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Dream Theater => Dream Theater => Topic started by: chaossystem on July 23, 2015, 04:57:32 PM
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I have been surprised many times by the opinions that people have posted on here about the band and their music.
I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as the "average" DT fan.
There have been times when I have thought that I was the only one who hated a certain song, only to be pleasantly surprised that the majority seems to agree with me.
There are albums that most people seem to feel the opposite of what I expected the majority opinion to be.
There are songs that I like that I expected more people to like, only to read what seems to be mostly negative opinions about them, or at least more so than what I was expecting.
There have been recent occasions where I would listen to one song that everybody was at the time expressing their undying love for it, only to come away feeling somewhat underwhelmed.
On the other hand, I recently listened to song that I thought was somewhat overrated, and realized I liked it more than I thought I did.
So the kinds of discussions I would like to have on here would be about all of that, but also:
Which of their live alums do you like best?
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
Those are all of the questions I can think of right now.
I hope I covered everything...
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Their current lineup is my dream lineup. It would be kind of cool to have seen them with Kevin Moore or even Derek Sherinian or Charlie Dominici, but I love what they're doing now and I love their energy and companionship they exhibit on stage. So for a one off, I would love to see different lineup but if that "dream" meant that the current band would change then I would say it is not worth it. I like them how they are.
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1. Which of their live alums do you like best?
2. Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
3. Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
4. Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
5. Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
6. Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
7. Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
1. Live At Budokan
2. Beyond This Life (live at Budokan) - the instrumental jam is one of DT's best moments
3. The Shattered Fortress / TROAE - I swear to god James ruins the entire song with his "AYYYYYYYYYYY'm ready" delivery of one the best DT choruses. JP's tone sounded really muddy and the riffs in TSF didn't stand out that much as a result
4. They should never ever play TSCO live again and I wish they played In The Name of God or any other songs off ToT more often
5. Don't listen to their covers, can't say.
6. DT12 - toss out Enigma Machine and The Looking Glass and I might actually listen to it as a whole album
7. I'd bring back the guys who made SFAM and SDOIT and replace the current lineup. :lol
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
With the exception of Chaos In Motion, I like every live album. But if I had to point only one, I'd say Score.
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Well, it's hard to name just one song. But The Shattered Fortress is too much powerful live, Breaking All Illusions brought even more tears to my eyes when I saw it live, Metropolis Pt. I, Afterlife and Trial Of Tears. I can think of many others, but I don't want to exaggerate :biggrin:
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
No. But I don't like when ANY song is played too much fast compared to the studio version. For example, some "These Walls" and "Blind Faith" performances with MP.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Blind Faith, The Glass Prison, Voices and Space Dye Vest (with THAT JP's solo) must be played more often. The Spirit Carries On and On The Backs Of Angels must take a little rest and stay out of the setlists for a couple of years.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
Well, I like Stargazer, but I cannot comment about other covers they did, because I didn't care enough about'em.
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
No, not really.
Maybe there's something you would ADD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
It's really hard to say something about this...but I'd say that "Surrender To Reason" should be longer, "Solitary Shell" could have a jam like the one they did in BCSL tour, and....that's all I can think of now.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
No. DT is how it needs to be IMO. I wouldn't change a thing about it.
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There are people who don't like Jordan very much and would like to see Kevin back in the band. There are even a few who think that Derek was the best keyboard player they ever had!
Jake:
1. I think Budokan has the best set-list as far as variety is concerned, other than maybe Luna Park, but I think Score is the best-LOOKING of all of their live video/dvds. Although the light show for Live in Tokyo was pretty cool, too.
2. I agree. Also think the Marquee version of A fortune in Lies, the LiveTime version of Trial of Tears, the Live Scenes versions of The Dance of Eternity and of Learning to live and the Chaos in Motion versions of Take the Time, Scarred and Surrounded are all the best versions of those songs.
3. Lie is one of my favorite songs from Awake, but whenever they play it live, James always ruins it with his vocal histrionics. Also, on the LiveTime version it sounded like they were all trying to play different parts of the song, or even different songs period, at the same TIME! There are other songs that got ruined when they were played live, but I'll get more into it later.
4. I think they bring Take the Time back too often. It's a good song, but not one that I need to hear on every other live album. Same goes for Trial of Tears. We didn't need yet ANOTHER version of that song on Breaking the Fourth Wall!
As for TSCO, maybe they could work out a new arrangement for it, and only play it every three years or so.
5. I'll just say that there are some songs that Jame's voice is RIGHT for, and some that he should NEVER even ATTEMPT to sing!
6. I like pretty much everything on "12," but The Bigger Picture is kind of weak and drags it down a little, so I might have left that one off. There are plenty of other songs on most of their albums that I could do without, but again, I won't go into it right now.
7. That means you would have to get rid of Mangini and bring back Portnoy! I think there are pros and cons to either one of those scenarios. Portnoy contributed a lot to the band, not just as a drummer, but in several other ways as well. I don't know much about the band's internal strife, but apparently they're getting along a lot better now, and Magini is just as good of a drummer, so who knows which would be better? Still, it would be nice to have more than one guy writing all or most of the lyrics...
Other than that you would have to turn the rest of the band into who they were during that period of time...!...
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Take the Time often stands out as the song that suffers the most live, relatively speaking when compared to the studio version, and not because of the 2nd verse and JLB's verse, but because the chorus always falls flat since the "Take the time" chorus is basically either not there or weak. I've always found it disappointing that all live DT crowds didn't sing that. That had "the crowd sings that live" written all over it, but it has rarely worked out that way. Factor in the poor versions where Portnoy felt the need to sing the opening section, and the song in the live setting has never touched the original.
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I have been surprised many times by the opinions that people have posted on here about the band and their music.
I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as the "average" DT fan.
There have been times when I have thought that I was the only one who hated a certain song, only to be pleasantly surprised that the majority seems to agree with me.
There are albums that most people seem to feel the opposite of what I expected the majority opinion to be.
There are songs that I like that I expected more people to like, only to read what seems to be mostly negative opinions about them, or at least more so than what I was expecting.
There have been recent occasions where I would listen to one song that everybody was at the time expressing their undying love for it, only to come away feeling somewhat underwhelmed.
On the other hand, I recently listened to song that I thought was somewhat overrated, and realized I liked it more than I thought I did.
Well... That happens from person to person, it depends on a lot of variables. I discovered the band shortly after they released SC, but the first songs I listened to were from ACOS and SFAM, while my metalhead friends who were also discovering DT started from TOT, 8V, SC... I can't say that I "hate" some songs or period in the band, but I'm pretty much into the older stuff, up to SDOIT. I feel that the fresh ideas (and the connection between the guys from the band) became scarce and don't have the same brilliance at the studio.
I personally prefer the ACOS/FII era lineup. Despite of the band's situation behind the stage, musically they were stepping on new grounds, doing a softer work but not strictly commercial (as a lot of people say) and still had space for some heavy cuts.
Now answering to your questions:
1:Which of their live alums do you like best?
2:Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
3:Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
4:Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
5:Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
6:Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
7:Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
8:Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
1:Live in Tokyo
2:I think that the new intro they've made to Trial of Tears in the last tour (at least the times they played here in South America) is a piece of art, it adds much more intensity and passion to the song. It's a pity they haven't registered it on BTFW. The live versions of The Silent Men both on 5YALT and LSFNY are great too.
3: Almost any song from I&W or Awake nowadays sounds terribly hard for James to sing. I can't even try to imagine him singing Innocence Faded...
4: They should retire for some time some songs from ADTOE and I&W and bring back more songs from SDOIT and WDADU imho.
5: The Zeppelin Medley, and the covers on BCSL were amazing, I rarely listen to the original ones. NOOOW, the cover of Heaven and Hell is really, really bad...
6: Cut off The Answer Lies Within and Never Enough from 8V and it would be a much more consistent album.
7: Technically speaking, Derek Sherinian can't do much of what Jordan does live, it's a matter of skills. But I would love to see him creating music again with DT. He adds soul to the music at the same time he has a lot of technique. I compare DS to JR as MP is to MM. They're not the most gifted in their instrument skills compared to the following musicians, but have a lot of creativity and soul in their compositions.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
SCORE. Hands down. I like orchestras and that kind of stuff and listening 6DOIT (my fave song ever) with an actual orchestra was beyond glorious. Also, I really like LSFNY.
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
I think the LSFNY version of Learning to Live is musically powerful, you can hear the guys putting the heart and soul on every note... And I do LOOOOOOOVE the reggae part :angel:
Score: Afterlife, Innocence Faded, TSCO, 6DOIT, Sacrificed Sons and 8V sounded a lot better than the original (Specially 8V)
Budokan: Trial of tears.
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Not horrible, but I have 2 songs in mind that have ONE bad, live and official appereance:
1. The Count of Tuscany on the Happy Holidays album. There are some stunning instrumental parts, but it feels weak. And not to mention the chorus. I don't really like it :(
2. The Ministry of Lost Souls. I was listening to it today for the first time in months. James is amazing, but the tuning thing on JP's guitar and the MP's overplaying and missing some notes make the song a bad live rendition.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
I don't have any songs to be on hiatus.
I do wish they play Voices, You Not Me, Hells Kitchen, Home, Honor Thy Father, Stream of Consciousness, Sacrificed Sons, and the three songs that James mentioned on the most recent interview: Take The Time, Disappear and THE MINISTRY OF LOST SOULS PLZ PLAY IT AGAIN, YOU CAN DO IT BETTER :(
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I don't think their covers are better than the originals, but I love their Mother, Father cover more than the original :hefdaddy
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band?
The I&W Lineup.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
Live at Budokan. It has a really good setlist and a good sound.
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Hollow Years at Budokan! It's the definitive version of the song in my mind.
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
There are no songs that I think sound bad live, really, but I would say that Pull Me Under has a bit of studio magic that it never quite captures in the live performances. Particularly on the choruses.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Play more often: Any of the epics. A Change of Seasons is not among my very favorites, but I think it's an absolute crime that it's been so long since it's been played live in full.
Hiatus: Unlike a lot of bands, they don't really have any ridiculously overplayed songs. I suppose it's probably time for On the Backs of Angels to take a break.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I haven't heard all of their covers, but what I've heard of The Dark Side of the Moon sounded pretty cool. I'm a fan of the way The Big Medley is put together. To Tame a Land is solid. Gangland is a nice twist on the original. Unfortunately, I don't think James sounds great on Master of Puppets.
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Well, just by the way averages work, WDADU would be probably technically be a better album without Light Fuse and Get Away, but I wouldn't remove it. I'm a big believer in playing full albums without skipping tracks.
Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Raising the knife...
