If YOU were writing the set list for the next DT tour...

[EvantheMotel6Owmer]

Pull Me Under is a song that I'm glad I got to see live once, but that's about it. Don't need to hear it again.

[Trav]

I'm the weird one here that loves PMU. Outside this forum, it's still considered one of their most popular songs. It's top 10 for me, and it is even better in a live setting. I think Pull Me Under or Metropolis are the two best options to open their shows for this tour.

[nobloodyname]

The recorded intro to Metropolis kinda makes it perfect. While I'm sure Pull Me Under would get a great reception at The O2, I think the roof would pop off if the lights went down and those first three notes rang out.

[Whitefish]

The recorded intro to Metropolis kinda makes it perfect. While I'm sure Pull Me Under would get a great reception at The O2, I think the roof would pop off if the lights went down and those first three notes rang out.

My choices would be TGP, Metropolis or Overture 1928/SDJV. But yeah, any of those- particularly the first two- would blow the roof off.

Having said that I fully expect they will open with the first track from DT16, assuming it has been released by then. But maybe not...

[efx]

I think 6:00 would be a fantastic opener, I'm just a huge fan of that song and it would be a blast to see it again with MP.

[Bentower]

I think 6:00 would be a fantastic opener, I'm just a huge fan of that song and it would be a blast to see it again with MP.

You're right; that's his most iconic intro, after all.

[pg1067]

I'm the weird one here that loves PMU. Outside this forum, it's still considered one of their most popular songs. It's top 10 for me, and it is even better in a live setting. I think Pull Me Under or Metropolis are the two best options to open their shows for this tour.

No one here dislikes it.  It ranked at #14 on the recent countdown.

However, given that it's DT's most played song live, by a WIDE margin (847 times compared with 635 times for the #2 song - according to setlist.fm), and given how large the band's catalog is, most of us would prefer that scarce concert time be used on other songs.

[EvantheMotel6Owmer]

No one here dislikes it.  It ranked at #14 on the recent countdown.

However, given that it's DT's most played song live, by a WIDE margin (847 times compared with 635 times for the #2 song - according to setlist.fm), and given how large the band's catalog is, most of us would prefer that scarce concert time be used on other songs.

This is how I feel. I, obviously, love Pull Me Under and I think most people do (it was the first song of there's I heard that made me go :ooooo), but I've seen it live once. Which was great. I don't really need to see it again, unlike something like, say Metropolis, which has been played many times but I'm down to see again.

[pg1067]

They played PMU at 10 of the 17 DT concerts I've attended.

[Zantera]

While it makes sense for them to play both PMU and Metropolis (2 of their most classic songs) on the anniversary tour, I feel like the best solution would be maybe to have an alternating setlist where you get either of them but not both. As great as both are, thats 20 minutes of runtime right there.

[nobloodyname]

They played PMU at 10 of the 17 DT concerts I've attended.

That's interesting. I've seen them 23 times and Pull Me Under has only been played three times. I think you got into DT earlier than me (my first show was in 2004), and I only went to a handful of shows during the non-MP years, so that probably explains the difference.

[Plasmastrike]

Absolutely loving reading everyone's setlists and trying to envision them

[Schurftkut]

So, knowing MP's probably mostly in control of setlists again, did you pass the setlists from us on to him already Bosk?

[MirrorMask]

Guys, I don't know how it goes at your concerts, but as much as Pull Me Under is overplayed, in 20 years of seeing DT whenever that song started, it was a massive roar of excitement in the entire venue.

[efx]

Guys, I don't know how it goes at your concerts, but as much as Pull Me Under is overplayed, in 20 years of seeing DT whenever that song started, it was a massive roar of excitement in the entire venue.

Yeah, there's a fanbase outside of the diehards who might be tired of it that freaking loves that song. Every time I've seen it played it's like Maiden playing The Trooper.

[ZirconBlue]

I'm the weird one here that loves PMU. Outside this forum, it's still considered one of their most popular songs. It's top 10 for me, and it is even better in a live setting. I think Pull Me Under or Metropolis are the two best options to open their shows for this tour.

