*Official* The Astonishing discussion thread

[Implode]

I also just looked, for the Worcester venue there's a massive amount of seats left. It looks like they will play in front of a half-empty venue.

So they've been advertising their Astonishing live like crazy with so many Facebook posts and YouTube videos. Are they scrambling to fill seats? Are their shows not doing well?

[rumborak]

I think the first leg did reasonably well, but the second one, I mean, seriously, what's the point of going if you saw the first one. The show isn't really that visually exciting, it's just them playing in front of screens that show semi-related imagery, most of it not even particularly good.
And to tie into the ongoing discussion, it's not as if DT as a band is allll that engaging. James isn't a classic front man, and JM has a 1-meter circle he doesn't move away from.

[King Postwhore]

Part of the allure of seeing DT in the old days was that every set list was different.   Now, it's the same show and once is enough.

[rumborak]

Yeah, seriously. I can totally see it having been a major pain in the butt for DT to have all these songs in possible rotation, but in the old days you knew that seeing DT twice for the same tour meant seeing some new songs.

[King Postwhore]

Right.  That's why I skipped the Concord NH show.

[Implode]

I knew it was supposed to be a real theater atmosphere, but I couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable watch a metal rock show while sitting and the few people around me (among many empty seats) just sating there with blank looks on their faces. It felt so impersonal. I definitely wouldn't want to go through that again unless I felt like I could support the band more than just...sitting there.

[Kotowboy]

Green day for me too probably and I definitely prefer a spontaneous band like that over a band that basically plays the CD live.

I saw them in 2009 and they played for 2 hours and 40 minutes and after that I was ready to go home.

Standing in one place gets old after 5 hours.

Neither here nor there, but I remember an interview with Tre and he was talking about how they don't play with a click track live because he feels that it ruins the experience and that it doesn't feel natural

I could never play to a click. That's not what playing live is to me and it would feel like an exam and not a gig.

[DragonAttack]

At the Baltimore show last spring, I met a couple and their kids from Florida, saw NC and PA and Va and TN license plates in the parking garage.....it was the closest/most convenient day for many to attend.  Most are not going to see TA again.  We did enjoy the first experience, to sit and watch and listen and enjoy, but not again.

On the heels of an album/tour that has had lukewarm responses, the band toured again, and often in oversaturated areas.  The band did not ask, but......a 60 minute 'best of' TA, followed by 75-90 minutes of 9-12 tracks from a rotating list of 15-18 songs would have worked out so much better.  I would have gone to a weeknight show in PA, and my wife would have joined me for tonight's gig, if something along these lines had been offered.

[KevShmev]

I don't get the not wanting to see the same show/set list twice.  I saw them twice on the Metropolis 2000 tour in the spring of '00, both of which had the exact same set lists, and the second time was even more amazing than the first. 

[rumborak]

Kev, we're saying nobody wants to eat at McDonald's twice in a row, whereas you're saying you've eaten two five-star dinners in a row. Those two statements aren't mutually exclusive.

[Adami]

Kev, we're saying nobody wants to eat at McDonald's twice in a row, whereas you're saying you've eaten two five-star dinners in a row. Those two statements aren't mutually exclusive.

Rumbo I love you buddy, but I'm pretty sure comparing The Astonishing to McDonalds won't get you a ton of support here.

[rumborak]

Well, the analogy was obviously a bit exaggerated. But, the point is that *obviously* very few people will have a problem watching a rendition of the top 1 album of a band twice. TA live is far less exciting, and so maybe it shouldn't be too surprising when people say "it's only gotten more mechanical over the years, so I would see an exact duplicate of a show that already wasn't too exciting".

[red barchetta]

Green day for me too probably and I definitely prefer a spontaneous band like that over a band that basically plays the CD live.

I saw them in 2009 and they played for 2 hours and 40 minutes and after that I was ready to go home.

Standing in one place gets old after 5 hours.

Neither here nor there, but I remember an interview with Tre and he was talking about how they don't play with a click track live because he feels that it ruins the experience and that it doesn't feel natural

I could never play to a click. That's not what playing live is to me and it would feel like an exam and not a gig.

An exam and kind of cheating at it. But I understand that for that act there are some music pre recorded and to mix the whole thing together is easier with a click. I'm not a big fan of that for any kind of live shows though.

[red barchetta]

At the Baltimore show last spring, I met a couple and their kids from Florida, saw NC and PA and Va and TN license plates in the parking garage.....it was the closest/most convenient day for many to attend.  Most are not going to see TA again.  We did enjoy the first experience, to sit and watch and listen and enjoy, but not again.

