I've actually listened to the whole suite seven or eight times this year, and it would work wonderfully if they shortened some bits of The Glass Prison and This Dying Soul(the two more bloated ones) and the apology section of Repentance. Cut some bits and you have a killer 50 minutes epic, and I'm not even a metal fan. I always thought it was a very well done job, TROAE and Repentance provide a much needed breath of the heaviness before the big finale that is The Shattered Fortress, which only makes sense to me in the context of whole suite, the return of every part with an epic tweak has a great impact, alone by itself the song does feel like a medley and loses much of the drama. It's actually a masterwork, maybe better than A Change of Seasons(not as great as Octavarium and Six Degrees).
I think if done well, with a good stage production it can be a killer live. Too bad MP didn't stay to see it through, as they probably won't play it without him. It's one thing to play an individual song, but the whole thing does feel a little too much Portnoy to play it without him, even if it wouldn't be wrong. I always thought Roger Waters was a dick for what he did, even if The Wall was his idea. I know this is not the same, as Waters also wrote most of the music by himself, the ones he didn't he didn't win the exclusive rights for, namely Another Brick In The Wall Part II, Hey You, Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell, and I think Young Lust(too lazy to look it up).