Nah, I'll take FII as it is and enjoy Raise the Knife as a fun non-album bonus. I would like to see them release nice, widely accessible studio versions of the Cleaning Out the Closet tracks, though.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
Well, the best lineup is the lineup that works well, which the current lineup does. The only former member who could work well with them at this time is probably Derek Sherinian. It would be fun to see what Derek could come up with in working with both John and Jordan, but I'm not sure how two keyboard players would work, and I certainly don't want to lose Jordan.
I'm a Mike Portnoy fan, and I would love to see him back in the band. At this time I don't think it can happen, and I like Mangini. But I suppose my dream lineup would be: Portnoy/Petrucci/Myung/LaBrie/Rudess/Mangini/Sherinian. That would be fun.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
I really like all of them, especially since there's a wide variety of songs with few repeats. If pushed to choose one, it would be either LSFNY or L@B
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Honestly, I'm a sucker for those occasions when DT heavily revises one of their songs or adds something that wasn't on the original recording. So my list would include Caught in Alice's Nine Inch Tool Garden, The Killing Hand '96, Metropolis '96, Lie (w/ Tool jam), Learning to Live '05, Surrounded '07 and Hollow Years '09. I'm sure there are others, but those come to mind right away. The only 2 exceptions I can think of would be Beyond This Life (w/ extended improv) and Solitary Shell (w/ extended improv) as I really didn't enjoy either all that much.
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Pull Me Under. I don't understand why JP can't more closely replicate the original guitar sound used on the studio version. Whenever they do the intro live, it sounds so weak in comparison. Right now, can't think of any others.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Bring back any of the songs that hasn't been played in many years. In particular, a lot of songs from WDaDU, such as Light Fuse, The Killing Hand and The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun. Also Hell's Kitchen, Lines in the Sand, Raise the Knife, The Way It Used to Be, Speak to Me, Don't Look Past Me, Home, The Glass Prison, Blind Faith, Disappear, Honor Thy Father, Never Enough and The Count of Tuscany. Of the songs to stop playing, I'd say Pull Me Under, Metropolis, The Spirit Carries On, Caught in a Web, Peruvian Skies, Fatal Tragedy and As I Am.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
The one issue I've always had with DT's covers is the fact that most of the time they sound too much like the original - I'd rather they make the song their own, much as Jimi Hendrix did with All Along the Watchtower, VH did with You Really Got Me and Manfred Mann did with Blinded By the Light. Of the covers that they've done, hands down my favorite (and the one I feel that is superior to the original) is Rush's The Necromancer, which is DT-ized just right in my eyes. Can't think of any covers that I thought was terrible.
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Too hard to say - I'd need more time to think that one out, and even then I don't know if I could come up with an answer.
Maybe there's something you would ADD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Lengthen War Inside My Head, fix the ending of The Looking Glass, smooth out the transitions of both SDoIT and IT so that they didn't feel like misc. parts spliced together, rewrite the lyrics to both SC and BCaSL, take more care in the sound and mastering of the last 4 albums, cut JP's sound down a bit on the last 2 albums, bring up JM in the mix on most of the albums and boost JR on DT12.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, whether it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
Bring back MP for certain, as aside from his pushing for a heavier sound, I miss everything he brought. Hard to say who I'd choose between Rudess and Sherinian - I love JR, but I've really come to appreciate DS and I'd love to see what he'd bring to the band now. I'd like to see how well Tony Harnell would do in replacing JL, and maybe swap someone like Sean Malone for JM, although those are more curiosities than being a "dream" lineup.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
LIVE AT BUDOKAN
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
HOLLOW YEARS
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
ANOTHER DAY - James can't sing it!
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
PLAY MORE VARIETY FROM WDADU & FII !!!!!!!!
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I REALLY LIKED ALL OF THEIR COVERS!
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
NONE......EACH SONG (GREAT, GOOD or BAD) HAD IT'S PURPOSE!
Maybe there's something you would ADD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
MIKE PORTNOY ON THE LAST TWO AND UPCOMING ALBUM ;)
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
PORTNOY, PETRUCCI, MYUNG, SHERINIAN (or MOORE) and A YOUNG JAMES LABRIE
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
Score
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
6DOIT, OCTAVARIUM AND HOLLOW YEARS
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Endless Sacrifice, horrific.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
BC&SL gets little love. I would kiss Petrucci's feet to see ANTR live
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
Cemetery Gates was auesom
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Someone get rid of Honor Thy Father
Maybe there's something you would ADD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
One more song to Train of Thought, I mean, it had 9 minutes of space left.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person.
Awesome as it is, I love them and would totally hug them.
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Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Honestly, I'm a sucker for those occasions when DT heavily revises one of their songs or adds something that wasn't on the original recording. So my list would include Caught in Alice's Nine Inch Tool Garden, The Killing Hand '96, Metropolis '96, Lie (w/ Tool jam), Learning to Live '05, Surrounded '07 and Hollow Years '09. I'm sure there are others, but those come to mind right away. The only 2 exceptions I can think of would be Beyond This Life (w/ extended improv) and Solitary Shell (w/ extended improv) as I really didn't enjoy either all that much.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Bring back any of the songs that hasn't been played in many years. In particular, a lot of songs from WDaDU, such as Light Fuse, The Killing Hand and The Ones Who Help to Set the Sun. Also Hell's Kitchen, Lines in the Sand, Raise the Knife, The Way It Used to Be, Speak to Me, Don't Look Past Me, Home, The Glass Prison, Blind Faith, Disappear, Honor Thy Father, Never Enough and The Count of Tuscany. Of the songs to stop playing, I'd say Pull Me Under, Metropolis, The Spirit Carries On, Caught in a Web, Peruvian Skies, Fatal Tragedy and As I Am.
Those two I can agree so much! I love those extended jams or alternative versions and they should do those more often in the future but I'm afraid that was also more MP thing...
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I think DT have done a great job with the majority of their covers.
The only one I've heard that I thought was a clear improvement over the original was their cover of "Tears" by Rush.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
Either Budokan Score or BTFW.
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Afterlife (Score) is one of the very rare exceptions, I rarely like live versions better.
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Mirror/Lie during their BTFW performance, and also BAI, not the whole song, just the guitar solo (I wouldn't say horrible, just less enjoyable.).
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Correct me if I'm wrong but I think they played Caught in a Web way more times than any other Awake song, so I guess I would want that one to be played less, and for the opposite, I'd like to see Peruvian Skies more often, easily the most powerful Falling Into Infinity song.
EDIT: After reading jakepriest's comment I realized TSCO is indeed way overplayed, so I'll ad that to Caught in a Web.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I'm not really a fan of DT's covers, they're so much better at creating their own gems than covering others, so I'll leave this empty.
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
ADTOE would be by far my favorite album if it wasn't for BTS and FFH, but it's still easily a top 3 album, maybe still #1. I don't like Repentance on Systematic Chaos, but since it's part of the AA suite I understand it.
Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
I think BC&SL would benefit from a DT12-ish thing where they have a short prelude to the album like False Awakening Suite.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup? My dream line-up is their current, without a doubt, and I'm still positive that their decision to bring in Mangini was the right one.
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There was a thread on here, but I've been unable to find it, in which the OP asked if Petrucci should replace the rest of the band, and who he would/could/should replace them with.
I wanted to post this on there.
I think the band is fine as is, but if, God forbid, something should happen to John Myung and Jordan, I would want Dave Larue and Neal Morse to be the ones to step in and fill their roles.
Larue is pretty much my favorite rock bass player right now. The reason I think he's better than Geddy Lee is because Geddy over-PLAYS, and my OTHER favorite bassist, Chris Squire from Yes,-as I 'm sure most of you know-died a few weeks ago.
And if they brought in Neal Morse, apart from him being as good a keyboard player, if not better than Jordan, it would also give the band some much-needed help in the vocal department. Since Morse and Portnoy seem to be practically joined at the hip, they could bring Portnoy back or keep Mangini.
I'm good with either one.
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Neal Morse is a talented keyboard player, but I don't think he is DT-caliber.
Also, I imagine the connection with MP is too much.
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I just meant that this would be MY "dream version" of the band, but only IF something happened to Myung and Rudess. I also already mentioned that if they got Neal it would probably be a "package deal" that would include them taking Portnoy back as well, which I said wouldn't bother me.
And yes, I know that all of these things have practically ZERO chance of ever happening, but I can DREAM, can't I?
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
It's between LSFNY and LaB for me. Those two pretty well represent the band at their peak.
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
The Killing Hand - LATM and WD&DR
Take Away My Pain - OIALT
Just Let Me Breathe, The Silent Man, Learning to Live - LSFNY
Beyond This Life, Hollow Years - LAB
Surrounded - CiM
War Inside My Head - LALP (love that new intro!!!)
3. Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Pull Me Under - most versions unfortunately besides the LATM version.
4. Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Anything from WD&DU (besides maybe AFIL and Afterlife), Learning to Live, ACoS, Hell's Kitchen, The Glass Prison, pretty much anything from Train of Thought.
EDIT: Oh god... please stop playing TSCO so often!! It's an absolutely glorious climactically beautiful piece in the context of the album but it's been played way too often these last few years :-[
5. Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I love the Number of the Beast cover album - I really feel they did that one justice.
6. Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
FII - personally I would switch out Peruvian Skies and Anna Lee for Raise the Knife.
7. Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
The "golden" line up that gave us SFAM, 6D, ToT and 8V - JP, JM, JR, JLB and MP.
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Been meaning to say this for a while, so before I forget again: I don't understand why there's so much negativity about the live versions of Pull Me Under. I thought-and still think-that the LiveTime and Budokan versions are BOTH very good.
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Pull my Finger owns them all, simply because it's the most original and the band actually changed the lyrics.
Awesome, one of DT's creative peaks.
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Been meaning to say this for a while, so before I forget again: I don't understand why there's so much negativity about the live versions of Pull Me Under. I thought-and still think-that the LiveTime and Budokan versions are BOTH very good.
I wouldn't say that I feel negatively about Pull Me Under live. In my opinion, there's a magical element to the studio version. Particularly the singing on the chorus. I don't know exactly how to say this, but when I first listened to Pull Me Under, I was blown away by how clean and pretty the chorus was. It floats, really. Now, it would be totally unreasonable to expect the band, especially JLB, to pull off this kind of magic live, and I don't expect it. I think most live performances of Pull Me Under sound good. But I chose to mention it because it is a song that, for me, will probably never have a live performance that lives up to the studio recording.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
Budokan. Such a visual and aural treat, and still their best.
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
I'll always take studio versions over live, but the live version of Hollow Years from Budokan is noteworthy, as is Trial of Tears from the same show. Live versions of TSCO are also great, because they add something over the studio version, such as Theresa/choir on LSFNY, or JLB's improved vocals and melodies on Score.
The only majorly better live versions are the WDADU songs, which I don't care for to begin with, and that's only because the studio versions sound so incredibly poor.
As for songs that I don't like as much live, Blind Faith, Disappear, and the softer parts of SDOIT. That whole album is so well created in the studio that I think it loses something live. I wouldn't say it sounds horrible by any stretch though!