On the heels of an album/tour that has had lukewarm responses, the band toured again, and often in oversaturated areas.  The band did not ask, but......a 60 minute 'best of' TA, followed by 75-90 minutes of 9-12 tracks from a rotating list of 15-18 songs would have worked out so much better.  I would have gone to a weeknight show in PA, and my wife would have joined me for tonight's gig, if something along these lines had been offered.

That would have pleased me and I would have definitely go. If the show would be really good, they would have no problems selling it. I used to go to all Rush shows, in their best years up to 3 shows in a row in Montreal.

[Adami]

Green day for me too probably and I definitely prefer a spontaneous band like that over a band that basically plays the CD live.

I saw them in 2009 and they played for 2 hours and 40 minutes and after that I was ready to go home.

Standing in one place gets old after 5 hours.

Neither here nor there, but I remember an interview with Tre and he was talking about how they don't play with a click track live because he feels that it ruins the experience and that it doesn't feel natural

I could never play to a click. That's not what playing live is to me and it would feel like an exam and not a gig.

An exam and kind of cheating at it. But I understand that for that act there are some music pre recorded and to mix the whole thing together is easier with a click. I'm not a big fan of that for any kind of live shows though.

Depends on the genre. I used to play in both an industrial metal band and a symphonic metal band. The symphonic metal band couldn't find a keyboardist, so I (the drummer) played the show to a click and had all of the keyboards as backing track.

Same with the industrial band since there were like 5-10 keyboards going on at once, often set to specific tempos and could only be done live via backing tracks to a click.

[Mladen]

They did two European tours in 2014 with the exact same set list and it was so awesome that I needed to see it on both legs. First time it was sitting down far back on the balcony in an indoor venue during the winter, the second one was front rows in open air during the summer time. Completely different experiences.

[Mosh]

You guys are focusing way too heavily on extremes.

DT12 tour was the same every night but it was a really nice variety. Different periods of the band were represented and there were a lot of rare tunes. It was a show that would be worth seeing multiple times I'd say.

The Astonishing tour was one album. One period of the band's history and really in a single style for the most part. Unless you're a big fan of that album, you're not going to get much out of seeing it multiple times. To be fair, someone brought up the Scenes tour, same thing there. The only difference is it's much more highly regarded among fans. If The Astonishing was more universally acclaimed and the tour was as immersive as they made it out to be, there'd be more people attending the shows.

On the other hand, I'm ok with them not rotating setlists as heavily as they did with MP. Sure multiple shows might not be as special, but I was personally relieved that they weren't rotating the DT12 setlist because that was exactly the setlist I wanted to see. The happy medium is probably the ADTOE tour: Have three or four different setlists or maybe a set of ~30 songs rehearsed with lighting/video directions and choose 15 of those every night.

[Adami]

Another difference with the Scenes tour is they didn't only play Scenes.

[TAC]

Another difference with the Scenes tour is they didn't only play Scenes.

I wouldn't get to excited over the medley they played after the Scenes album.

[Adami]

Another difference with the Scenes tour is they didn't only play Scenes.

I wouldn't get to excited over the medley they played after the Scenes album.

Hm? I can only base it off the Live Scenes DVD, but there was a hell of a set list after the album.

[TAC]

Well yeah, but that wasn't anywhere near representative of the tour. That was really just a one off, save for the previous night's "run through".

Through the second leg did have a much varied setlist. They didn't do the entire album on the second leg.

[KevShmev]

Right, the spring tour in 2000 was all of Scenes and then the I&W/WDADU medley as the encore.  That was it.  And it was awesome.

[TAC]

I'm not a medley guy. But the play through of the album was great. That was a the tour that I really noticed a huge uptick in attendance and buzz.

[Adami]

Right, the spring tour in 2000 was all of Scenes and then the I&W/WDADU medley as the encore.  That was it.  And it was awesome.

Fascinating. Learn something new every day.

[noxon]

Here's what I saw on the SFAM tour - when I saw DT two days in a row back to back (first EU leg):

Night 1:
SFAM
Peruvian Skies
Erotomania
Paradigm Shift
When Images And Words Unite

Night 2
Falling Into A Change Of Awake   (basically a medley of some of the songs featured on LFSNY)
When Images And Words Unite

[Kotowboy]

Fascinating. You learn something new every day.

Wow I didn't know that yesterday!

[King Postwhore]

Right, the spring tour in 2000 was all of Scenes and then the I&W/WDADU medley as the encore.  That was it.  And it was awesome.

And I only saw them once that tour as well.

[rumborak]

Those were the days for me where I saw them for each leg. If they came around twice, all the better.

