My thoughts on the show last night:
Intro to the show was great, set the mood perfectly. Couple highlights that stuck out to me throughout the set...
Dystopian Overture was a great live opener, the band came out in good spirits and sounding as tight as ever.
The Gift of Music was a great crowd participation song, everyone seemed to know it and the audience (around me at least) were really into it.
The Answer and A Better Life Played perfectly live, the first was beautiful and really set the stage for the dynamics of the second. One thing that really stood out seeing TA played live was the dynamics of the music. After the delicate acoustic driven song, the big palm mutes at the beginning of ABL felt huge.
Savior in the Square and When Your Time Has Come were a highlight of the first act for sure. The SitS intro sounded so great live and WYTHC worked better than I thought it would in the live setting, once again the dynamic shift in the song really hit home seeing it performed live.
Three Days was heavy as all get out, James sounded fantastic on this one in particular and MM's playing through the tango and blast beat outro was insane.
Chosen was completely owned by JP, flawless playing the chords throughout and jumping up the frets to play the little soulful fills in between vocal lines. Also, I remember thinking how great his solo in that song was last night, it had some sort of emotion weight to it, great stuff.
A New Beginning absolutely a joy to watch live. This is one I hope they keep around for future tour setlists. JP's solo at the end was honestly one of the best I've ever seen from him. After JP finished his lead and the song ended, some guy sitting beside me who was pretty reserved throughout the show just spat out "Holy shit".
Second Act (I took a piss and got a beer during intermission, definitely worth mentioning) Moment of Betrayal was also a crowd favorite and absolutely rocks live. Another song that would be a welcome addition to future set lists.
Heaven's Cove seemed like it was right in Jame's sweet spot, he sounded better than the record on that song last night.
The Path That Divides was a monster live.
At the start of
Hymn of a Thousand Voices James got everyone to stand which I thought was awesome.
Our New World was a great crowd sing-along song. The chorus filled that theater up in glorious fashion.
General notes on the band members:MM was a joy to watch. Someone on here (I think Stadler) mentioned that when he saw Mike this tour he seemed to be playing the music, not the drums. I agree wholeheartedly.
JMX was rock solid as usual.
JR was perfect, didn't miss a beat, I'm still in awe every time I see him. I could sit a watch Jordan play piano all day.
JP and
James were the MVPs to me. You could tell this was John's baby, he was really into it from start to finish, and he played his ass off. Smooth, fluid, great tone, he was on point. James was fantastic and exceeded my expectations. I think he fell more into each characters voice last night then he did on the album. He definitely was flat a few times, but he was going for each high note and his power was excellent. There were a couple times I was blown away by him.
From where I was sitting the mix was great, the balance between instruments was excellent. Overall, it was a great show and it was more than I could have hoped for. The visuals and the staging were top notch, probably the best I've ever seen from DT before.