DREAM THEATER - Europe leg of the 40th Anniversary Tour 2024-2025

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

Well that makes a ton of sense. If I know MP he's already planning a DVD of the show. Hopefully the crowd brings the energy. It's been 25 years since the last recorded NY show, right? Live Scenes?

Score was filmed in Radio City.

[adastra]

Just bought my ticket for the Helsinki show. Soooo excited!!
I think last time i was this excited to see Dream Theater was on Octacövarium tour in Helsinki. My first gig ever.

[devieira73]

It's actually the XL (extra large) tour, which is why they're playing arenas way too big for them.

[mariner]

So... trying to think about what they would play on this tour...

Definitely think reverse chronological makes sense.  Also can see the "A" set and the "B" set where certain songs get rotated.  (If I recall they did that with Fall Into the Light and Paralyzed on the D/T tour.)

So:  New single
2nd new song from DT16
The Alien (makes sense they would play it despite James' wish)
S2N (never played it)
A New Beginning (fitting, right?)
Behind the Veil/Surrender to Reason - alternating songs per show
This Is the Life/Beneath the Surface - alternating; ballad/give James a break songs
Constant Motion/A Rite of Passage - alternating
Epic from DT16

Intermission

These Walls (never played, I believe)
This Dying Soul, seguing into
The Glass Prison
Home (also a fitting song title)
New Millenium
Space Dye Vest (MP never played it)
Surrounded (how long has it been since they played this?  I mean we can get PMU yet again, can we?  James can't hit the F# in LtL.  UAGM is already on Score...)
Only a Matter of Time (again, fitting song title)

Encore:

Octavarium

Thoughts?

[Azyiu]

Well that makes a ton of sense. If I know MP he's already planning a DVD of the show. Hopefully the crowd brings the energy. It's been 25 years since the last recorded NY show, right? Live Scenes?

Who still shoots for DVDs these days? Wouldn't they shoot in 4K or at least Full HD? Lol 

[MirrorMask]

So... trying to think about what they would play on this tour...

Definitely think reverse chronological makes sense.  Also can see the "A" set and the "B" set where certain songs get rotated.  (If I recall they did that with Fall Into the Light and Paralyzed on the D/T tour.)

So:  New single
2nd new song from DT16
The Alien (makes sense they would play it despite James' wish)
S2N (never played it)
A New Beginning (fitting, right?)
Behind the Veil/Surrender to Reason - alternating songs per show
This Is the Life/Beneath the Surface - alternating; ballad/give James a break songs
Constant Motion/A Rite of Passage - alternating
Epic from DT16

Intermission

These Walls (never played, I believe)
This Dying Soul, seguing into
The Glass Prison
Home (also a fitting song title)
New Millenium
Space Dye Vest (MP never played it)
Surrounded (how long has it been since they played this?  I mean we can get PMU yet again, can we?  James can't hit the F# in LtL.  UAGM is already on Score...)
Only a Matter of Time (again, fitting song title)

Encore:

Octavarium

Thoughts?

As Scotty suggested, maybe the encore will be the big epic of the new album.

Also, it needs to have some instrumentals there. Dystopian Overture could be the perfect compromise: you honor the Astonishing, James take a break, and puny fans who can't stand the album don't have to sit through an actual song.

[gzarruk]

I bet there's a very high chance they'll record and release a show from the upcoming tour, and yeah, it'll most likely be something big in NYC. Not happening until next year at the earliest, so it's still a long wait. It's a bummer (the long wait), because I already know there's no way this tour is coming to my country unless the reunion/anniversary prompts a crazy local promoter to try to bring them here, but I highly highly doubt that. Megadeth just played a sold out show here a few days ago, so there's a chance, but they're much more popular than DT anyway.

What I'm interested in is what Portnoy said about the MM era albums and how "everything should be represented". I'm really glad to see that's the approach he's taking and I'm also pretty sure they'll stick with the one song per album anniversary thing again this time. Reverse chronological order sounds about right too: you honor everything in the catalog, and your second set is the high point for most people, since it includes the classics. Not expecting anything from pre-WDADU material to appear, though (unlike Score), there's only so much time in the set. Just waiting for the obligatory "guess the upcoming tour's setlist" thread now

Also, it needs to have some instrumentals there. Dystopian Overture could be the perfect compromise: you honor the Astonishing, James take a break, and puny fans who can't stand the album don't have to sit through an actual song.

That's not a bad idea at all! I guess they'd want to include one of the actual songs to represent the album, but the overture would work perfectly for what you just said.

[devieira73]

Dystopian Overture/The Gift of Music would be a great choice for the upcoming tour IMO.

