Having never heard them before, I was pleasantly surprised with Arch Echo. I think they have to figure out their look, though. I'm all for the "jeans and t-shirt" thing. They just look like 5 random guys who walked in off the street. The fill-in drummer they had was pretty awesome. It's not like he was filling in for some bar band playing the standard covers. Their stuff was pretty intricate. I found them to be pretty enjoyable.
This was my 4th time seeing DT with Mangini, 27th overall. We were in the first row up top. So, we had a great perspective of the stage. I'm probably gonna get hammered for this. But, I'm not a fan of the setlist at all. I agree that a band should definitely play songs from the album they're supporting. However, when they're only playing for about 2 hours and the new songs comprise almost half that time, I feel it's a little much. I was thrilled to hear 6:00 again. I can't remember the last time I'd seen that live. And, I'm always thrilled to hear anything off SDoIT. Awaken The Master might be the song I like most off the new album. I thought it sounded great live. And, if people haven't already said "F*ck this guy and his dumb opinions", this is definitely gonna get them saying that. The weakest part of the show for me is the song AVFTTOTW. The studio version of the song does nothing for me. Seeing it live certainly didn't change my opinion. I just find the song to be bloated and unnecessarily long. Maybe I just need songs to be more concise as I get older. And, normally, I can watch Mangini play anything. During this song, I just didn't care. I couldn't wait for TCoT. It was a great closer and the band sounded awesome playing it.
Overall, the band was tight, though. As everyone seems to be saying, James sounded great throughout the show.
One question I have. And, forgive me if it's been mentioned before. I haven't done a lot of digging. What's the iPad-looking thingy on the stand in front of JM. It's obviously not a teleprompter. He doesn't say a word all show. And, I have a hard time imagining he needs the music in front of him after over 30 years.