I'm with Frank....shocked at all the negativity. I *LOVE* solos. I honestly hope they give MM five minutes to go off. MP's solo from the IAW home video is nothing short of It passed up NP's YYZ solo the moment I heard it. The single greatest (and funnest) drum solo I have ever heard. I wish he hadn't stopped doing them.
See, I'm just the opposite. I love solos, all solos, be them drums, bass, guitar or keyboard. I'm a drummer at heart though so drums have always been my favorite solos at live gigs. I love Mangini's solos because they are so diverse. There's so much going on at once, and yet all of it is clear and concise. And I have a lot more fun listening to and watching a solo if I can tell the drummer is having fun playing it. The other part that puts MMs solos up there on my list is the fact that they have a clear beginning, middle and end. It's like they're telling a story, an interesting one that keeps my attention from beginning to end.
That's the biggest difference in styles between MM and MP. And, if I'm honest, where MP comes up short. I haven't heard many of his earlier solos, the last one I'd heard was from the Budokan blu-ray. At that point, for the most part, he'd stopped doing solos and it showed. It sounded like he was going thorough the motions. Like solo's bored him, which IIRC they did. It had nothing to inspire, no wow factor for me. To me, it sorta sounded like just a wall of noise from beginning to end. There just seemed to be no structure to it. To me, solo's--like stories and songs--need that beginning, a middle, and a clear exciting finish. It needs to be a complete entity unto itself, not just the equivalent of noodling.