[pg1067]

The only thing I can think of is the birds to the far left of the picture. There is a bird/eagle or whatever on the cover of the View album.

What I can't figure out is the figure right underneath the birds. It looks like a man bending over like the man with sheeves on Led Zepplin 4. But that's just me.

So...I think...

- WDADU:  The only thing I can think of is the Majesty symbol.
- I&W:  Little girl in the foreground and sacred heart.
- Awake:  The clock face.
- ACOS:  Kid building sandcastle
- FII:  Two dudes in tall chairs with binoculars.
- SFAM:  Face in the sky.
- SDOIT:  The happy face on the third X.
- TOT:  Eyeball.
- 8VM:  Newton's cradle (still with one string too short), birds and leaning guy.
- SC:  Ants and sign with Majesty symbol.
- BC&SL:  Elephant.
- ADTOE:  Guy on unicycle on the second X.
- DT12:  The Majesty symbol, and I guess people are saying the car, but I have no idea what that has to do with the album.
- TA:  NOMACs.
- DOT:  Robot hand and skull
- View:  I'm coming up empty.  You'd think they'd have the shoes or the viewfinder thing, but...??

These Walls (never played, I believe)
...
Surrounded (how long has it been since they played this?

These Walls was played on the European leg of the 8VM tour (and on a few North American dates).  It was also played regularly on the ADTOE tour.

Surrounded is the 6th most played DT song of all time and was most recently played on the I&W&B tour.

Your setlist includes no instrumentals, so I think maybe you're trying to kill James.  /s

[devieira73]

- DT12:  The Majesty symbol, and I guess people are saying the car, but I have no idea what that has to do with the album.

It's in the DT12's booklet artwork.

[Dream Team]

Score was filmed in Radio City.

Thank you  Don't mind me, everyone move along, nothing to see here 

[genome]

2x for London bought.

Gonna be very interesting as the opening night. I'm pleased in a way, as there's no way I'll be tempted to view setlist spoilers 

[The Letter M]

These Walls (never played, I believe)

IIRC, they've played the entirety of Octavarium at least once, in Rome, which was recorded and released on DVD for their International Fan Club. Getting that DVD on the secondary market wasn't easy, but it was worth getting! Also, hearing those songs without the orchestra (from Score), and just the band playing it, there's a really different vibe to them.

-Marc.

[crystalstars17]

Do we think they may play Octavarium in it's entirety? Like they did for SFAM for its anniversary..

[Buddyhunter1]

Do we think they may play Octavarium in it's entirety? Like they did for SFAM for its anniversary..

I would love that but I suspect many would not.

It also just wouldn't make sense for this tour, which judging from the poster is meant to represent a wide variety of eras from the band. Hard to do that when you're playing a full 70+ minute album in there too.

[hefdaddy42]

Do we think they may play Octavarium in it's entirety? Like they did for SFAM for its anniversary..

The album?  I doubt it.  (I also hope not, although that's a separate conversation lol)

But the title track?  I have high hopes.

[Dani Helios]

Well, that's me and my dad booked in for the Budapest show! Just recieved my pre-sale email for the London gig and shall be forcing myself out of bed at 8:45 to impatiently refresh the website in anticipation.

Those of you who already booked tix for London... how, lol?

[JRuless]

My guess is they'll play a 12SS medley after the intermission.

[fadetoblackdude7]

IIRC, they've played the entirety of Octavarium at least once, in Rome, which was recorded and released on DVD for their International Fan Club. Getting that DVD on the secondary market wasn't easy, but it was worth getting! Also, hearing those songs without the orchestra (from Score), and just the band playing it, there's a really different vibe to them.

-Marc.

It was played on the ADTOE tour, and was a bonus track on LALP

[TheHoveringSojourn808]

I'd really love for the Octavarium title track to return in full

[Dani Helios]

I'd really love for the Octavarium title track to return in full

100% this. or ACOS. although it certainly hasnt been as long since they played that.
those two are my favourites of the epics, either would be immense to see live.

[crystalstars17]

The album?  I doubt it.  (I also hope not, although that's a separate conversation lol)

But the title track?  I have high hopes.

I'm almost certain we'll get the title track! 

It would be nice though to hear the whole album, but I'd be happy with the title track and These Walls. 🙏

[Stadler]

I don't think we can really guess what goes in and what doesn't, but I would think there's a possibility that the thought process is...

...  we've got this album, so we're going to play x of that.  Of the remaining y minutes, what are the top z songs that we the five of us have been dying to play together on for a while?  No slight to Mangini, but I can't imagine there's not ONE SONG in the entire catalogue that one of the other four didn't say "wow, it's good, but I preferred playing this with Portnoy".  That's not a dig on Mangini at all; it's all a matter of feel, memory and emotion.

