MP's Shattered Fortress Tour

[Madman Shepherd]

I'm not saying bob should pile on, but instead of saying shit like, "Mike could cure cancer and people would still complain", he could recognize that some of the things Mike is saying might be a tad shitty.

Well he has admitted that but in the absolute most passive and non-specific way. "I wouldn't have posted that." Thus reserving his biggest criticism for people with legitimate gripes that constructively articulate their opinions. Then they try to say, "See how open minded I am? One time I criticized Mike."

If that is the litmus test then clearly I am more open minded and unbiased as I continue to praise many things MP has done and have spent not only thousands of dollars on DT including official bootlegs and whatnot, but also hundreds of dollars from his personal online store.

[Elite]

How is it relevant how much money you have spent on DT or MP stuff? That has absolutely nothing to do with open-mindedness whatsoever.

[Madman Shepherd]

How is it relevant how much money you have spent on DT or MP stuff? That has absolutely nothing to do with open-mindedness whatsoever.

Uh, because if I was close minded I would probably rest on my laurels and not continue to support or enjoy any output of that person. 

I would have thought that was obvious.   

[Mosh]

[KevShmev]

How is it relevant how much money you have spent on DT or MP stuff? That has absolutely nothing to do with open-mindedness whatsoever.

Uh, because if I was close minded I would probably rest on my laurels and not continue to support or enjoy any output of that person. 

I would have thought that was obvious.   

Agreed.  And I didn't take your comment as "I buy his music, so I have the right to criticize him all day and every day."

Shoot, I haven't been a fan of Portnoy the man for a decade and a half, yet he might be on more CDs I own than other musician.   Doing some quick math in my head, counting CDs I have bought the physical media or digitally, and not counting live albums, he accounts for 11 Dream Theater (10 studio albums and the ACOS EP), 4 Transatlantic, 2 Flying Colors, 2 LTE and 9 Neal Morse/NMB. That comes out to 28 (and you could say 29 since I originally bought the first OSI CD, although I no longer own the physical CD).  32 if you count the four doubles (6DOIT, both Testimony albums and Similitude).

Steven Wilson actually surpasses him with 33, and Devin Townsend is fast catching him, too (24 or 25 right now, I think).

And actually, Neal Morse is right there as well with 27, and Roine Stolt has 30.

[FOXAN03]

Seen a couple of full concert videos on YouTube with pretty good audio. Has anyone seen any descent bootlegs posted anywhere? Even if its flac can always convert

[TAC]

Seen a couple of full concert videos on YouTube with pretty good audio. Has anyone seen any descent bootlegs posted anywhere? Even if its flac can always convert

Malmo
https://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=595656

[Madman Shepherd]

How is it relevant how much money you have spent on DT or MP stuff? That has absolutely nothing to do with open-mindedness whatsoever.

Uh, because if I was close minded I would probably rest on my laurels and not continue to support or enjoy any output of that person. 

I would have thought that was obvious.   

Agreed.  And I didn't take your comment as "I buy his music, so I have the right to criticize him all day and every day."

Shoot, I haven't been a fan of Portnoy the man for a decade and a half, yet he might be on more CDs I own than other musician.   Doing some quick math in my head, counting CDs I have bought the physical media or digitally, and not counting live albums, he accounts for 11 Dream Theater (10 studio albums and the ACOS EP), 4 Transatlantic, 2 Flying Colors, 2 LTE and 9 Neal Morse/NMB. That comes out to 28 (and you could say 29 since I originally bought the first OSI CD, although I no longer own the physical CD).  32 if you count the four doubles (6DOIT, both Testimony albums and Similitude).

Steven Wilson actually surpasses him with 33, and Devin Townsend is fast catching him, too (24 or 25 right now, I think).

And actually, Neal Morse is right there as well with 27, and Roine Stolt has 30.

Without counting, I think I have close to 50.  All of the ytsejam bootlegs, all of the studio and live albums, all of his tribute band albums, then when you figure in all of the DT DVDs and a few of the MP DVDs, then tribute albums likes Working Man and a few others...plus the John Arch album (which I honestly think has his best drum work...I was blown away by it and this was after the bitterness of the split that I first heard it), and a few others beyond that.  None of the Transatlantic, Flying Colors, or Winery Dogs as I just can't get into those. 

Seen a couple of full concert videos on YouTube with pretty good audio. Has anyone seen any descent bootlegs posted anywhere? Even if its flac can always convert

That's one of the bummers about technology these days.  It's so easy to record, I don't feel like there are as many quality bootlegs anymore.  I would love to hear some myself. 