I love Pull Me Under, but there's an atmosphere to the song that I don't think they've ever successfully replicated in a live setting. 

[Mosh]

I love Pull Me Under, but there's an atmosphere to the song that I don't think they've ever successfully replicated in a live setting.

This is my problem with it (and a lot of the songs on that album). I just don't think they translate live as well as most of their other songs. It used to be an atmosphere thing, I miss the lush wall of guitars and keys from the studio, but now JLB's vocal struggles also hold the material back.

I was saying for awhile during the Mangini era that the I&W and Beyond tour was a nice send off to those songs and I didn't need to hear them live again. Obviously with Portnoy back in the band they're probably going to end up playing all 8 of them at some point or another, so it's a moot point, but I struggle to imagine them sounding any better than they did in 2017.

[Stadler]

I've changed my tune on songs like Pull Me Under.   The last time I saw Kiss, "Rock and Roll All Nite" was just EXPLOSIVE, and during the finale, my daughter posted a picture on Instachat or Snapgram or whatever with the caption "Greatest night of my life!"   During the Legacy of the Beast show in Hartford the show stopper was "The Number Of The Beast"; I could feel the heat from the stage and I could feel the venue - an amphitheater - literally shaking.  Highlight of the show.

If we get those reactions to Pull Me Under, they can play it every tour as far as I'm concerned.

[TAC]

Right. I don't care if a band plays the same 3-5 songs on every tour, especially these long term bands that still tour. My issue with these bands' setlists is that they continually draw from the same batch of secondary tracks.

UFO and Alice Cooper are guilty of this, and for the longest time, so was Iron Maiden.

[The Paddies]

1. Octavarium - it's the right time for this one
2. The Glass Prison - so energy, so powah!
3. Hell's Kitchen/Lines In The Sand combo - classic DT that needs to be brought back
5. Lifting Shadows Off A Dream - a nice moody song, I wonder if they could come up with a nice added intro for it again
6. Stream Of Consiousness - to give James a break and to experience the main riff live again (in combination with the waves video like the tour in 2004)
7. S2N - cool song, never played live before
8. Blind Faith - reminds me of the era when DT was in their prime and my fandom was at it's peak
9. Surrender To Reason - a nice shorter song that I recently reconnected with
10. The Mirror (or As I Am) - one of the more 'straight forward' rockers which always work in a live environment (for me)

[pg1067]

That's interesting. I've seen them 23 times and Pull Me Under has only been played three times. I think you got into DT earlier than me (my first show was in 2004), and I only went to a handful of shows during the non-MP years, so that probably explains the difference.

Yup.  I went 15 1/2 years without seeing it live.  Once they got past Awake, they had enough material such that PMU wasn't a "mandatory" inclusion.  They they played it when they opened for Maiden in 2010 and at 4 of the 6 MM-era shows I attended.

I've changed my tune on songs like Pull Me Under.   The last time I saw Kiss, "Rock and Roll All Nite" was just EXPLOSIVE, and during the finale, my daughter posted a picture on Instachat or Snapgram or whatever with the caption "Greatest night of my life!"   During the Legacy of the Beast show in Hartford the show stopper was "The Number Of The Beast"; I could feel the heat from the stage and I could feel the venue - an amphitheater - literally shaking.  Highlight of the show.

If we get those reactions to Pull Me Under, they can play it every tour as far as I'm concerned.

I get that, but all things being equal....

[RaiseTheKnife]

All this talk about Pull Me Under makes want to double down on the idea of them performing the demo version live with the Erotomania section.  Heck, they could even call it Oliver's Twist in the setlist.   At least it would be an interesting version of a well-tread song.

[Mosh]

Right. I don't care if a band plays the same 3-5 songs on every tour, especially these long term bands that still tour. My issue with these bands' setlists is that they continually draw from the same batch of secondary tracks.

UFO and Alice Cooper are guilty of this, and for the longest time, so was Iron Maiden.

