I've seen DT...14 times. The first was during the FII tour, the last was the DoT tour in March 2019. And while many of you no doubt have seen them more, I have always felt that the band had more energy with Portnoy. I'm not a musician. I sing, but it has been eons since I've been on stage performing, and even then, it was dive bars. So I don't pretend to know what goes into a production of the magnitude DT puts on.
The click track (which if memory served Portnoy hated to play with, and I think refused [check me on that if not accurate] to play with) really seems to make performances way more sterile. It doesn't mean that ALL bands who use one end up sterile, but it does IMO with Dream Theater because while the performance is great, the nature and complexity of DT's music has the musicians and the fans more paying attention to what's being played rather than vibing off the playing, if that makes sense.
The theater situation doesn't help. My favorite two Dream Theater shows were the 1998 holiday show at Irving Plaza in NYC, and the Feb. 2000 Metropolis PT. 2 show at...I think it was Roseland. Both were GA. Both totally different vibes. But both had an amazing connection between the band and the audience. You FELT the connection (I sure did on the latter, I got swept up during "Home" by the pit and ended up on the other side of the venue). Those were just intense feelings.
With Mangini, I have been told the band now uses click tracks all the time, and only are in theaters so there are seats. And while the old fogey that I have become enjoys the seats, and the performances are really tight, and its a great "show," it's very different experience. Not worse, but certainly not the same vibe that I had from the band in the shows I saw from 1998-2010 (or whenever MP left).
But DT is not alone in this at all. There are bands I've seen for years where the same happens. It can't be helped if you want multimedia all the time. You almost need the click to make it all happen. (Again, non-musician talking here.)
>>>I came on this thread regarding the release. So bummed it got pushed back. I can wait until mid-December, but I was really looking forward to watching it this past weekend. I ordered one of the big package bundles.