If that's the mindset, that this is about the band and the enjoyment of what they do, I think we'll get most if not all of the new album (assuming it's around an hour or so, plus/minus), we'll get two songs from the Mangini era, and we'll get a full hour or so of just classics that the band wants to revisit, regardless of when it was played last, or whether it was played on the respective tours.

[Kram]

These Walls (never played, I believe)

They played These Walls with Mangini on the Dramatic Tour of Events tour.  I remember it distinctly.

[efx]

They played These Walls with Mangini on the Dramatic Tour of Events tour.  I remember it distinctly.

It's also on the Luna Park DVD.

[jammindude]

Also played with MP occasionally on the 8V tour. (It's on the Romavarium fan club DVD)

[genome]

According to setlist.fm These Walls has been played 75 times

[bosk1]

I don't know whether they are going to really try to play something from each and every album or if they are going to just do a good representation of their entire careers without trying to literally capture every album.  They know Octavarium is a fan favorite, and it's one that is on at least some of their minds as something they want to play.  But if they are taking the former approach on this tour before the album drops, Octavarium might be a long shot just because of its length.  That is the same quandary they ran into for the Score show once they decided to play Six Degrees.  That decision all by itself had a ripple effect through the entire set that made it a pretty big challenge to vary much from what they actually ended up playing.  Granted, that's 43 minutes of music that will not be in the set this time around.  But the flip side of that is that they have 7 more albums now.  It might be really tough to fit Octavarium in.  That said, I really hope they do.  And even though it is difficult, just kind of sketching out some rough set lists making sure to hit every album, include things I think are fairly likely, but keeping to mostly shorter(ish) songs, I guess they still have plenty of options.  Here's a sample I came up with without noodling too hard on it (I will go with the R40- reverse chron format):
1.  The Alien
2.  Barstool Warrior (I would love S2N, and it's actually a bit shorter, but I was just "feeling" Barstool as more likely)
3.  Our New World (I highly suspect this will be played, although I would prefer Moment of Betrayal)
4.  The Enemy Inside
5.  Breaking All Illusions (since they seem to love this, for some strange reason; I would go with OTBOA, personally)
6.  A Right of Passage (not my fave, but it was a single, it's short, and it hasn't been well represented; I could also see TSF since Portnoy probably wants to play it with the band)
7.  Constant Motion
8.  Octavarium
--
9.  Honor Thy Father (I would rather see ITNOG, and they could easily sub that in instead, but I was initially going for shorter songs.  Either would be a great set 2 opener after 8VM closing the first set)
10.  Misunderstood
11.  Spirit (they'll surely play this, right?)
12.  Take Away My Pain (continuing the "soft" song section)
13.  Erotomania (surely an instrumental somewhere, right?)
14.  To Live Forever (not "truly" an I&W song, but fits the era and could be part of a good Charlie tribute, followed by...)
15.  Afterlife (I would rather see OAMOT as the closer, and I really dislike this song, but given Charlie's passing, I think it's likely)
--
16.  Pull Me Under (logical encore closer, and it checks the I&W box in a way that TLF only partially does)

With my primary choices, that's only about 2:20 total music.  With an intro tape, some short breaks here and there for James banter and JP changing guitars, there's still a good bit of freedom to sub a few of those out for longer songs without going too crazy, without them going over 3 hours total with intermission, which is about what I would expect for an evening with show from them based on past tours.  And as far as song selection, I wouldn't mind that set at all.  Pretty varied list of things I would expect, things I like, things I'm not crazy about, instrumentals, "ballads," heavy songs, etc.  It pretty much has it all.

[gzarruk]

From MP:

Already seeing reports of tickets getting scooped up from early 02 pre-sales for the BIG 1ST SHOW!! Opening the tour and playing our very first show back together at the 02 Arena in London is going to be massive and EPIC!! The emotions are gonna be off the charts! Who's flying in for this one to be part of DT history??? We cannot wait!!!

This pretty much confirms London will be the first show this year. Seems like they won't tour at all during the summer.

[Dream Team]

I feel so bad for MP that he has to sit and listen to The Astonishing. 

To this day I have never heard the whole thing.

As cool as it would be to see them live again, I just can't spend the dough not knowing what James will sound like. I will buy the studio albums, as I always do, but I can't see me seeing them live again.

Sorry to be the buzzkill.

I imagine he'll like it a lot more than you do. For one thing he'll be able to discern the effort JP and JR put into it and all the great melodies. Plus he'll appreciate how awesome James was on it.