I don't understand technology very well so I still rely on CDs 

[TAC]

...plus the John Arch album

That's a forgotten gem for sure.

[FOXAN03]

Seen a couple of full concert videos on YouTube with pretty good audio. Has anyone seen any descent bootlegs posted anywhere? Even if its flac can always convert

Malmo
https://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=595656

Cheers Dude downloading it now!

[ReaperKK]

I'll check it out when I can sign up for dime again. I've long lost my login info.

[ToT-147]

About the FII songs, MP said in an interview that he would reserved those songs for when he tour with Derek..

Portnoy is online enough to know that Burning My Soul and Just Let Me Breathe are not popular DT songs in general. Heck, they are two of the least popular songs from FII.  It is hard to imagine his new band playing two of the least popular DT songs as the only DT selections.

Now, imagine if they played Raise the Knife.... That would give fans a collective boner.

True.. And you forgot New Millennium, which is not so popular either.. But yeah, RtN would be great, totally!..

Also, I don't think Burning My Soul would be precisely a terrible choice; in fact, DT themselves played it for the 30th anniversary tour..

[gzarruk]

About the FII songs, MP said in an interview that he would reserved those songs for when he tour with Derek..

Portnoy is online enough to know that Burning My Soul and Just Let Me Breathe are not popular DT songs in general. Heck, they are two of the least popular songs from FII.  It is hard to imagine his new band playing two of the least popular DT songs as the only DT selections.

Now, imagine if they played Raise the Knife.... That would give fans a collective boner.

True.. And you forgot New Millennium, which is not so popular either.. But yeah, RtN would be great, totally!..

Also, I don't think Burning My Soul would be precisely a terrible choice; in fact, DT themselves played it for the 30th anniversary tour..

BMS is one of my favorite songs on FII. Actually, listening BMS - HK - LITS back to back is amazing 

Also, I really like Raw Dog, and never understood why:

1) Lots of people dislike/hate it
2) It has never been played live

Back to the topic, these MPSF shows are great, but I just want this tourto finish already, so Haken can start working on their 5th album, and MP can focus on his new, hopefully good, prog metal supergroup.

[ToT-147]

Back to the topic, these MPSF shows are great, but I just want this tourto finish already, so Haken can start working on their 5th album, and MP can focus on his new, hopefully good, prog metal supergroup.

Oh but they have to come to Argentina first..

[gzarruk]

Back to the topic, these MPSF shows are great, but I just want this tourto finish already, so Haken can start working on their 5th album, and MP can focus on his new, hopefully good, prog metal supergroup.

Oh but they have to come to Argentina first..

You, Argentinian fans, are always very lucky, all the cool bands always visit you and completely ignore us. Nunca vienen a Perú 

[ToT-147]

Back to the topic, these MPSF shows are great, but I just want this tourto finish already, so Haken can start working on their 5th album, and MP can focus on his new, hopefully good, prog metal supergroup.

Oh but they have to come to Argentina first..

You, Argentinian fans, are always very lucky, all the cool bands always visit you and completely ignore us. Nunca vienen a Perú 

I can't say we're not lucky, having a dvd recorded in our lands too, but I guess for most bands coming to South America means only visiting Chile, Argentina and Brazil.. Very unfair.. Although I've heard that DT played once in your country, or I misheard that?..

(FWIW, I'm still waiting for two of my favorite bands right now/one of the coolest bands right now IMO -Haken and Leprous- to come here.. NE on me! )

[FOXAN03]

I'll check it out when I can sign up for dime again. I've long lost my login info.

well i've downloaded the torrent but not gotten much further than that.....constantly bittorrent contently searching for peers to start the download.... 

[ReaperKK]

Are their seeders? Do you usually have issues with your torrents?

[TAC]

There are 33 seeders for the show.

[Stadler]

I've never met Mike Portnoy. I know people who know him, but I have not met the man.

Samsara, there's a lot of respect here, and this isn't directed necessarily at you, so please consider that when you read this, but I'm at a loss.  Most of the people here are in your camp - not having ever met the guy (a selfie after the show is not "meeting the guy" in this sense) - and yet are saying things that they cannot know.   Not just "what he puts out there" but ascribing those things to mental states and emotions and psychological rationalizations, even though there are people here who DO know him, who have sat and broke bread with him, and who have shared discussions about these topics say otherwise.