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Anything from SDOIT, but mostly THE GLASS F'ING PRISON DAMMIT. A lot of the album feels majorly neglected live though.
I'll say TSCO should be retired for a little while because it has been played to death. I still love it though. That's the only one that sticks out for me.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I don't think they crapped up any of them, but I don't think any of them exceed the originals or add much. They play all of them serviceably.
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted? Maybe there's something you would ADD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Lop off the last half hour of dead weight from Awake (Lie onwards), and the album would easily jump up a few spots. And drop YNM from FII, and that album would nudge out IaW imo.
I wouldn't add anything to any of their albums. All of the tracks that didn't make the album have been better off that way for various reasons.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
I musically much preferred the lineup with MP, however I wouldn't bring him back or make any changes to the band at this point. I'd just like to hear them unleash the fookin' fury.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
It's hard to pick just one. I don't watch live DVDs as much as I used to, so the newer ones will never get played as much as Live in Tokyo, 5 Years... or LSFNY. I'll go with LSFNY since it has all of Scenes and those beastly bonus tracks.
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
The Killing Hand sounds far better live, largely because Charlie didn't have the voice to pull off the challenging parts of that song. The last line of the song sounds limp as hell in the studio, thanks to his limited range, but JLB slays it. Plus, the Another Hand intro that they often do with it just makes it that much better.
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Horrible is not the right word, but Take the Time never sounds nearly as good live as it did in the studio. Pull Me Under doesn't come off well live either, largely because the intro never sounds good when played live; it's like they are incapable of nailing that vibe live.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Play more: Light Fuse and Get Away, Erotomania, Voices, Hell's Kitchen, Misunderstood, In the Name of God and The Glass Prison
Play less: Constant Motion (play never), On the Backs of Angels and Pull Me Under
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding is probably the only cover I have ever listened to with any regularity, but I can't say it's better than Elton John's original.
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Chuck You Not Me and Burning My Soul, and maybe even New Millennium, in favor of several of the songs that didn't make it, with them cleaned up of course, and Falling into Infinity, already really good, would have been great.
Also, get rid of that silly, unnecessarily long fadeout at the end of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. Completely pointless; it didn't need to be that long.
Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Better mixing would have benefited Scenes from a Memory and A Dramatic Turn of Events. Great CDs already, but I always wish both sounded better.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
LaBrie/Portnoy/Myung/Petrucci/Moore was their best and most definitive lineup, but that ain't happening again. Really though, every lineup they have had since JLB has joined has been tremendous.
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These songs aren't awful to the point of being unlistenable, but if they were gone from Awake, I wouldn't miss them: Caught in Web, The Mirror, and Lifting Shadows off a Dream.
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Lifting Shadows is in my top 10 all time DT songs...easily. Especially the live version from the acoustical show with the extended intro. :hefdaddy
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Hi jam.
Good to see you're still around.
I don't mean any disrespect to anyone who likes any of those songs.
I just don't care for them.
There also songs that I like that don't seem to be very popular on here. An early example would be Status Seeker (Mostly because I've known the type of people that the song describes.), a more recent example is Build Me Up, Break Me Down (I just like it when they DARE to be DIFFERENT!)
Anyway, I just thought of another question which is sure to stir up a lot of varied responses: Do you like it better when DT varies their set list from show to show, or do you prefer that they keep it the same, like on the Along for the Ride tour, or would something in-between be better?
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A mostly static set list, with 4-6 spots rotating on a nightly basis, is the way to go. And do not rotate songs that haven't been played in a while. Play those every night so fans at each show gets to see them. I think the ADTOE tour was the perfect example of how to best do set lists where DT is concerned.
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I would just answer the question on the Dream lineup. At this point in their career, I really prefer the present lineup. Not just because I am a Mangini fanboy, but doing the Mangini Through The Years thread, I appreciate how his music and playing is still growing. Even the change from ADTOE to DT12 has a noticeable leap, with new techniques being used, new orchestration ideas, etc. If DT's music is to evolve, their best chance is to have MM who himself is still evolving even at age 50.
MP is amazing, but to my ears, his style stopped evolving at around SDOIT/TOT era. Even his post-DT work does not deviate much from that sound. He plateaud quite early and I wish that in his next records, I would hear new things from him.
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Do you like it better when DT varies their set list from show to show, or do you prefer that they keep it the same, like on the Along for the Ride tour, or would something in-between be better?
I definitely prefer setlists that vary from show to show. To have a static setlist is quite lame, IMO given the amount of material they have to draw from, and that in the past they didn't do static setlists. It hindered me from seeing them multiple times last year. But since the varying setlists hae gone the way of the dodo, if they could at least switch between an A and B (and maybe C) setlist, it would make it worthwhile to see them more than once, IMO.
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Here's another one for you: It looks like late this year or early next year (2015/2016) there's going to be a new album, and another major tour.
How would you like them to handle it?
-Would you like it to at least start out as "evening with" shows?
-If not, who would you like them to tour with?
-How many new songs would you like to hear?
I know it's hard to choose from something you haven't heard yet, but not everyone has the same ratio of old-vs-new that they would like to hear in a live setting.
-How many of the rest of their albums would you want to be "represented" on the next tour?
-Which songs would you like to see brought back?
List as many possibilities from as many albums as you can think of
-Which songs do you absolutely NOT want to hear this time out?
Again list as many as you want.
I know the subject addressed in the last two questions is no where NEAR to being new or original, but maybe we can come up with a list of do's and don'ts that we can all at least COMPROMISE on!
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Do you like it better when DT varies their set list from show to show, or do you prefer that they keep it the same, like on the Along for the Ride tour, or would something in-between be better?
I definitely prefer setlists that vary from show to show. To have a static setlist is quite lame, IMO given the amount of material they have to draw from, and that in the past they didn't do static setlists. It hindered me from seeing them multiple times last year. But since the varying setlists hae gone the way of the dodo, if they could at least switch between an A and B (and maybe C) setlist, it would make it worthwhile to see them more than once, IMO.
Yes they did. Come on, your name is Setlist Scotty! You should know this! :P
Or did the first leg of the Awake and M:2000 tours never happen?
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Do you like it better when DT varies their set list from show to show, or do you prefer that they keep it the same, like on the Along for the Ride tour, or would something in-between be better?
I definitely prefer setlists that vary from show to show. To have a static setlist is quite lame, IMO given the amount of material they have to draw from, and that in the past they didn't do static setlists. It hindered me from seeing them multiple times last year. But since the varying setlists hae gone the way of the dodo, if they could at least switch between an A and B (and maybe C) setlist, it would make it worthwhile to see them more than once, IMO.
Yes they did. Come on, your name is Setlist Scotty! You should know this! :P
Or did the first leg of the Awake and M:2000 tours never happen?
I was making reference to the majority of their tours, not that every single tour had rotating setlists. And for the record, the first leg of the Waking Up the World tour did change over the course of the tour, altho not from night to night like on Touring Into Inifinity, World Tourbulence or later tours. And as for M:2000, that also varied a bit (assuming you're speaking of the first NA leg), but like the Waking Up the World tour, not to the same degree as later tours. :-*
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Play more: Light Fuse and Get Away
YES
-Would you like it to at least start out as "evening with" shows?
Yea I'd prefer evening with shows, definitely after they've released the new album.
-How many new songs would you like to hear?
Really depends on the style they're going with for the album, but if it's anything like ADTOE or DT12 I'd like them to play the album epic, and maybe like three other songs.
-How many of the rest of their albums would you want to be "represented" on the next tour?
I don't really care that much, but I don't like the idea of rushing certain albums because they want to keep the songs played from every album balanced.
-Which songs would you like to see brought back?
Do you mean songs they haven't played for a while? In that case, I've always wanted to hear Light Fuse and Get Away live (like Kev mentioned), Beyond This Life has been a long time ago IIRC, Endless Sacrifice, Blind Faith.
-Which songs do you absolutely NOT want to hear this time out?
Absolutely not is a little bit too rough for me, but songs I'd rather see on a break are TSCO, Caught in a Web, and maybe As I Am.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
I'd pick either Score or Breaking the Fourth Wall. Was at both and both are very fun to listen to. Probably Score, because I think that DVD was done better (still waiting for the Bluray on that).
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
I love live albums, but nothing particularly stands out as being BETTER live. I love some performances more than others: pretty much the entirety of Live at the Marquee. SO much energy; Pull Me Under from LaB; Another Won/Afterlife from Score. As for the second part, I think Chaos in Motion sounds horrible, but it's the production itself, not the songs.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Play more WDaDU please. One of my favorite albums of theirs and still haven't seen about half of it live. Stop playing The Spirit Carries On please. Home is a much better alternative to overplay.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I love the Number of the Beast album. Love Lies Bleeding is awesome. The Queen and Zebra covers are great, too. The only one I don't really like is the Made In Japan album. I don't think it's necessarily bad, I just think it's boring. Jamming in the style of another band just doesn't appeal to me, at all.
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Can't think of any.
Maybe there's something you would ADD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Aside from getting actual album versions of the FII demos left off, which would be awesome, I don't think anything needs to be added.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
I like Mangini, but give me the SFAM-BC&SL lineup any day of the week.
Would you like it to at least start out as "evening with" shows?
Yes, always my first choice.
If not, who would you like them to tour with?
If they were to have an opener... I dunno, I'm not really into the kinds of openers they tend to bring. Maybe Avenged Sevenfold?... If DT were to open for someone, I would hope it would be for a Metallica World Tour.
How many new songs would you like to hear?
Doesn't matter the first time around. They could play the whole album for all I care. I'm here to hear songs I haven't heard before, so I'll take any new ones. The second time on a tour, however, they better be playing songs off the new album they didn't before. They're usually pretty good with that, though, so no complaining.
How many of the rest of their albums would you want to be "represented" on the next tour?
As long as they don't repeat too much from previous tours, they can play what they want. I guess if they played from about 75% or more of their albums, I'd be okay with that.
Which songs would you like to see brought back?
Any I haven't seen: Status Seeker, The Killing Hand, The Ones Who Help To Set The Sun, Only a Matter of Time, You Not/Or Me, Burning My Soul, Hell's Kitchen, Take Away My Pain, Anna Lee, Regression, Through Her Eyes, The Great Debate, Disappear, Repentance, The Best of Times, Far From Heaven, The Bigger Picture, Behind the Veil, Surrender to Reason, To Live Forever, Eve, Where Are You Now, The Way It Used To Be, Cover My Eyes, Raw Dog. Also I'd like to see New Millennium again.
Which songs do you absolutely NOT want to hear this time out?
Beyond This Life gets too much play for an 11-minute song. Play Home instead. Also TSCO. Play Home instead. Don't need to hear anything from Images, Awake, Train of Thought, or Octavarium, but one or two from any of those, I wouldn't get upset about.