As he goes through the 5 albums and listens to MM's drum parts, I can picture his eyebrows going up a few times.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I don't know whether they are going to really try to play something from each and every album or if they are going to just do a good representation of their entire careers without trying to literally capture every album.  They know Octavarium is a fan favorite, and it's one that is on at least some of their minds as something they want to play.  But if they are taking the former approach on this tour before the album drops, Octavarium might be a long shot just because of its length.  That is the same quandary they ran into for the Score show once they decided to play Six Degrees.  That decision all by itself had a ripple effect through the entire set that made it a pretty big challenge to vary much from what they actually ended up playing.  Granted, that's 43 minutes of music that will not be in the set this time around.  But the flip side of that is that they have 7 more albums now.  It might be really tough to fit Octavarium in.  That said, I really hope they do.  And even though it is difficult, just kind of sketching out some rough set lists making sure to hit every album, include things I think are fairly likely, but keeping to mostly shorter(ish) songs, I guess they still have plenty of options.  Here's a sample I came up with without noodling too hard on it (I will go with the R40- reverse chron format):
1.  The Alien
2.  Barstool Warrior (I would love S2N, and it's actually a bit shorter, but I was just "feeling" Barstool as more likely)
3.  Our New World (I highly suspect this will be played, although I would prefer Moment of Betrayal)
4.  The Enemy Inside
5.  Breaking All Illusions (since they seem to love this, for some strange reason; I would go with OTBOA, personally)
6.  A Right of Passage (not my fave, but it was a single, it's short, and it hasn't been well represented; I could also see TSF since Portnoy probably wants to play it with the band)
7.  Constant Motion
8.  Octavarium
--
9.  Honor Thy Father (I would rather see ITNOG, and they could easily sub that in instead, but I was initially going for shorter songs.  Either would be a great set 2 opener after 8VM closing the first set)
10.  Misunderstood
11.  Spirit (they'll surely play this, right?)
12.  Take Away My Pain (continuing the "soft" song section)
13.  Erotomania (surely an instrumental somewhere, right?)
14.  To Live Forever (not "truly" an I&W song, but fits the era and could be part of a good Charlie tribute, followed by...)
15.  Afterlife (I would rather see OAMOT as the closer, and I really dislike this song, but given Charlie's passing, I think it's likely)
--
16.  Pull Me Under (logical encore closer, and it checks the I&W box in a way that TLF only partially does)

With my primary choices, that's only about 2:20 total music.  With an intro tape, some short breaks here and there for James banter and JP changing guitars, there's still a good bit of freedom to sub a few of those out for longer songs without going too crazy, without them going over 3 hours total with intermission, which is about what I would expect for an evening with show from them based on past tours.  And as far as song selection, I wouldn't mind that set at all.  Pretty varied list of things I would expect, things I like, things I'm not crazy about, instrumentals, "ballads," heavy songs, etc.  It pretty much has it all.

I like the idea of doing the Rush "travel back in time" setlist. It would also make sense considering the band's mantra - WWRD (What Would Rush Do?). If they go this route, I would expect maybe a few less deep cuts.

[TAC]

I just find it odd that they'd title a tour promoting their (DT&MP) first album in ages the 40th Anniversary tour.

[bosk1]

I like the idea of doing the Rush "travel back in time" setlist. It would also make sense considering the band's mantra - WWRD (What Would Rush Do?). If they go this route, I would expect maybe a few less deep cuts.

For a band that doesn't really do "singles," I think 8/16 songs being singles is actually pretty good (and that doesn't include Spirit, which is probably in their top 3 most popular songs among the general public). 

I just find it odd that they'd title a tour promoting their (DT&MP) first album in ages the 40th Anniversary tour.

I find it odd that you would find that odd.

[cramx3]

I just find it odd that they'd title a tour promoting their (DT&MP) first album in ages the 40th Anniversary tour.

I just think it comes down to the fact that they can only really call the tour one thing.  It can't be MPs return, 40th anniversary, AND new album tour.  It's just too much. I think 40th anniversary type of titling likely sells more tickets than the others, some of which is that we already know it's MP's return being the main selling point for a lot of people so they don't need to really advertise that part as much.  Also, the new album hasn't been announced officially so they can't tag the tour as the album because they just don't have the title and whatnot ready yet.

[TAC]

I just think it comes down to the fact that they can only really call the tour one thing.  It can't be MPs return, 40th anniversary, AND new album tour.  It's just too much. I think 40th anniversary type of titling likely sells more tickets than the others, some of which is that we already know it's MP's return being the main selling point for a lot of people so they don't need to really advertise that part as much.  Also, the new album hasn't been announced officially so they can't tag the tour as the album because they just don't have the title and whatnot ready yet.

Sure, this is all fair.

I find it odd that you would find that odd.

  also probably fair.