothering me on the videos is that there seems to be an unused mic stand up there, behind Mike's kit. It isn't James' mic stand, it has no mic, no camera, nothing. It's literally just there, the whole show. I hadn't noticed at first, but now that I did, I just can't unsee it. Anyone else noticed this?

[bosk1]

I haven't seen it yet, but I knew that James switched mic stands partway through those shows.  Could it have been his second mic stand?

[TAC]

I haven't seen it yet, but I knew that James switched mic stands partway through those shows.  Could it have been his second mic stand?

I haven't gotten it either, but just watched a couple songs on Youtube. It's just a plain mike stand. It's not the one he uses in the second set.

[bosk1]

Hmm.  Dunno then.  I mean, if it's behind Mike's kit, it's basically backstage/offstage gear.  I'm sure there is lots of extra stuff back there, some belonging to the band, some belonging to the venue, etc.  Sounds like just a case of some extra gear seizing its moment of fame to get on camera. 

[gzarruk]

Hmm.  Dunno then.  I mean, if it's behind Mike's kit, it's basically backstage/offstage gear.  I'm sure there is lots of extra stuff back there, some belonging to the band, some belonging to the venue, etc.  Sounds like just a case of some extra gear seizing its moment of fame to get on camera. 

But it's up there where James would walk, it IS onstage, and it's driving me crazy when I watch it now

[bosk1]

Oh, on the catwalk up top?  If I'm not mistaken, JP used it a couple of times during the show when he was up there and sang backup vox?  Maybe?  I remember him being up there during both the DOT and the SFAM sets, so I'm thinking that is why.  But I could be wrong.

[Kotowboy]

I like Part one. Part two not so much.

Killer review man!!! 

YEAH THE HELL

[hunnus2000]

Mine arrived today!!!  Can't wait to dive into it!

[Kotowboy]

YEAH THE HELL

[MoraWintersoul]

I'm not gonna lie, I teared up a little when Regression started. For all the crap they get for touring Scenes again and recording it again, there's still some of us who have never seen them do it (I've been a fan for what, 12 years now? try coming closer to me than a 7 hour drive, my guys!) and it's just a beautiful album worth doing again in full. They didn't invent touring your concept album in full, but they deserve to reap the benefits from popularizing that idea.

[hunnus2000]

Okay - I decided to watch the Act 1 of Distant Memories (as opposed to the debacle that is Dallas) and was really impressed. I thought video shots were superb and the sound excellent! I was really curious about this release because I tend to think that larger venues seem to lend themselves to better video shots so I was interested in how a smaller stage would be presented. I was happily surprised!

looking forward to Act 2! 

[Peter Mc]

The theatre is bigger than it looks on the dvd, I'm pretty sure Hammersmith Apollo is the second biggest theatre in London, only behind The Royal Albert Hall.  Capacity is 5,000 if you remove the seats downstairs.  Even with seats, it's about 3,700. It's not Radio City Music Hall or Budokan but it's a decent sized venue.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

I've always felt that ITPOE was underrated. I really love that song(s). The live version on Distant Memories is absolutely killer.

Hellz yeah. Both ITPOE Pt. 1 and ANTR are sounding better than ever in this release. This version of ITPOE Pt. 1 blows the CIM version out of the water real bad.

[Anxiety35]

LaBrie does the spoken word part in A Nightmare to Remember. He concludes it with an awesome scream at the end. I thought that was great and also unexpected.

Overall, I have it low on my ranking list of DT live releases. It's just not doing much for me.

Score
Live Scenes
Budokan
Marquee
Tokyo (I know it's a video only, but...)
Once in a Livetime
Distant Memories
Breaking the 4th Wall
Luna Park

[cramx3]

I've always felt that ITPOE was underrated. I really love that song(s). The live version on Distant Memories is absolutely killer.

Hellz yeah. Both ITPOE Pt. 1 and ANTR are sounding better than ever in this release. This version of ITPOE Pt. 1 blows the CIM version out of the water real bad.