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I don't think I'm the only one who's mentioned this, but a few of the songs (TLG, StR and BtV) on "12" sound kind of unfinished, like maybe they were "rushed into production" or something.
Also, on Behind the Veil there's this weird discrepancy where James sings the first verse in a deep and serious manner, but then on the rest of the song it's like he's just trying to sound "pretty." I wonder what happened there.
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I am not hearing what you are hearing at all. And I am pretty sure this is the first I have ever heard anyone say either of those things.
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I am not hearing what you are hearing at all. And I am pretty sure this is the first I have ever heard anyone say either of those things.
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I will say, however, that there IS a contrast in the way the different parts of Behind the Veil are sung. But it isn't first verse vs. the rest of the song, and it appears that you completely missed the point of why there is a contrast.
Both the first and second verses are sung in a harsh, edgy way. And both of those are sung from the perspective of a narrator (as based on the lyrical content, that narrator is possibly an accuser). The bridge and chorus and then sung from the perspective of the female kidnapping victim. That is why there is a shift in style. This is not the first time James has done this. We see similar vocal quality shifts to represent different characters all over the SFAM album, as well as on Six Degrees (song), for example.
The only odd discrepancy is that the bridge after the second chorus is NOT from the perspective of the victim, but James still uses that same softer, soaring voice. Not sure if that was done simply to preserve the style of the first verse/bridge/chorus, of if maybe it is another character, such a different female victim who is observing the main victim that the song is centered on.
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I didn't know what the song was supposed to be about. I thought it was about the conflict between good and evil, or the devil or forces of evil trying to "break" or destroy the human spirit. I guess I took "the devil shows his face" a little too literally.
Or maybe we just have different interpretations of what the song means.
Anyway, what I meant about the way sings it is that it happens too abruptly. He should have EASED into it, instead of changing his style so suddenly.
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Predictions for the next tour, with a few personal biases thrown in, Part One:
I don't know if the band pays much, if any, attention to what we do on here, but I would hope that they are aware of what songs we do and don't want to hear them play, and maybe would modify their set lists accordingly.
This is what I think and hope will happen on the next tour, working backwards, starting with the most recent album:
I doubt if they will play any of the songs that were featured on the AftR tour / Bt4thW DVD, or Behind the veil, since it is part of the current (2015) live set.
They very likely will play Surrender to reason, and I'm sure a lot of people have asked them to play it. It also won't surprise me if they play The Bigger Picture, although I kind of hope that they won't, since to me, it is the WEAKEST song from that album. I would rather they brought back the Enemy Inside and/or The Looking Glass instead.
I'm sure a lot of people would like for them to play Illumination Theory again, but it's probably too long to fit in with whatever they'll be doing on this next tour. Maybe as part of a medley...?...
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
1. Um... that's actually a really good question. I'd have to say Score.
2. Another good question. The flip answer would be to say the "mercy fuck" version of ACOS (hehe). The serious answer? The addition of Marillion's "Sugar Mice" to Surrounded during the Chaos in Motion tour. That was so killer.
3. I don't have an answer for this one. Sorry.
4. Songs done to death--most definitely "Pull Me Under" and "Endless Sacrifice". Songs I wish they'd play more--"These Walls", "Strange Deja vu", and OMG "To Live Forever". Especially "To Live Forever" with JP's solo including musical lines from The Beatles song "Within You, Without You". Mmm. :heart
5. DEFINITELY "Stargazer" and "Tenement Funster/Flick of the Wrist/Lily of the Valley" as to the bestest covers. They also did a bang-up job fully covering Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, that was KILLER. They NEVER should have covered Zebra's "Take Your Fingers From My Hair" - JLB's vocal tone is just not right for that one imo.
6. Both Systematic Chaos and Black Clouds could have done with some serious culling ("Constant Motion", "Prophets of War" and sorry to say "Best of Times") and trimming (TCOT and TMOLS need SERIOUS trimming imo).
7. Can't really answer this one except to say that they should have been allowed to make FII as they wanted to and not how the studio ordered them to make it.
8. My dream line-up is the current one.
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Would anyone other than me like to see DT play an all-acoustic set sometime, or as part of the next tour? I don't mean an entire two-hour or more show, but something like 30-40 minutes, maybe a little more, in which they play all of the songs on REAL acoustic instruments. I think a LOT of their songs would sound good that way, and not just the ballads, either.
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Unplugged DT... that would be sooooooo... :heart
I was fortunate enough to see the 1996 Styx reunion tour and they did a little unplugged section of about 3-4 songs in the middle of the show and I've always thought that that was so awesome that they did that.
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Would anyone other than me like to see DT play an all-acoustic set sometime, or as part of the next tour? I don't mean an entire two-hour or more show, but something like 30-40 minutes, maybe a little more, in which they play all of the songs on REAL acoustic instruments. I think a LOT of their songs would sound good that way, and not just the ballads, either.
Might be cool to see them do an unplugged section during an Evening With tour, but only if they don't simply play acoustic based songs (as they did on the Dramatic tour - specifically WfS, TSM, FFH, BtS) and that they properly reinterpret those songs for acoustic instruments. Another thing I wouldn't mind seeing would be some pseudo-unplugged shows in a relaxed setting, like they did during December of 1998, where they not only focused on the mellower songs (some more acoustically, others not so much) as well as rarely played songs, B-sides and some covers.
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Would anyone other than me like to see DT play an all-acoustic set sometime, or as part of the next tour? I don't mean an entire two-hour or more show, but something like 30-40 minutes, maybe a little more, in which they play all of the songs on REAL acoustic instruments. I think a LOT of their songs would sound good that way, and not just the ballads, either.
I approve of this idea. :tup
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Another thing I wouldn't mind seeing would be some pseudo-unplugged shows in a relaxed setting, like they did during December of 1998, where they not only focused on the mellower songs (some more acoustically, others not so much) as well as rarely played songs, B-sides and some covers.
This, for sure, would be cool. I have a bootleg somewhere of one of those, and it was fantastic, one of my favorites.
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I didn't know what the song was supposed to be about. I thought it was about the conflict between good and evil, or the devil or forces of evil trying to "break" or destroy the human spirit. I guess I took "the devil shows his face" a little too literally.
Or maybe we just have different interpretations of what the song means.
Anyway, what I meant about the way sings it is that it happens too abruptly. He should have EASED into it, instead of changing his style so suddenly.
Before passing judgment on a song, don't you think it would behoove you to take a few seconds to try to figure out what the song is even about? I quick search on the forum would have given you plenty of explanation. For example:
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=39172.msg1693687#msg1693687
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=38972.msg1673308#msg1673308
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=38986.msg1674299#msg1674299
https://www.dreamtheaterforums.org/boards/index.php?topic=41160.msg1787762#msg1787762
And, no, he should not have "eased" into it. The parts of the song portray completely different "characters," which requires two different voices/phrasings. How would you possibly "ease" into the transitions without it being weird and muddled? It wouldn't make sense. And this is exactly what he has done on other songs, as I mentioned above.
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I wasn't judging it as not being any good. I never said I didn't like it. I just wish that the vocal arrangement had been done differently.
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Predictions and biases for the next tour; Part Two-
A Dramatic Turn of Events:
I hope they play a couple of songs from this album next time out, but they should let Breaking All Illusions and On the Backs of Angels rest for a while. I REALLY hope they don't play Beneath the Surface or Far From Heaven, because I can't stand EITHER of those songs. I said I have personal biases, so don't say you weren't warned.
Outcry should probably be left out because it's one of the longest songs from Dramatic, but I would be okay with them bringing it back. Maybe on the tour after this next one.
They're playing Bridges in the Sky on the current tour, so no.
Build Me Up, Break Me Down doesn't seem to be very popular, so I won't put it up as a possibility. But I DO like it.
By process of elimination, the two best songs from ADoToE that they could play on the next tour are Lost Not Forgotten and This is the Life.
At least from my point of view.
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I'd love to see This is the Life in one of their setlists, IMO their best ballad, but I would prefer Outcry or BAI rather than LNF.
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Playing normally not acoustic songs as acoustic songs again is definitely a great idea. Some songs become better when stripped down. The difference in quality between the demo/regular version of Cover My Eyes and the live acoustic version is massive (the live acoustic version is great; the demo/studio version sounds like some generic tune).
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What I had in mind were some songs that are melodic and many of them have a strong "piano hook" in them or are more "pop" sounding, such as Another Day, Surrounded, Space-Dye Vest, Along for the Ride, The Spirit Carries On, Hollow Years, Solitary Shell, Status Seeker, Only a Matter of Time, Forsaken, The Answer Lies Within, This is the Life, Repentance, and maybe some covers. I don't mean ALL of these songs at once, but maybe they could do this with about 5 or 6 of these songs at each show.
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-Would you like it to at least start out as "evening with" shows?
Yes. They don't need to have an opening act right now, and I'd rather see 3 hours of DT than 2 hours of DT and an hour of some band that I may or may not know or like.
-If not, who would you like them to tour with?
If they were to have an opening act, I think it would be good for them to take Haken around the US at long last. So long as Haken played Celestial Elixir.
-How many new songs would you like to hear?
I know it's hard to choose from something you haven't heard yet, but not everyone has the same ratio of old-vs-new that they would like to hear in a live setting.
The whole album. I believe that a band that tours in support of a new album, especially one that plays 3-hour sets, should play the whole thing. I was very disappointed that they didn't on the last tour. It's a crime that The Bigger Picture hasn't seen the light of day.
-How many of the rest of their albums would you want to be "represented" on the next tour?
There needs to be at least one IAW song, and as much of the rest of DT12 as possible. Other than that I don't care.
-Which songs would you like to see brought back?
List as many possibilities from as many albums as you can think of
Octavarium. The Bigger Picture (not back, but it needs to debut). In the Name of God.
-Which songs do you absolutely NOT want to hear this time out?
Again list as many as you want.
Time for OTBOA to take a break. And there should be a song played from IAW the whole tour that isn't PMU or Metropolis, though I don't object to those being played.
Playing normally not acoustic songs as acoustic songs again is definitely a great idea. Some songs become better when stripped down. The difference in quality between the demo/regular version of Cover My Eyes and the live acoustic version is massive (the live acoustic version is great; the demo/studio version sounds like some generic tune).
I'd actually like to see Jordan and James try to come up with a piano version of Build Me Up, Break Me Down. The verses would need some work, but since first hearing ADTOE, I've always heard the chorus done with James accompanied only by a piano.
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I would also prefer that they do evening with shows, but if not-and I know this has almost NO CHANCE of ever happening-I would want them to take Flying Colors on the road as the opener. And you KNOW the two bands would probably do some things (covers, jams, etc.) together! Who wouldn't want to hear that?
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I think MP would never do that. Too bad that would be fun to see.