[tristl]

Like always on DTF, I think these are complaints on a very high level, I saw TA twice this year in Paris and in Frankfurt, I really loved it, it was very different to the 8 DT concerts I saw before that, but just the right thing for TA.

After beeing at the concerts I liked TA even more, it did bring the whole thing to live, the guys are so nice, brilliant and humble when you get to talk to them.
It always almost hurts me when people complain about stuff I just don't get.
I really hope there will be a TA DVD.

I am looking forward to a new album with harder material, but TA is very much up on my favorite list.
 

[cramx3]

Well, the analogy was obviously a bit exaggerated. But, the point is that *obviously* very few people will have a problem watching a rendition of the top 1 album of a band twice. TA live is far less exciting, and so maybe it shouldn't be too surprising when people say "it's only gotten more mechanical over the years, so I would see an exact duplicate of a show that already wasn't too exciting".

I'd have no problem seeing TA performed again in it's entirety, the reason it's not interesting the second time though is this:

I knew it was supposed to be a real theater atmosphere, but I couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable watch a metal rock show while sitting and the few people around me (among many empty seats) just sating there with blank looks on their faces. It felt so impersonal. I definitely wouldn't want to go through that again unless I felt like I could support the band more than just...sitting there.

Also, a medley encore would have done wonders for this tour.  They should have looked at SFAM tour as an example of how to proceed with the second leg.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

Like always on DTF, I think these are complaints on a very high level, I saw TA twice this year in Paris and in Frankfurt, I really loved it, it was very different to the 8 DT concerts I saw before that, but just the right thing for TA.

After beeing at the concerts I liked TA even more, it did bring the whole thing to live, the guys are so nice, brilliant and humble when you get to talk to them.
It always almost hurts me when people complain about stuff I just don't get.
I really hope there will be a TA DVD.

I am looking forward to a new album with harder material, but TA is very much up on my favorite list.
 

I think I'm on the same page as you. I saw the band at Radio City and thought they were amazing (although it was my first DT show, so I'm probably biased). Whether or not the band plays with a click or rotates their setlist doesn't really matter to me. I'm still going to see songs I like being played by some of the best musicians in the world.

That said, obviously if you're not as high on TA as us, this tour probably isn't for you.

[Ben_Jamin]

Like always on DTF, I think these are complaints on a very high level, I saw TA twice this year in Paris and in Frankfurt, I really loved it, it was very different to the 8 DT concerts I saw before that, but just the right thing for TA.

After beeing at the concerts I liked TA even more, it did bring the whole thing to live, the guys are so nice, brilliant and humble when you get to talk to them.
It always almost hurts me when people complain about stuff I just don't get.
I really hope there will be a TA DVD.

I am looking forward to a new album with harder material, but TA is very much up on my favorite list.
 

I think I'm on the same page as you. I saw the band at Radio City and thought they were amazing (although it was my first DT show, so I'm probably biased). Whether or not the band plays with a click or rotates their setlist doesn't really matter to me. I'm still going to see songs I like being played by some of the best musicians in the world.

That said, obviously if you're not as high on TA as us, this tour probably isn't for you.

Same here. I enjoyed it immensely and didn't mind the set because it is billed as "DT presents". I don't think they could have done any better with their budget and limitations. The concept is about music, so the music is what comes first and is all you need to enjoy it.

I knew darn well once they announced the final track list what was gonna happen with this release, and was happy DT chose to just do it and see what happens.

In a way it is a play and should be viewed as such. The screens are helping you view the world a bit and give you an insight. Also, I can imagine the entire album as its played, even seeing Faythe running the castle halls. And all that fun stuff.

Unrelated: I saw The Lion King and it just made me want a production of The Astonishing.

[Donmac1989]

Personally I can't argue, I'm going to Dream Theater Presents The Astonishing Live for the final leg. This marks the first time I'd get to see them live, was too young and dumb to have seen them 11 years ago for the Gigantour when they came the first time to my knowledge. So I feel excited to get to see them in concert.

[Air Weaver]

At the Wilkes-Barre show, I was talking to someone at set break who didn't know the story, and I think didn't realize the show would just be TA. So I tried to do a quickie storyline cliffs notes, and when I got to "then the dictator has a change of heart" - she says "so it's like Footloose."

So there you have it - I love this album and show, but if I had to boil it down to a bumper sticker, I'd say "Hunger Games meets Footloose."

Also, I really want a post-script when the NOMACS crash. I want one of them to pop open and we hear "all this machinery making modern music can still be open hearted...."

[Podaar]

Great! Now whenever I hear those opening chords of "Our New World" this is what I'm going to see in my head.