Curious about one thing for people who say it's amazing; is it the orchestra that make you say that? honestly.
For me, it's the set, the orchestra, the performance...pretty much everything about it. Yes, if I were handpicking the set myself, I would have made a few changes here and there, but I can say that about the vast majority of sets DT put together. I would have loved it if, for instance, they had SOC after Vacant. But it wouldn't really make sense because (1) it was just on their last DVD and (2) they just didn't have the space in the set.
As far as the set is concerned, here is my take. First off, there are a few parameters that have to be kept in mind: (1) They were going to play a bunch of songs from Octavarium because they were touring in support of that album. (2) They were going to play through their discography in order by album. (3) They were going to have an orchestra for the second set. (4) They had a set time limit for the show that they could not deviate from, even a little bit.
Given those parameters, let's take a close look at the set list. I'll look at set #2 and the encore first because that is the easiest to deal with. The ONLY song I would cut is TALW. Yes, it was elevated by having the orchestra, but I still don't like it all that much, and there was PLENTY of other material from that album. Cut that song, and you free up a grand total of 5:36. As far as the other songs, I wouldn't change a thing. I love Six Degrees, and despite the orchestra sounding out of tune during Overture, it really did work well with an orchestra and was amazing. Vacant is a terrific song and sounded great with the orchestra. Same with SS, 8VM, and Metropolis. It would have been great to add SC in. But the problem is, even with cutting TALW, you have to find another 6 minutes to make it fit, and there isn't anywere in the set to really pull in that much time by swapping out songs because the songs in set 1 are already short. So at this point, if I'm building a set list, I have to scrap the idea of including it.
As far as set 1, TROAE and Another One are great in the 1 and 3 spots. The only issue is whether IWBY is good in the #2 spot. Although it may not be a favorite of a lot of fans, it is a good live song and was as close to a "single" as the band had from that album at the time, so it kinda needed to be there. That brings us to their choice from WDADU. Afterlife is my least favorite song, so I wouldn't have minded changing it out. Given that we still have that extra 5:36 to play with, we've got the ability to put in a longer song. If I'm choosing from my favorites on the album, I go with TKH or OAMOT. Problem is, TKH is still too long unless I pull more time from elsewhere in the set (which again is hard because the remaining songs aren't that long) and OAMOT has just been done on the last DVD. So maybe AFIL, which actually gives me more time to play with. so now I've probably got a good 5:40 of extra time. On to I&W...I'm fine with UAGM. Not my favorite song, but the set flowed well with it and it sounded great. Awake...the performance of Innocence Faded was great, but I'm probably choosing a different song here if it's up to me. We can pretty much take our pick given that we've got the extra time to play with. Voices? That'll work. The Mirror or Lie? Even better. Scarred? Okay, sure. FII track...I wouldn't change a thing. Great song, and it was awesome to get another rarity. TSCO. I'm burned out on it and wouldn't choose it if it's completely up to me. But me being burned out on it aside, I still have to admit it's a really good song. And given that it's a band and fan favorite, choosing it is completely defensible.
So to recap, the only changes I would make that I really feel would have been an improvement would be to pull TALW and to switch the WDADU and Awake tracks. Even if people don't agree with my other choices, most would probably agree that those changes would strengthen the set as a whole. But that is such a small amount of change given that we're looking at a 3 hours show that, again, I have to come back to the basic premise that I can't really find fault with the set as a whole.
Topic: Score is amazing (Read 4674 times)