CiM was not a very good live release IMO, so this is not surprising (although I am still waiting for my copy...)

LaBrie does the spoken word part in A Nightmare to Remember. He concludes it with an awesome scream at the end. I thought that was great and also unexpected.

Overall, I have it low on my ranking list of DT live releases. It's just not doing much for me.

Score
Live Scenes
Budokan
Marquee
Tokyo (I know it's a video only, but...)
Once in a Livetime
Distant Memories
Breaking the 4th Wall
Luna Park

Speaking of... have you seen CiM? I honestly would have hoped this would be better than CiM and 5 Years in a Livetime for video releases.

[Madman Shepherd]

Here are my rankings:

Luna Park - I agree the sound isn't great and I'm even not a huge fan of the presentation but it was pretty much the best setlist imaginable and the band was on fire. Acoustic set was a great addition.

The next three I've got in a dead heat
Breaking the Fourth Wall - Sound quality fixed, great setlist, band still on fire.
Distant Memories - Setlist not great, sound quality AMAZING, band still on fire
Live Scenes - Sound quality not great, TONS of energy, pretty good setlist

Live in Tokyo - Hard for me to rate as it's not an official live album but if it was, it would be solid

Live at Budokan - Overrated. Just days after I kind of berate people for using the term "feel" I have to admit, I just don't get much from this. James was trying so hard to hit all the right notes I just don't feel he has a lot of soul in his performance overall. Obviously some great moments.

Score - Same as Budokan except a really lackluster setlist. Obviously some great moments sprinkled throughout

Chaos in Motion - Really bad quality but a great setlist, so much so that I kind of can see past the quality issue

Live at Marquee - Not a fair fight but it's length nearly disqualifies it. Single greatest performance of Killing Hand though.

Once in a Livetime - Performance seems lackluster, setlist kinda blows. Great version of Trial of Tears but it's not nearly enough to save it. Still got a lot of rotation from me but that's because it was the first DT live album I got.

[Grappler]

I've been enjoying the live album and blu-ray.  I hadn't listened to SFAM for a long time, and it's been a nice refresher in what I liked about that record, though I'll agree that it's very mechanical and doesn't feel as "rockin" as LSFNY, though I've had about 20 years to get used to that live recording vs. getting used to the sound of a new and current recording of the album.  It's also nice to have some live recordings of the DoT songs as well.

I have some issues with James' vocals and enunciation here and there, but it's not going to derail my enjoyment of the album.  I don't expect absolute perfection and understand that this is just Dream Theater at this point in their career.  it's a really nice live set to have, since I was unable to attend the tour (and haven't seen them since 1999 anyways). 

[Ben_Jamin]

I will say. What the hell was James thinking that those "EWWAWWAHAHAs" at the end of A Nightmare to Remember were a good idea. It's out of place and sounds funny.

That is the main problem I have with JLB now. Is his choices of enunciation and singing style for certain parts. It's like, why did you do that. Reminds me of the Vibratio in Blind Faith on CiM.

[IgnotusPerIgnotium]

I think with the passing of years James chose to be more 'theatrical' on stage given that his voice is getting weaker, but I don't remember having a problem enunciating lyrics as much as he has now, which is weird..On Breaking the Fourth Wall he sounded pretty good, although it was 6 years ago.

[Ben_Jamin]

I think with the passing of years James chose to be more 'theatrical' on stage given that his voice is getting weaker, but I don't remember having a problem enunciating lyrics as much as he has now, which is weird..On Breaking the Fourth Wall he sounded pretty good, although it was 6 years ago.

Could be he's trying different techniques, and it's effecting the way he enunciates.

[gzarruk]

I think with the passing of years James chose to be more 'theatrical' on stage given that his voice is getting weaker, but I don't remember having a problem enunciating lyrics as much as he has now, which is weird..On Breaking the Fourth Wall he sounded pretty good, although it was 6 years ago.

He's definitely got a lot more theatrical with his performances. I think it worked great with TA live, because of the nature of the album, but it doesn't work that well with their whole catalog, imo.