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I would also prefer that they do evening with shows, but if not-and I know this has almost NO CHANCE of ever happening-I would want them to take Flying Colors on the road as the opener. And you KNOW the two bands would probably do some things (covers, jams, etc.) together!
I don't know any such thing.
No way they have FC open. The idea is preposterous.
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If FC for some reason ends up opening for DT, I'm pretty sure MP would quickly leave FC.
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I would also prefer that they do evening with shows, but if not-and I know this has almost NO CHANCE of ever happening-I would want them to take Flying Colors on the road as the opener. And you KNOW the two bands would probably do some things (covers, jams, etc.) together!
I don't know any such thing.
No way they have FC open. The idea is preposterous.
Dude, you must have missed the part where I said "I know this has almost no chance of ever happening."
It would be different if I had said "This is something I anticipate or am expecting them to do..."
Just because you think it's preposterous doesn't mean it's something no one would ever want.
Oh well, I guess every party has to have a pooper, but it would be nice if you could be a little more open-minded.
And DSS: I doubt if that would happen, but then again we can't say for sure if there's even going to BE another Flying Colors album and/or tour!
But we can hope, can't we?
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Hef, you're a pooper.
;D
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But we can hope, can't we?
What? No.
(https://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i238/hefdaddy42/funny/abandonallhope_zpsmc9s7mji.png)
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Okay.
But why?
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Predictions and Preferences for the Next Tour; Part Three-
Black Clouds & Silver Linings:
This one is difficult. But I'll begin by weeding out the two songs I know I DON'T want to hear. I don't think either of them got played much on the original BC&SL tour, so I get the feeling they might not be missed all that much. I know I could be wrong, but the ones I'm talking about are The Best of Times and Wither.
As much as like The Shattered Fortress, again they played it on the ALftR tour, so again no. Make room for something that hasn't been played for a while. Unless they FINALLY get around to playing "12-Step" in it's entirety. I may be alone in this, but I think the best solution to this "problem" would be to play a MEDELEY of those five songs, especially since they'd be doing them without Portnoy.
I'm listening to a live version of A Nightmare to Remember as I'm writing this. Sounds good. I wouldn't say no to it, but I think I'm one of the few people who LIKES the vocal thing that Portnoy did at the end of it, so I don't know how this song would end up sounding without him. Also depends on what kind of room they have in the set(s).
Speaking of what they might have room for, I recently saw and heard a couple of live performances of The Count of Tuscany, and now I know why there's so much enthusiasm for this song. This is the one I would want to put the most amount of support behind, but again, IF there's room for it.
However...
A Rite of Passage is also a personal favorite of mine, and I can't believe that I'm the ONLY one who would love for them to play their version of the Rainbow song Stargazer live. Both of those songs would take up the same or less time than the two or three longest songs from the album, so I think it's doable. Maybe they should play Stargazer as-or part of-the encore.
Amendment: I forgot that they ARE playing Wither on the current tour. So that eliminates it anyway.
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Predictions and Preferences for the Next Tour; Part Three-
Black Clouds & Silver Linings:
This one is difficult. But I'll begin by weeding out the two songs I know I DON'T want to hear. I don't think either of them got played much on the original BC&SL tour, so I get the feeling they might not be missed all that much. I know I could be wrong, but the ones I'm talking about are The Best of Times and Wither.
As much as like The Shattered Fortress, again they played it on the ALftR tour, so again no. Make room for something that hasn't been played for a while. Unless they FINALLY get around to playing "12-Step" in it's entirety. I may be alone in this, but I think the best solution to this "problem" would be to play a MEDELEY of those five songs, especially since they'd be doing them without Portnoy.
I'm listening to a live version of A Nightmare to Remember as I'm writing this. Sounds good. I wouldn't say no to it, but I think I'm one of the few people who LIKES the vocal thing that Portnoy did at the end of it, so I don't know how this song would end up sounding without him. Also depends on what kind of room they have in the set(s).
Speaking of what they might have room for, I recently saw and heard a couple of live performances of The Count of Tuscany, and now I know why there's so much enthusiasm for this song. This is the one I would want to put the most amount of support behind, but again, IF there's room for it.
However...
A Rite of Passage is also a personal favorite of mine, and I can't believe that I'm the ONLY one who would love for them to play their version of the Rainbow song Stargazer live. Both of those songs would take up the same or less time than the two or three longest songs from the album, so I think it's doable. Maybe they should play Stargazer as-or part of-the encore.
I love their Stargazer version, but I doubt they would play this live and if they do, I doubt it would be part of the encore.
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Yeah, they will never perform that song live.
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They did medley of 12 step suite songs on last tour - The Shattered Fortress :D
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Predictions, etc., Part Four-
Systematic Chaos:
Another difficult one. This seems to be an album of songs that people mostly love to hate, or at least ignore.
Constant Motion is part of the current tour, so that's out.
The Dark Eternal Night is in Luna Park, and if they put out another live DVD and/or cd from the next album-tour cycle, I would just as soon they not include it again.
The Ministry of Lost souls is too depressing lyrically, and in my opinion it's too "generic" sounding musically. It really doesn't ad anything to the band's musical vocabulary. So as far as I'm concerned it would just take up about 15 minutes of concert time that could be used for something better. Maybe even two or three better (short) songs.
In the Presence of Enemies would also take up too much time, but maybe if they just played Part One...
I don't think they've ever played a "full band" version of Repentance live, so perhaps it's long overdue. I'd be for it. Either that or again all of "12-Step" or the "Medley Thing."
Prophets of War isn't one of my favorites, but I wouldn't mind hearing it live, just to see how it compares.
Forsaken seems like a logical choice, because it's the shortest song on SC, but I wouldn't mind if they ALSO played PoR and/or Repentance.
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More Questions:
Am I the only one who wishes that they had or would release(d) a version of Breaking the Fourth wall in audio-only (cd, etc.), or as a CD/DVD combo pack?
I mean OTHER than the Blue-Ray version. or maybe audio (cd) only.
Also, do you think you will want a show from the tour for the next album to come out on DVD / Blue-Ray / cd / vinyl, etc.?
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More Questions:
Am I the only one who wishes that they had or would release(d) a version of Breaking the Fourth wall in audio-only (cd, etc.), or as a CD/DVD combo pack?
I bought my audio file from HD Tracks.
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More Questions:
Am I the only one who wishes that they had or would release(d) a version of Breaking the Fourth wall in audio-only (cd, etc.), or as a CD/DVD combo pack?
I mean OTHER than the Blue-Ray version. or maybe audio (cd) only.
Also, do you think you will want a show from the tour for the next album to come out on DVD / Blue-Ray / cd / vinyl, etc.?
I'm an audio guy more than a video guy, just because of practicality. I can listen to a live album doing other things, whereas watching a video requires all my concentration and I can't really do anything else. So if an audio version of a live release is available, I'll always go for that, altho typically I'll also get the video version just to complete my collection and to watch on occasion. So yeah, I hope they'll release audio versions of all future live releases, and I like the choice of being able to purchase it separately instead of being required to get the super-deluxe over-priced package just to have the CDs.
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Predictions & Preferences, Part 5-
Octavarium:
First up, Panic Attack is in the current set, and I think it got overplayed on the 8vm and SC tours anyway, so no.
I know there are a few people who like Never Enough, but with all due respect, I'm pretty sure most of us don't, so please no!
The split on I Walk Beside You seems to be pretty much even, and again I'm on the "no" side.
Most people don't seem to like The Answer Lies Within, but I thought it sounded good on Score, so I don't mind if they play it again, but I can live without it.
These Walls was played on the ADoTE tour, so even though I like it, they should probably make room for a song or songs that haven't been played for a while.
The Root of Evil was ALSO played at Luna Park, and I think all three versions of this song sound identical, so unless they either play ALL of 12-Step, or the medley, like I've been suggesting, then no. Even though it is my favorite song from this album.
They haven't played Sacrificed Sons much since the 8vm tour, so I would "vote" for it.
However...
A LOT of people want the title track. But that's what they should be doing NOW, since 2015 is the album's 10th anniversary. But I have a couple of ideas that I think might be a good compromise. Either they should play the "Full Circle" and "Intervals" parts of it only, or play what is pretty much the entire second half of the song, starting at about 12:15 or so with the synth (keyboard) solo. I would like to see them do something like this on the next major tour. I know a lot of people think that this song is an UNTOUCHABLE MASTERPIECE, and will probably think it would be heresy to cut it in half, but I also know that there are at least a few people find it to be very boring. I personally think the "boring" is mostly because of the first half, and hopefully at least some of you will agree that an "abridged" or edited version is a viable alternative.
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Likes:
Little green ghouls.
Dislikes:
People's knees.
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Which DT album(s) are those songs on?
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Dislikes:
People's knees.
You only say that because you've never seen MY knees.
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Sorry for the derailment. Can't resist throwing in a good Always Sunny reference now and then. Looks like no one got it though.
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More Questions:
Am I the only one who wishes that they had or would release(d) a version of Breaking the Fourth wall in audio-only (cd, etc.), or as a CD/DVD combo pack?
I mean OTHER than the Blue-Ray version. or maybe audio (cd) only.
Also, do you think you will want a show from the tour for the next album to come out on DVD / Blue-Ray / cd / vinyl, etc.?
I'm an audio guy more than a video guy, just because of practicality. I can listen to a live album doing other things, whereas watching a video requires all my concentration and I can't really do anything else. So if an audio version of a live release is available, I'll always go for that, altho typically I'll also get the video version just to complete my collection and to watch on occasion. So yeah, I hope they'll release audio versions of all future live releases, and I like the choice of being able to purchase it separately instead of being required to get the super-deluxe over-priced package just to have the CDs.
Breaking the Fourth Wall is sold in HDTracks, and I am a happy customer. :)
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More Questions:
Am I the only one who wishes that they had or would release(d) a version of Breaking the Fourth wall in audio-only (cd, etc.), or as a CD/DVD combo pack?
I mean OTHER than the Blue-Ray version. or maybe audio (cd) only.
Also, do you think you will want a show from the tour for the next album to come out on DVD / Blue-Ray / cd / vinyl, etc.?
I'm an audio guy more than a video guy, just because of practicality. I can listen to a live album doing other things, whereas watching a video requires all my concentration and I can't really do anything else. So if an audio version of a live release is available, I'll always go for that, altho typically I'll also get the video version just to complete my collection and to watch on occasion. So yeah, I hope they'll release audio versions of all future live releases, and I like the choice of being able to purchase it separately instead of being required to get the super-deluxe over-priced package just to have the CDs.
Breaking the Fourth Wall is sold in HDTracks, and I am a happy customer. :)
Yeah - I saw that you mentioned that in your previous post, but I've always been someone who likes to have something tangible in my hands, like CDs. I may consider HD tracks in the future, altho I really don't want to have to repurchase albums I already have.
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Oh, okay. I thought you missed it. I rarely get CDs anymore because we barely get non-mainstream albums here nowadays.
