was relistening to the BCSL bonus disc today and still think it'd be fun as hell to get some covers on the first tour back. i know that might not be a popular opinion but it would make my day
I agree with you. That's not a popular opinion.
yeah, i think my penchant for DT covers comes from the Surrounded -> Sugar Mice thing they did on the Chaos in Motion tour. I adore that performance so much, and it'd be great if we could get something like that again
That’s a brutal example and damn near ruined Surrounded.
Couldn't disagree more. I loved how they reinterpreted Surrounded for that tour, just as they did with doing Caught in Alice's Nine Inch Tool Garden back in 1996/97. And honestly, I don't think there was that much of the Marillion song included anyway.
I've been pretty adamanent that all I ask from the band is that they do what THEY want and what feels best FOR THEM, but that, my friends, is probably the ONE THING that I would ask OF them moving forward. More of those interpolations and explorations in the live setting.
Totally with you on that Stads.
Well, the thing is, they don't always work, but sure, I guess in principle, I can see it. I hated Surrounded '07. I'm obviously not into Marillion, and that Pink Floyd solo motif was completely lost on me, but that tour had a quite limited setlist and to extend Surrounded like that, even if they tacked on bands' music that I actually liked, just never sat well with me and it just felt unmercenary because there was not only zero added value, but in fact, it took away from the show.
I felt the same way about Solitary Shell '09. Talk about jumping the shark, that section felt so forced and phony.
Well once again, it's in the eye of the beer-holder. As the old saying goes, "you can please some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time." So you and some others might not like it, but I and others loved it (despite the fact that I cannot for the life of me get into Marillion). I also wasn't a big fan of the stretched out Solitary Shell, nor the stretched out Beyond This Life on the 2004 tour (not a Zappa fan), but I loved the revamped Hollow Years in 2004 and 2009; some may feel the complete opposite. Same is true of the covers that have been touched on. Some don't want covers ever (Gabriel) and others welcome the full album covers (me) and some are in between.
As for the Chaos in Motion tour, while there wasn't as much variety as the previous 3 tours, that's understandable given that those were Evening With tours, whereas the CiM tour was headlining with an opener. But even then, in general I'd say about 1/2 of the setlist was rotated in and out. IIRC, on the North American leg, which you and I attended (I actually saw 8 shows on that leg) Also sprach Zarathustra/Constant Motion, The Dark Eternal Night, In the Presence of Enemies and Schmedley Wilcox were played at all the shows which makes up about 67 minutes (based on the times of the tracks on the CiM live release), but everything else varied.
I just did a quick check according to my records and here's the breakdown for that leg of the tour (25 shows in total). FYI I did this in a hurry so my numbers could be off, but I don't think so.
25Also sprach Zarathustra/Constant Motion
The Dark Eternal Night
In the Presence of Enemies
Schmedley Wilcox
21Surrounded '07
Blind Faith
17keyboard spot/Lines in the Sand
15Panic Attack
14Scarred
12I Walk Beside You
10The Spirit Carries On
7Take the Time
Strange Deja Vu
6Endless Sacrifice
4Another Day
2Misunderstood
As I Am
Home
1Metropolis part 1
Pull Me Under
Never Enough
So yeah, not as much variety as on the previous tours, but still plenty of variety. I think some of the other tour legs may have even seen more variety as more songs were added from the master setlist.