Look, I've been around enough to know that the stock, pat answer is "he's a public figure" (implying that anything goes and things like respect and decency and human kindness are irrelevant) but how would some of you feel if you had dime-store psychologists taking every word YOU say in the worst possible light in order to bolster their own prejudices or thought processes?  And ignoring not only the underlying context, but also things that people close to you - who would know - are saying?

[Stadler]

First, as far as you go Stadler, you are clearly not being rational.  I didn't refer to some cancer survivor.  I merely said everyone here has been touched by cancer in some way (knowing someone personally or having it themselves), and Bob's little analogy was just ridiculous.  You didn't touch the fact that all of us here have praised Mike at some point or another and then slam us and claim you and Bob are more open minded because you passively said his social media actions are sometimes not preferable.  Give me a break. 

I don't think there is another poster on this board that manipulates words as much as you do.  I mostly just ignored your wordy diatribes and bizarre irrational arguments but I for whatever reason decided to reengage.  You decided you would down with the ship at any costs and you find yourself on the ocean floor.  I think it's back to turning the channel on you.

If you want to keep it on topic, I'll talk with you all day long.  If you want to make it personal - I'm not "rational"?  I'm a "manipulator"? My posts are "diatribes"?  - I'll pass thanks.  I'm not at all interested in a "contest".  I know what's right, decent and respectful.  And if that puts me on the "ocean floor", well that says more about the rest of the discussion, not me. 

[Stadler]

For the record, this thread bugs the hell out of me, but the subject matter an obvious point of discussion here.
 

Thanks Nick. It's appreciated.

Not directing this at Nick..
It's just, what is the point? What are we actually discussing?

Apparently my character, posting style and posting motivations.   

[Stadler]

I can recognize when me friend is out of line. Why can't bob?

The difference is, you're not Mike's friend, so your assessment that he's "out of line" isn't relevant.   Bob IS the friend; presumably when one of Mike's OTHER friends comes out and says "Mike's out of line!" then your analogy would be accurate. 

[Stadler]

I'm not saying bob should pile on, but instead of saying shit like, "Mike could cure cancer and people would still complain", he could recognize that some of the things Mike is saying might be a tad shitty.

Except all of us sticking up for him have already done that, multiple times.  I know I have.   What we haven't done (and I can't speak for anyone else here) is agree with what someone else said is "EVERY. SINGLE. TIME", or the cheap, dime-store psychological assessments about what Mike feels, his emotions, etc.

[Stadler]

About the FII songs, MP said in an interview that he would reserved those songs for when he tour with Derek..

Portnoy is online enough to know that Burning My Soul and Just Let Me Breathe are not popular DT songs in general. Heck, they are two of the least popular songs from FII.  It is hard to imagine his new band playing two of the least popular DT songs as the only DT selections.

Now, imagine if they played Raise the Knife.... That would give fans a collective boner.

True.. And you forgot New Millennium, which is not so popular either.. But yeah, RtN would be great, totally!..

Also, I don't think Burning My Soul would be precisely a terrible choice; in fact, DT themselves played it for the 30th anniversary tour..

Wasn't New Millenium played a lot though, as part of a mashup with Caught In A Web? 

I listened to FII over the weekend while laying down some flooring in my house and I was surprised at how good it was.  I still detest Doug Pinnick's "singing" on Lines In The Sand, but I forgot how good the rest of the song was, and I forgot how much I liked "Hell's Kitchen" (I'm not a huge fan of "Burning My Soul", so it gets lumped in there, wrongly).   

I always shortchanged that album, coming as it did after the epochal Images and Words and strong Awake, but it's pretty good.   I still think I'd rather go for one of the others, but still.  If that's what they play in the new outfit, I'd be okay with that.   I'd like to hear "Anna Lee".  What're the chances (besides slim to none)?

I don't think I've heard "Raw Dog" more than a handful of times.  That might be next to go back to.

[Samsara]

I've never met Mike Portnoy. I know people who know him, but I have not met the man.

Samsara, there's a lot of respect here, and this isn't directed necessarily at you, so please consider that when you read this, but I'm at a loss.  Most of the people here are in your camp - not having ever met the guy (a selfie after the show is not "meeting the guy" in this sense) - and yet are saying things that they cannot know.   Not just "what he puts out there" but ascribing those things to mental states and emotions and psychological rationalizations, even though there are people here who DO know him, who have sat and broke bread with him, and who have shared discussions about these topics say otherwise.