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Sometimes I get the feeling that every chaossystem thread, no matter the title, will end up in a create your own custom setlist thread
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Sometimes I get the feeling that every chaossystem thread, no matter the title, will end up in a create your own custom setlist thread
That's because it's a fact.
Sometimes he puts good ideas, and I actually enjoy his sets and the thought he places on them. Actually makes me want being reborn as a prodigy and create my own cover band and play aaaalll that.
But some of them are fairly weird, too much in fact, and seems to give a lot of preference to certain fairly unliked songs from FII and WDADU. Weirdest of all was splitting SFAM, but else, I enjoy that stuff.
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Yeah I enjoy them too, except for the damn JUST LET ME BREATHE in every single setlist. :-[
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other than songs that haven't been played for a while, I mostly pick songs that I've never, or rarely, gotten to hear live. Especially from Dream and Day, and I know I'm not the only one who would like to hear those songs again, or new versions of them.
As for the songs from SFaM, if you look at the "tourography" section of Mike Portnoy's web site, you'll find that the first let of the Metropolis 2000 tour is the ONLY time that they played the entire album in from beginning to end, uninterrupted. Before and after that, they would play a song or two from it, some old songs, more SFaM, more older songs, etc. After that they would play one or two songs from it in various places throughout the set. Sometimes even in the WRONG ORDER! I have this concert from Poland, 2007, that I pulled off of YouTube where they ended the show with The Spirit Carries On, followed by Home, and then played Learning to Live for the encore. For me, LtL doesn't work as an encore. A set-closer like on LSFNY maybe, but NOT for an ENCORE!
As for Just Let Me Breathe: There are other songs that other people never get tired of, such as Trial of Tears. How many more versions of that one do we NEED???
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Well, Trial of Tears is amazing. Just Let Me Breathe is, well, not amazing.
And of course Learning to Live works as an encore, and they have used it that way plenty of times.
And if they aren't performing all (or even a chunk, like on the last tour) of SFAM, why does it matter that the songs aren't "in order"?
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I was just using JLMB as an example of a song that they haven't played for a long time.
Just because it isn't "amazing" to YOU, doesn't mean nobody else likes it or wants to hear it.
I just wish they would bring back songs like that, or play some newer songs, instead of some of the songs that have already been on their live albums at least twice before.
A good example of this might be that instead of Trial of Tears, they could have played Behind the Veil and Surrender to Reason on the AftR tour.
As for what does or does not work as an encore, I only said that *I* don't like LtL as an encore, not that anyone has to AGREE with me. Everybody has a RIGHT to an OPINION! Even me.
I didn't say that the songs from SFaM, or ANY album had to be played in order. But a lot of people are very picky about that sort of thing. In the case of SFaM, I PREFER that they be played in order. Other than that I only mentioned it because of complaints that I got about my ideas involving songs from that album being split up instead of being played all together.
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I had a hard time deciding if I wanted to do this here, or start a separate thread for it, but I decided that a thread for this probably wouldn't generate enough interest to keep it going for any decent length of time. Besides, it's not really off-topic, because it's still very much about opinions and preferences.
I have come with a "Big Seven" list of bands and artists in both the progressive and metal genres, who's music I loved and listened to off and on from the late '70s to the early '90s, before I even HEARD of Dream Theater, but it's because DT has combined all of this music into their sound that I was and still am blown away by what they do.
I know a lot of their influences are not included in these lists, and that they were influenced by other kinds of music, as well. I also know that a lot of other peoples' favorite bands aren't listed here, but like I said, these are some of MY personal favorites.
One of the main things I would like to find out is: some of my choices might not have ever occurred to you before, but after giving it some thought you might decide that they actually DO make sense.
I also would like to find out which of these bands are loved and hated the most.
Alphabetically-
Hard Rock/Heavy Metal:
1) Black Sabbath (Mostly their first few albums)
2) BOC
3) Deep Purple
4) Any band featuring Ronnie James Dio
5) Iron Maiden
6) Metallica
7) Queensryche
Progressive Rock:
1) Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2) Genesis
3) Kansas
4) Alan Parsons (Project)
5) Pink Floyd
6) Rush
7) Yes
I also want to encourage anyone who wants to do this differently, to do so. The list can be as long or as short as you want. I'm sure a lot of you will want to include bands such as King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Slayer, etc., but like I said I listed bands that I was listening to.
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Hard Rock/Heavy Metal:
1) Metallica
2) Queensryche
3) Iron Maiden
4) Deep Purple
5) BOC
6) Black Sabbath
7) Ronnie James Dio
Progressive Rock:
1) Kansas
2) Rush
3) ELO
4) Genesis
5) Pink Floyd
6) Yes
7) Alan Parsons Project
From these bands this would be about right for me in terms of rankings, I'm not a big progrock guy though, Aside from the top three I rarely/never listen to any of these bands.
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Did you mean to say "Electric Light Orchestra" instead of "Emerson, Lake & Palmer?' If you did, that's fine. I just wanted to make sure you knew which band was on my list.
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Oh, that's funny, I thought you misspelled there and meant to write down ELO, as the P is next to the O, but yea I meant the Electric Light Orchestra.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
Probably Chaos In Motion, since I love the version of Surrounded on there as much as any live song in the catalogue. Overall, though, probably LSFNY
Are there songs that you think sounded great on the original album, but sounded horrible live?
I'm a bigger fan than most of "Pull Me Under", but maybe it's because it was the first song I got into, but the live versions have always been underwhelming to me.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
This is moot now, but I would've liked to have seen "Cover My Eyes" and "To Live Forever" live with MP.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version, and which songs do you think they NEVER should have covered, because they crapped it up so bad?
I don't think they have "crapped anything up" but I tend to like the prog and metal covers more than the thrash covers. So I guess the answer is, anything that James can really SING I like (LOVE Stargazer, the Number... album cover, the Floyd covers).
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
Maybe there's something you would AD to an album or albums that you think would be an improvement.
Well, the Ytsejam version of FII is now the definitive version for me, so there. I would have edited out Doug Pinnick's vocals from "Lines in the Sand". And how "Cover My Eyes" didn't make an album is beyond me. Last, I would edit out all the growl vocals.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
Not popular, I think, but to me, DT lost something intangible when MP left. I love Mangini, but DT was special among special with MP. Now they are just really really good.
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Which of their live alums do you like best?
Probably Chaos In Motion
Now, that's something you don't hear a lot these days.
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Just what I was thinking.
But it was bound to be someone's favorite.
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P-&-P, Part Six>
Train of Thought:
To begin with, as I Am is unfortunately out, because it's part of the current set-list.
When I first started on here, I was somewhat surprised that one of the songs that I don't like was also relatively unpopular among the rest of you, and that song is Endless Sacrifice. I know some people like it, but I REALLY DON'T want to hear it again.
Same goes for Vacant. Can't stand that one either. Only good thing about it is it's WAY too short to overstay it's welcome.
If they don't have an instrumental piece to play from the new album, then I wouldn't mind if they brought Stream of Consciousness back. Maybe they would even play it differently enough that it wouldn't be just the same-old-same-old.
Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.
I don't think they've played This Dying Soul since the ToT tour, so I'd be all for it making a comeback. And again, they could play all of 12-step, or use my medley suggestion.
In the Name of God seems to be the best-loved song from ToT, and I have no problem with that, but I would hope that if they DID play it, they would, again, do something different with the arrangement.
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-Would you like it to at least start out as "evening with" shows?
YES
-If not, who would you like them to tour with?
Come back for a 2nd leg after the initial "Evening With" tour and make it a "prog metal festival" of sorts and bring along, REDEMPTION, SYMPHONY X & the NEW Queensryche! That'd make for a helluva show:
Redemption - 6:00-6:40
Symphony X - 6:55-7:50
Queensryche - 8:05-9:15
DT - 9:35-11:00
-How many new songs would you like to hear?
Assuming there's 8 tracks on the new cd, I'd say play 5 on first leg, 2 others on 2nd leg and keep one for next tour cycle
-How many of the rest of their albums would you want to be "represented" on the next tour?
EVERY album on the "Evening With" tour and completely different songs on 2nd leg!
-Which songs would you like to see brought back?
1. Anything from WDADU (preferably one of the 3 I still haven't seen live yet - "Status Seeker", "Light Fuse And Get Away" or "OAMOT" which Ive only seen in medley form)
2. Take The Time, Surrounded or Learning To Live (Love the others but just so tired of them)
3. Voices (NEVER get tired of that one)
4. A Change of Seasons (hey, one can dream they'll pull this out again - haven't seen it since 2004)
5. Absolutely ANYTHING from FII (although, as great as they are, I'd rather some rarely played FII songs then LITS, HY, & TOT). I could REALLY go for seeing "You Not Me", "Take Away My Pain" (electric), "Peruvian Skies" (long time since I've last seen), "Anna Lee" or "Hell's Kitchen".
6. Home & ESPECIALLY "Through Her Eyes"
7. The Glass Prison!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
8. In The Name of God!!!!!!!!!!!
9. Octavarium!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
10. In The Presence of Enemies pts. 1 & 2
11. Wither (haven't seen it performed live yet - ONLY reason)
12. Lost Not Forgotten or This Is The Life
13. The Bigger Picture, Behind The Veil, Surrender to Reason (I haven't seen these 3 performed yet)
-Which songs do you absolutely NOT want to hear this time out?
Again list as many as you want.
well, there's a LOT and for many various reasons, most of which are NOT because I dislike the songs:
Pull Me under, Under A Glass Moon, Wait For Sleep, Another Day, anything from Awake aside from Voices, Hollow Years, Trial of Tears, Finally Free, The Spirit Carries On, The Dance of Eternity, anything from 6DOIT aside from The Glass Prison or About To Crash (reprise)/Losing Time/Grand Finale, As I Am, Vacant, anything from Octavarium aside from title track, anything from Systematic Chaos aside from "....Enemies" or possibly "The Ministry of Lost Souls", anything from Black Clouds aside from "Wither", anything from ADTOE aside from "LNF" or "TITL, anything from DT12 aside from The Bigger Picture, Behind The Veil or Surrender to Reason
I'm more interested in seeing songs that A) I haven't seen performed live, B) songs that haven't been played since '04-'06 & C) are raely played live, than seeing "popular songs" repeated during tours!
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Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.
I love that song, but there's no chance they'll play it without Portnoy.
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Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.
I love that song, but there's no chance they'll play it without Portnoy.
I wouldn't consider it any less likely than the songs from the 12SS, which they've already played a couple of. The only song I'd say is 100% not happening without MP is TBOT.
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Honor Thy Father would be okay, but I'm not sure how popular it is overall, so I'm not sure how it would go down.
I love that song, but there's no chance they'll play it without Portnoy.