I've changed my tune on songs like Pull Me Under.   The last time I saw Kiss, "Rock and Roll All Nite" was just EXPLOSIVE, and during the finale, my daughter posted a picture on Instachat or Snapgram or whatever with the caption "Greatest night of my life!"   During the Legacy of the Beast show in Hartford the show stopper was "The Number Of The Beast"; I could feel the heat from the stage and I could feel the venue - an amphitheater - literally shaking.  Highlight of the show.

If we get those reactions to Pull Me Under, they can play it every tour as far as I'm concerned.

Emphasis on the bold. I agree with what you guys are saying and feel the same way about your examples, but the only time I have experienced that sort of reaction with PMU at a DT show was, funnily enough, when they opened for Maiden in 2010. I just don’t think casuals are generally coming to DT shows so it really doesn’t matter that much.

Edit: I actually think that sort of crowd reaction applies to Metropolis generally, not PMU.

[hefdaddy42]

I don't blame DT for playing Pull Me Under.  I know why they play Pull Me Under.

But the thread topic isn't "What makes sense for DT to play live?"  It's very individualistic.  "If YOU were writing the set list..."  and if I were writing the set list, it would never be played again, in favor of some other song that hasn't been played live nearly as often.

[gzarruk]

and if I were writing the set list, it would never be played again, in favor of some other song that hasn't been played live nearly as often.

Yes.

[Ben_Jamin]

Although I would prefer other songs in the set. When they play Pull Me Under I still jam out the same as any other song in the set. It's a fun live song. I think what makes ít fun live is singing along to "Pull Me Under"...

[Progmaniac1988]

Now that we know it's an evening with your. Here's my set list!

1 - new DT song
2 - take the time
3 - 6:00
4 - Home
5 - lost not forgotten
6 - lifting shadows off a dream
7 - new DT song
8 - Illumination theory

Intermission

1 - The glass prison
2 - blind faith
3 - I walk beside you
4 - learning to live
5 - solo improve
6 - stream of consciousness
7 - trial of tears
8 - new DT epic
9 - encore octavarium

[Kyo]

Don't forget that originally BMS had a mellow beginning to open the song that mirrored the mellow instrumental section that later was turned into HK - similar to how Home has a mellow intro that is later mirrored during the notorious soundbits section before the keyboard solo. So it wasn't as if that instrumental section appeared completely out of the blue.

Needless to say, I prefer the BMS '96 over the album version. It helps that this was the first version of the song I heard from listening to Ff96 boots repeatedly while waiting for them to record and release FII. That all said, I love the anthemic ending of HK, which would never have been created had it not been separated into a different song, so it's a good concession.

Yeah, I agree with all of this. I very much prefer the original arrangement of BMS. The studio version loses two of my favorite bits there - the moody HK intro and the way they jump back to it after "Buuuurning My ...". And I very much prefer the way they go into the verse after the intro. The studio version has that boring-ass bass riff looping for what feels like an eternity. It truly is one of their dullest songs that way.

The one thing they should've reworked is the transition from the middle section (which became Hell's Kitchen) into Derek's solo. That one just feels random and severely underdeveloped. I really wish they'd give this one another go, work the very nice ending of Hell's Kitchen into BMS '96 and develop a better-flowing way back to the chorus afterwards (with that keyboard solo ot without it, doesn't really matter). That would be the definitive version of the song.

[JediKnight1969]

Wild guess: they'll open with the 12 step suite.

[Architeuthis]

I would be more excited about hearing all of their new material from DT16, and perhaps a few deep cuts of their older material.
Their new album might be a masterpiece, ya never know. 

[hefdaddy42]

Wild guess: they'll open with the 12 step suite.

That would be a terrible idea.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

That would be a terrible idea.

I agree, I'd take a sub-ten-minute medley though of it later in the show, though.

[MirrorMask]

I agree, I'd take a sub-ten-minute medley though of it later in the show, though.

So you want them to play The Shattered Fortress?

[hefdaddy42]

Obviously whatever they do is up to them, but if I had my wish, there would be no medleys.

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

So you want them to play The Shattered Fortress?

lol I see what you did there