Look, I've been around enough to know that the stock, pat answer is "he's a public figure" (implying that anything goes and things like respect and decency and human kindness are irrelevant) but how would some of you feel if you had dime-store psychologists taking every word YOU say in the worst possible light in order to bolster their own prejudices or thought processes?  And ignoring not only the underlying context, but also things that people close to you - who would know - are saying?

If you weren't talking specifically at me, then don't quote my words. Just paraphrase and leave me out of it.

I think this whole thread is completely derailed, mostly because you can't let stuff go, Stadler. You're (for lack of a better word) trolling people and keep poking the hornets nest. The bottom line is, message boards are meant for speculation. Just because YOU don't like THE WAY people are speculating about MP, doesn't meant they don't have the right to do it.

If it bothers you so much, instead of coming back again and again and derailing the conversation, I suggest just moving on from it if you don't feel  your message is  being understood properly. Or, if it means that much to you, PM the people. Because all I know is, if I was looking for information on Shattered Fortress and what they'd be up to, this thread wouldn't be of much use because of (no disrespect intended) what you've (and others that are doing the same) have done to it.

Just (as Mosh said...lol) let it go........

[Samsara]

Do people generally not like "New Millennium?" I really dig the song, and would be surprised if it is disliked. I think it would be killer if Shattered Fortress played it. And Raise the Knife -- not as many people know that one, but man that would be cool. I forget (too lazy to check the seltist) if I saw it in 1998 at the holiday show at Irving Plaza...

[Nick]

I have never been a fan of New Millennium, one of my least favorite DT songs.

[cramx3]

Me neither although I had a recent connection with it while watching Budokan that lead me to enjoy it a lot more than I ever had before, but it still ranks very low in DT songs for me.

[Samsara]

Interesting. I just thought it was so different sounding, and a really fresh new sound for DT that it appealed to me personally. The only time I think I've seen it is when DT opened for Deep Purple at Jones Beach (Aug. 9, 1998, if memory serves). I don't think they played it when I saw them at the holiday show (I forget) or on the ToT tour (which is what Budokan was culled from, right?). My ToT show was San Francisco, and I don't remember it being played.

I dunno, I guess I want to see Shattered Fortress play as much DT stuff that DT itself doesn't play much these days.

[Nick]

For me, I appreciate that it does try new things, but it comes off as jarring and subpar in my opinion. I have long said the one change that would have greatly improved FII would be swapping NM with Raise the Knife. Would get things off to a much better start.

[Samsara]

For me, I appreciate that it does try new things, but it comes off as jarring and subpar in my opinion. I have long said the one change that would have greatly improved FII would be swapping NM with Raise the Knife. Would get things off to a much better start.

Yeah, I can see that. I do prefer RTK over NM.

[mikeyd23]

Over the last couple years I've really started to like NM more.

[bosk1]

Why aren't MP and Labrie in good terms? What happened? Source?

Only speculation, but Mike has talked shit about James over the years, and I'd assume James doesn't like that too much. He may have even been the main person keeping Mike from doing collaborations, which in turn would cause Mike's dislike.

I know I'm the one that usually ignores all the facts out there -  - but let's not forget:  "I'm glad he's gone", "We finally feel free", "I can now be the frontman instead of sharing the stage" (yeah, you stepped it up, bud; 51 minutes behind the amp line playing Candy Crush instead of the former 53 minutes); "What he did wasn't really that hard or special"; "We as a band will each take a little piece of what Mike did and we'll do it; you won't notice a thing!" (still waiting on that Ytsejam batch, and the rotating setlists, James!).

Well, probably out of all DT members, James is the one that didn't hide behind a PR politeness as good as the others, but I understand his frustation at the comments from Mike about not chosing him again if given the chance... can you imagine in reverse the same statements? James saying "Well, Mike's great and all but right now we're all laid back dude so if given the chance we'd pick a less flamboyant drummer"?

That's like Steve Harris saying "Well, we picked Blaze Bayley because he's british, if Doogie White wasn't american he would have been a better choice", or Judas Priest saying "We picked Ripper because he's a clone, if we could find someone else now we'd go for a singer with a different style"... that's something you just don't say about a bandmate.

I don't mean to put you on the spot (and for all I know, you agree with me, so I'm arguing with myself) but if you can accommodate James' frustration, and understand why HE lashed out, why are we not willing to do that with Mike himself?   You either go all in on "face value/no context" or all in on "the whole story matters".   One doesn't get a pass and the other does.   

Maybe because James didn't "lash out."  There is nothing inappropriate about what James said.

[Mosh]

Love New Millennium, one of the better tracks on FII for me. I really like the King Crimson styled rhythmic stuff.