I wouldn't consider it any less likely than the songs from the 12SS, which they've already played a couple of. The only song I'd say is 100% not happening without MP is TBOT.
OK, maybe I was a bit too blunt, but I don't see them bringing HTF back to the set any time soon. It isn't any big fan favourite neither, but I don't think it'd be stopping them (given them playing Burning My Soul this tour :lol) (for the record, BMS is great).
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Are there any songs that you think sound better live, or there's an alternative live version that you think improves on the original (studio) version?
Another Hand/The Killing Hand on Live at the Marquee. A Fortune in Lies on the same album is awesome too.
Which songs do you wish they would play more often, and which ones do you think have been done to death and should be on hiatus for about two or three years or more?
Shit they don't play enough: Anything off WDADU, Innocence Faded (dunno if James can sing it anymore), A Change of Seasons, Hell's Kitchen, Lines in the Sand, Misunderstood, Stream of Consciousness, In the Presence of Enemies.
Caught in a Web, The Spirit Carries On and As I Am should be given a rest.
Which of their covers do you think sounded as good as or better than the original version
Perfect Strangers! :hefdaddy I don't like the outro solo that much, but aside it, damn!
Which of their albums do you think would have been better if certain songs were omitted?
A Dramatic Turn of Events shouldn't have Build Me Up, Break Me Down. I'd also omit Wither from Black Clouds & Silver Linings and I Walk Beside You from Octavarium.
Also, what would be your "DREAM" line-up for the band, weather it would be by bringing back an ex-member to replace a current member, or bringing in someone who's never been a member, or ADDING another person to the current LaBrie/Mangini/Myung/Petrucci/Rudess lineup?
Simple.
James LaBrie: vocals
John Petrucci: guitar
John Myung: bass
Kevin Moore: keyboards
Mike Portnoy: drums
;D
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Predictions for next tour, Chapter Seven-
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence:
They haven't played The Glass Prison much-if at all-since the 6-DoiT tour, and I'm sure plenty of other people would love to hear it again, so it seems like a no-brainer, other than that it might be too long to fit in with whatever they end up doing on the next tour. And one more time: ALL of 12-step or a MEDLEY!
I like Blind Faith a lot, but it didn't come off so well in the Chaos in Motion CD/DVD, so I'm apprehensive about it.
The Great Debate is another good song, but it might be too long to fit in with the set-list for the next tour.
I HATE the ending of Misunderstood. It ruins a song that is otherwise at least okay. Maybe they good play it in a shortened form, WITHOUT that shitty ending!
I hate Disappear, so please no.
I really hope they don't waste over 40 minutes of show-time playing all of Six Degrees on the next tour. About to Crash by itself is out, because it's in the current tour's set list.
War /Test is in BOTH Budokan AND Luna Park, so I don't think we want them again this time.
I don't like Goodnight Kiss, except for the second half.
I wouldn't mind if they played Solitary Shell and AtC (Reprise) together, and maybe include the "jam" from GK at the beginning as well, but otherwise I would just as soon they leave "6 Degrees, Disc Two" out of it.
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They haven't played The Glass Prison much-if at all-since the 6-DoiT tour, and I'm sure plenty of other people would love to hear it again, so it seems like a no-brainer, other than that it might be too long to fit in with whatever they end up doing on the next tour. And one more time: ALL of 12-step or a MEDLEY!
It's been a while since they played TGP, but they did play it a decent amount of the time beyond World Tourbulence:
https://www.mikeportnoy.com/dates/MPTourography/SearchResults.aspx?SearchMode=Songs&SearchValue=The%20Glass%20Prison
The Great Debate is another good song, but it might be too long to fit in with the set-list for the next tour.
As much as I like the song, I doubt they'll play it again unless MP returns to the band and writes the setlists again. They did that song during 2011 and dropped it. I asked JP why and it was because it was long and wasn't getting much of a crowd reaction.
I hate Disappear, so please no.
Well, nobodies perfect! :P Actually I love that song - my fave on SDoIT, so I'd love to see it again.
I really hope they don't waste over 40 minutes of show-time playing all of Six Degrees on the next tour.
Agreed - and I agree with the fact that WIMH/TTTSTA are already well represented live. But while AtC was on this summer's setlist, I wouldn't have a problem if they did it and the reprise together - think that might be kinda cool.
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Next Tour, #8-
Scenes from a Memory:
Since Overture/SDV was played on the AftR tour and is in the Bt4thW DVD, I think it's obvious that it shouldn't be included on the next tour.
They haven't played Fatal Tragedy for a long time. What I would like to see them do is and extended thing, similar to what they did with Beyond This life on the ToT tour / Live at Budokan.
Speaking of Beyond This Life, they haven't played it for a long time, so I, for one, would welcome it's return. I also wouldn't mind if they did something different with the arrangement, but not quite as long as the LaB version.
Through Her Eyes is a song I can't listen to, because it reminds me too much of a horrible thing that happened around that period (1999) of Time.
Home is another song that I think has been absent for a long time. Again I think it might be good if they did something different with it.
The Dance of Eternity was part of ALftR/Bt4thW, so no.
I don't think One Last Time has ever been played by itself, and I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's short enough that it wouldn't take up too much space in the set, or they could work out a longer arrangement for it if necessary and as time permits.
I think most people are getting sick of The Spirit Carries On, so I hope they leave it this time. But at some point in the future I would like to see them play it acoustically and/or with an orchestra.
Finally free was also part of the whole "12" thing, so one more time: no.
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Most people are getting sick of The Spirit Carries On? I doubt it, considering crowds go crazy for it every time. I am sure there are a small percentage of online fans who want to see it put down for a while, but it's always a favorite of the live crowds.
I do think that Home is long overdue to get some serious live love, for sure.
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Home was played in the summer of 2010. That's only two tours ago. That's not that long.
Overrated anyway. Gotta sit through the whole bloated thing just to get to the last minute and a half or so.
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I hope they don't play Learning to Live.
Bloated as hell and takes too much setlist time.
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Most people are getting sick of The Spirit Carries On? I doubt it, considering crowds go crazy for it every time. I am sure there are a small percentage of online fans who want to see it put down for a while, but it's always a favorite of the live crowds.
I do think that Home is long overdue to get some serious live love, for sure.
If you are paying attention to what's being said here on the forum, then yes, you WILL notice that a lot of people are tired of TSCO, and a lot of us think it HAS been overplayed since it's debut. But I ALSO said that after a few years I would like to see them bring it back in a different form. I said as well that I would like to see pretty much ALL of the songs from SFaM played with different arrangements. But no more than one or two of them being played on each night of the next tour.
And Tac and DSS: I don't think LtL or Home are all that "bloated," and I think a lot of us would like to have one or both of those songs in DT's live show once every few years.
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I have never seen TSCO live, a lot of people haven't either, so stop saying it shouldn't be played because you think it's overplayed. If you go to a venue and it gets played, I'm sure you'd start crying instantly.
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They played it BOTH of the first two times I saw them in concert. I got to see/hear it the VERY FIRST time they played it live (along with the REST of SFaM!),
and again on the 6-DoiT tour. I have ALL THREE of the live DVDS (LSFNY,Score, & LaLP), that include this song, and I'm pretty sure I can catch other versions of it through mediums like YouTube.
So I think it's safe to say that I'm pretty well all cried-out over The Spirit Carries On...!...
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Home was played in the summer of 2010.
Overrated anyway. Gotta sit through the whole bloated thing just to get to the last minute and a half or so.
:huh: :facepalm: :loser:
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Most people are getting sick of The Spirit Carries On? I doubt it, considering crowds go crazy for it every time. I am sure there are a small percentage of online fans who want to see it put down for a while, but it's always a favorite of the live crowds.
I do think that Home is long overdue to get some serious live love, for sure.
If you are paying attention to what's being said here on the forum, then yes, you WILL notice that a lot of people are tired of TSCO, and a lot of us think it HAS been overplayed since it's debut.
If you are paying attention to what I am saying, you will see that I said live crowds still love it, from all indications. I doubt the band is gonna abandon the song live because some online fans are tired of it.
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I didn't say "abandon" it! I just said stop PLAYING for a while. Leave it the shelf for the next couple of tours, and then bring it back and play it differently. What's so wrong or bad about THAT?
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Nothing, but that isn't the issue I addressed. I addressed you incorrectly saying that most DT fans are tired of The Spirit Carries On.
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Well, they probably ARE!
They could stop playing it on at LEAST the next tour, and most people probably won't complain about or say anything like "it wasn't a complete Dream Theater concert because they didn't plat The Spirit Carries on!"
The majority will probably be just as happy with the songs that they DO play.
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I have never seen TSCO live, a lot of people haven't either, so stop saying it shouldn't be played because you think it's overplayed. If you go to a venue and it gets played, I'm sure you'd start crying instantly.
I keep forgetting to mention this, so now's as good a time as any: I'VE never gotten to see Pull Me Under live, except as part of the medley at the Metropolis 2000 show. But a lot of people are either sick of PMU, or don't like it that much in the first place. If they DID play it at a show that I was at, it MIGHT just elicit an emotional response from me. And even though there's no doubt in my mind that most of the rest of the people there would enjoy it as well, or at least not MIND if they played it. But there are still people on here who complain about it like it was Metallica insisting on playing songs from St. Anger at every gig!
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A lot of people are sick of the DT songs from the forthcoming album.
Prove me wrong.
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First of all, I am not obligated to prove anything about anything to you.
Second, that is just about the most absurdly ridiculous statement you could possibly have made.
Thirdly, DEFEND your POSISSION!
How can anyone be sick of something they haven't even HEARD yet???
For your idiotic statement to even BEGIN to be right, there would have to be people, and I means LOTS of them, coming on here and saying that they're already sick of the songs from "12!" And people who didn't like those songs in the FIRST place do NOT count!!!
But most IMPORTANTLY: exactly WHAT does your insane statement have to do with anything?
Like I said: DEFEND IT!!!
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I think that it was actually a joke poking fun at how DT fans always find something to complain about. That or KevShmev comes from a future where DT13 was released :omg:
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See, and you all thought Marty McFly was Future Boy. :biggrin:
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I think that it was actually a joke poking fun at how DT fans always find something to complain about. That or KevShmev comes from a future where DT13 was released :omg:
Well, that's exactly the point I was trying to make, ALSO in a humorous way by saying that it would be just like Metallica continuously shoving St. Anger down THEIR audiences' throats.
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I think that it was actually a joke poking fun at how DT fans always find something to complain about. That or KevShmev comes from a future where DT13 was released :omg:
Well, that's exactly the point I was trying to make, ALSO in a humorous way by saying that it would be just like Metallica continuously shoving St. Anger down THEIR audiences' throats.
Oh yeah, I had misunderstood that part of your post. But as you wrote I think most people don't really mind Pull Me Under (unlike St-Anger which seems to be disliked even by Metallica fans). I think it's more of a case of wanting more variety from tour to tour.
