More fair points. Forgot about that aspect, I am really disappointed that I'll probably never hear any of the 12-step suite live, especially TGP. However, I got a glimmer of hope with their latest tour's setlist because they have been playing TROAE, which is an MP song. Granted, a pretty easy one, relatively, but still. That means playing songs with MP lyrics is no longer completely out of the question. And what kind of epics are you referring to? Do you mean things like Octavarium, ITPOE, ITNOG...TOTears? I was under the impression that they already played those tracks VERY sparingly, anyway, before he left. So I hadn't really felt that I was any less likely to hear those tracks on tour (not saying I don't want to).
I just feel that I can't really hold the band to blame for not playing MP songs, if that is indeed the case and they're not ever going to play many MP-penned songs. If I'm going to place blame on someone, it'll be MP, since he is the one who left the band and needed a break, and I completely understand the band wanting to respect him by not playing a lot of that stuff.