I would expect a lot of the following:
-- Songs that were played a lot during the late Portnoy years and never since. This is what I consider low-hanging fruit reunion setlist-wise. The list is surprisingly long:
Erotomania
Voices
Hollow Years
Lines in the Sand
The Glass Prison
Blind Faith
Misunderstood
In the Name of God
Sacrificed Sons
* Mike has played Lines in the Sand a lot even out of DT, first with PSMS, then with Sons of Apollo. He might prefer the other songs for now.
* The Glass Prison may well be as part of the Twelve Steps suite if they get around to playing the whole thing.
-- Songs that haven't been played since their respective album tours or shortly afterwards:
Honor Thy Father
Stream of Consciousness
Octavarium
* I fully expect Octavarium to make a return. Stream of Consciousness would also be a cool addition to the set. Whether we ever hear Honor Thy Father live again will probably depend on how Mike feels about its lyrics these days.
-- Songs that were since only played on the short 30th anniversary summer tour in 2015:
Afterlife
Burning My Soul
Panic Attack
Constant Motion
Wither
* Doubt we'll see Wither again anytime soon, but I think Panic Attack and Constant Motion are very likely. Burning My Soul, hmmm - maybe in its '96 arrangement?
Both Images and Words and Scenes from a Memory saw complete performances on dedicated anniversary tours, so while the "classic" status will make the band likely to revisit some of this material, I think we need to look at these with some nuance:
-- I&W songs that were since only played on the I&W 25th anniversary tour in 2017:
Another Day
Take the Time
* Both of these are really difficult for James, but I can see Take the Time making a return.
-- I&W songs that were since played on the I&W 25th anniversary tour in 2017, but other than that, it's been over a decade (early Mangini era):
Surrounded
Under a Glass Moon
Wait for Sleep
Learning to Live
* I can see Learning to Live returning as an encore or set closer, possibly with Wait for Sleep as an intro.
-- SfaM songs that were since played on the SfaM 20th anniversary tour in 2019/20, but other than that, it's been over a decade (early Mangini era or longer):
Through My Words
Fatal Tragedy
Beyond This Life
Through Her Eyes
Home
One Last Time
* I think Home is most likely to make a return. It's become a live rarity after Mike left, which I find a bit puzzling.
-- Stuff that is very likely to get played:
Pull Me Under
Metropolis Part I
The Dance of Eternity
The Spirit Carries On
Honestly, looking at this list, I kinda hope they do a little reunion tour before the new albums is released to get all that old stuff out of their system, then return with a lot of new material and some of the best Mangini-era tracks to keep things fresh.
I'm gonna guess anything from I&W is off-limits besides PMU unless they do some serious re-tooling of the vocal melodies. Although I feel like Wait for Sleep/Learning to Live isn't too demanding for James and is goo material for an encore. He's definitely still capable of some nice screams and if not they can just re-tool the F# section like they've done in the past.
I'd love to see Voices, and ITNOG but idk if James can handle that. He seemed to struggle a lot with ITNOG on the BC&SL tour, mainly the "Listen, when the prophets speak to you" chorus. Honor Thy Father is a nice deep cut but idk how much fans actually like it, plus it has some intense vocals. I actually enjoy it quite a lot.
Burning My Soul '96 would be really cool to see, alternatively they could do Hell's Kitchen/Lines in the Sand. However, seeing as how FII isn't really a fan favorite album I can see them being apprehensive to dedicating 15-20 mins of a live show to it, making Burning My Soul a more 'economic' pick. IIRC they brought back the '96 arrangement in 2002?
I've really wanted them to bring back Blind Faith because it is an amazing song. Maybe they've been avoiding due to dat unison?
They should definitely try to bring back some instrumentals like Stream of Consciousness or Sacrificed Songs (obviously SS isn't completely instrumental but it has a very long break and isn't too crazy vocals-wise).
This is a setlist of songs I'd like to see (Portnoy-only if this is meant to be a 'Welcome Back!' tour) that could realistically appear in a modern DT setlist:
- Constant Motion
- Never Enough (or Ytse Jam if Octavarium is in the set)
- Hell's Kitchen
- Lines in the Sand
A bit of a breather with the next 3 songs following Lines in the Sand. Maybe the setting gets a little more intimate and have the whole band sit together playing acoustically at the front of the stage like Genesis did for their Last Domino Tour at 49:15 here:
https://youtu.be/zy4kGOnOhh0?si=MqQvNnjNEUBac4hF&t=2955- The Silent Man
- Wither
- Vacant
Back into the action:
- Stream of Consciousness
- Blind Faith
- Home
- A Change of Seasons OR Octavarium (I can see either of these being played. ACOS because it's personal to Mike and could be a nice tribute to his return. Octavarium because it's probably the single most requested song I've seen posted on here since the announcement)
End the set with an encore of some Images and Words goodness:
- Wait for Sleep
- Learning to Live
- Pull Me Under
This setlist represents every studio album and contains a solid amount of fan favorites.