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1. Favorite live album:
Scenes From New York. Budokan and Score might be better, but LSFNY is still my favorite.
2. Live versions better than studio tracks:
"The Killing Hand," from Live at the Marquee, is the most obvious one, but any WDADU song sung by LaBrie is better than the Dominici studio versions.
3. Live versions worse than the studio tracks:
"Take the Time," especially the performances where Portnoy "sings" the first verse.
4. Songs DT should play more often; play less:
I remember marking out when they played "The Killing Hand" live in 2002. I wouldn't mind if they played WDADU songs not part of their medleys. "Home" and "Strange Deja Vu" would be cool too. I never want to hear "Hollow Years" again.
5. Covers as good or better than the original; covers that sucked:
"Perfect Strangers" is as good as the original, even more shockingly so because it is a live version. They have several others which are maybe a tad worse than the original ("Love Lies Bleeding," "Stargazer," the whole Dark Side of the Moon bootleg, etc.). I don't think the whole Number of the Beast bootleg worked because of the one-guitar arrangement.
6. Albums that would have been better if certain songs were omitted:
Falling Into Infinity would have been better if "Anna Lee" and "Take Away My Pain" were left on the cutting room floor. Black Clouds and Silver Linings would have been better without "The Best of Times." Every album has a mediocre track or two except for Images and Words, but I chose the ones that I find most cringeworthy.
7. Albums that would have been better if certain songs were added:
The songs that were showcased on the "Five Years In A Lifetime" DVD I assume were written at the same time as the FII tracks, while not great, were better than the ones mentioned above. The demo "You Or Me" was certainly (at least lyrically) better than the Desmond Child-rewrite of "You Not Me." "To Live Forever," while predating even IAW, was too good not to be an album track. It might not have fit Awake's style and maybe wasn't good enough for IAW, but it was better than almost everything on FII.
8. Dream lineup for the band:
LaBrie-Petrucci-Myung-Portnoy-Moore. Too much musical masturbation by Rudess, and I miss Moore's lyric contributions.
9."Evening with..." shows or who would I like them to tour with:
I like the solo, three-hour shows with the intermission. I don't like the ProgNation or the co-headlining tours because the set isn't long enough, and I am not familiar with the openers and they've never really won me over, except for maybe Symphony X (a little). I wouldn't want anybody too prog; maybe a harder symphonic band like Epica would be good. It wouldn't happen, because they'd rather headline smaller joints in the U.S., although they were willing to be third on a bill with Machine Head before the tour got cancelled.
10. How many new songs would I like to hear:
No more than half of any new album, unless they somehow create a third masterpiece this late in their career. I remember how pissed people were when they went to see Maiden and got A Matter of Life and Death in order, in its entirety, and only "Hallowed Be Thy Name" from Number of the Beast.
11. Albums I want represented:
Any new album, IAW, A, SFAM, SDOIT, TOT, BCASL.
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Next Tour Continued (Part Nine)-
Falling Into Infinity:
It's nice to see that they brought Burning My soul back for this current tour, but I kind of wish they had saved it for the next one, when they have another new album to promote.
Trial of tears was part of AftR and Bt4thW, and I think we've had enough of it for a while.
The support for Anna Lee, You Not Me and Take away My Pain SEEMS to be KIND of weak, so MAYBE best not to play any of them. (Caps used to make sure no one misses the POINT!)
I LOVE New Millennium, but it's already on Live at Budokan, and I don't know if there's much more they could do with it, so unless they work out a new arrangement for it, probably best not to bring it back.
I like Peruvian Skies, but a lot of you don't seem to care for it, or feel that it's been overplayed, so I don't know what to think about this one.
I don't think they've ever played a full version of Hell's Kitchen live, especially on a major tour, so hell yeah! It's about damn time!
I don't know why so many people don't like the FII version of Hollow Years. I think I like it just as much now as I did when I first HEARD it! This is another song that I think would sound great (or even beautiful) if they played it on REAL acoustic instruments (but still full-band!) and/or with an orchestra.
I'm one of the few people who never seems to get tired of Just Let Me Breathe, but it doesn't take up too much of the show, and it's a 'hard" song, so I don't think most of the audience would find it to be TOO objectionable. But NOT with the end of it cut off, like they did in LSFNY!
Lines in the Sand still seems to be very popular, but if they bring it back I hope they play it more like the LiveTime version, only without all those screaming keyboard sounds at the beginning, and WITH the restored lyrics at the end like in the CiM version.
Part 9 & 1/2: A Change of Seasons:
Most people will probably want them to play it in it's entirety on the next tour, but that's what they should be doing NOW, since 2015 is the 20th anniversary of the album!
They've played parts of it in other shows that they've done in the past, and that's what they should do on the next tour. Like maybe play Carpe Diem in the first set, and Another World / The Inevitable Summer in the second set.
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1. Favorite live album:
Score and LSFNY are amazing!
2. Live versions better than studio tracks:
Illumination Theory was incredible live when I saw that, So was The Count of Tuscany. A lot of their EPICS suit a live environment a lot more!
3. Live versions worse than the studio tracks:
Afterlife & Metropolis at Waken were completely butchered by LaBrie. Also anything pre FII doesn't sound very good live compared to studio anymore.
4. Songs DT should play more often; play less:
Old epics like Octavarium, A Change of Seasons and maybe ITPOE should be played more. Remove DT12 for this tour maybe
5. Covers as good or better than the original; covers that sucked:
Stargazer/Take Your Fingers From My Hair ruled. To a Tame Land was Weak
6. Albums that would have been better if certain songs were omitted:
Octavarium without Never Enough and I Walk Beside You, Systematic Chaos without Prophets of War
7. Albums that would have been better if certain songs were added:
If FII had Raise the Knife and Speak to Me instead of Just Let me Breathe and Burning my Soul/Anna Lee it would've ruled, and You Not Me/You Or Me
8. Dream lineup for the band:
LaBrie - The true voice of the band, he's had ups and downs but he'll always be the voice of the band
Petrucci - The main machine behind the songwriting. Irreplacable.
Myung - Incredibly consistent, Fantastic lyrics. Again, Irreplacable
Mangini - The band just seems happier with him, no ego and less ideas/contributions
Moore - Used to prefer Rudess but his sound library is awful, Moore is sounding awesome in OSI and could bring something really cool to the mix if he came in at this point.
9."Evening with..." shows or who would I like them to tour with:
Symphony X/Wintersun/Andromeda/Shadow Gallery but most of all ICE AGE. That would be great. Love the long sets though, I go to their concerts to see DT so the more the better.
10. How many new songs would I like to hear:
Their Single and Their Epic track (There's bound to be an epic, right?)
11. Albums I want represented:
DT13, A tonne of SDOIT, less Metropolis (Only sounds true in it's entirety), Not much from IAW/Awake (Doesn't sound as good as it used to). Octavarium, BC&SL, ADTOE
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Anna Lee is a song I really hope to see live reworked/upgraded like Space Dye Vest or Hollow Years. It's already a cool song that creates a nice atmosphere, so making it more dynamic and changing things here and there would make it a memorable moment in a show for me.
Making it fresh and new (since, as far as I know, it hasn't been played by Jordan live, correct me if I'm wrong)
So it would really feel like a fresh idea, and not many can say that they've seen it live.
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Anna Lee is a song I really hope to see live reworked/upgraded like Space Dye Vest or Hollow Years. It's already a cool song that creates a nice atmosphere, so making it more dynamic and changing things here and there would make it a memorable moment in a show for me.
Making it fresh and new (since, as far as I know, it hasn't been played by Jordan live, correct me if I'm wrong)
So it would really feel like a fresh idea, and not many can say that they've seen it live.
I remember reading from somewhere that Anna Lee is retired from setlists, because it was a "Derek song". Correct me if I'm wrong. Also, there aren't too many people who like that song. I think it is good, but not really memorable. Though I wouldn't complain if I'd see it played live.
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Anna Lee is a song I really hope to see live reworked/upgraded like Space Dye Vest or Hollow Years. It's already a cool song that creates a nice atmosphere, so making it more dynamic and changing things here and there would make it a memorable moment in a show for me.
Making it fresh and new (since, as far as I know, it hasn't been played by Jordan live, correct me if I'm wrong)
So it would really feel like a fresh idea, and not many can say that they've seen it live.
I remember reading from somewhere that Anna Lee is retired from setlists, because it was a "Derek song". Correct me if I'm wrong.
That was true when MP was making setlists. That is the reasoning he used.
If I'm not mistaken, I think that JP said something about it not going over that well live when they DID do it, and it having been so long that few people in the crowd now might know it. Same thing with other stuff like this, such as Eve.
Too bad, because seeing him play slide on that Talman guitar for this song on 5YIAL is one of my favorite parts of that DVD.
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Still, the same happened with Hollow Years, I don't see how or why the couldn't reimagine Anna Lee with the current line-up
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Still, the same happened with Hollow Years, I don't see how or why the couldn't reimagine Anna Lee with the current line-up
Yes, but Hollow Years never had the distinction from the band of "not going over well" or of "being a Derek song."
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Still, the same happened with Hollow Years, I don't see how or why the couldn't reimagine Anna Lee with the current line-up
Yes, but Hollow Years never had the distinction from the band of "not going over well" or of "being a Derek song."
Let's consider the era.
FII was considered a disappointment after I&W and Awake. I doubt that Anna Lee, being one of the slowest songs on the record, was very popular at all. HY was a single, AL wasn't. While I agree that it's been a while and a lot of people might not know it at all, I think it's very underrated and if it was explored and/or expanded, it would be a very very good song.
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Oh, I would love to see them bring it back out, and hopefully they will do so.
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I like Anna Lee a lot, but let's face it, the band is only going to play so many slower tunes at shows, and they have so many now that it'd be pretty difficult for that one to break through and get played.
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I like Anna Lee a lot, but let's face it, the band is only going to play so many slower tunes at shows, and they have so many now that it'd be pretty difficult for that one to break through and get played.
Probably.
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Next Tour, Part Ten-
Awake:
I have mixed feelings about 6:00, because it is one of my favorites, but it IS in Luna Park, so unless they re-work the arrangement, probably best not to play it for a while.
They're playing Caught in a Web on the current tour, and I don't like it anyway, so please NO!
Also don't like The Mirror or Lifting Shadows off a Dream, but they were both part of AftR tour / Bt4thW, so I probably have nothing to worry about.
The Silent Man is also in Luna Park, so unless they bring back the "electric" (LSFNY) version, best not to include it.
Lie, Scarred and Space-Dye Vest were all in Bt4thW as well, but I wouldn't mind if they brought SDV back again, because so far it's only been played on the one tour.
Innocence Faded might be okay too, but I'm not sure how popular it is.
Other than that, I think the best thing for them to do on the next tour would be to play Erotomania and/or Voices.