New Album “Distance Over Time’, First Set of 2019 Tour Dates announced!

[wasteland]

I'm a huge and lifelong Carl Sagan admirer, and to this day I am deeply moved whenever I read the words making what is known as the "Pale Blue Dot" speech/reflection.

I am incredibly excited the band and JP decided to acknowledge the relevance of those words, I hope the music and lyrics are up to the task. I also would not mind a sample of the voice of the man himself somewhere in the song, I think it would fit nicely.

(The Pale Blue Dot picture - clickable)

[RMGadelha]

6DOIT is my favorite DT album, so ANY similarity to that record is welcome.

[Scorpion]

This doesn't really mean anything yet, but the track titles sound pretty great. I'm super excited for Untethered Angel, Barstool Warrior, Pale Blue Dot and Room 137 - they all sound suitably different yet promising that I very much look forward to them.

[Another_Won]

I too am very excited by the song titles, sound very cool.  Since almost all DT songs titles are contained in the lyrics, it will be interesting to see how they get incorporated.  I'm going to guess that "Room 137" will be an exception, but you never know.

[Herrick]

Well, I got my ticket for the NYC concert. It's great that they're going to play Scenes From A Memory in its entirety. It almost wouldn't matter if I end up disliking the new album 

[ToT-147]

I'm a huge and lifelong Carl Sagan admirer, and to this day I am deeply moved whenever I read the words making what is known as the "Pale Blue Dot" speech/reflection.

I am incredibly excited the band and JP decided to acknowledge the relevance of those words, I hope the music and lyrics are up to the task. I also would not mind a sample of the voice of the man himself somewhere in the song, I think it would fit nicely.

(The Pale Blue Dot picture - clickable)

That's amazing.. I didn't know about it!..

I'm excited too for the lyrical content of the songs this time.. Actually, I think is the first time (in a long time at least) that they share what the lyrics are about BEFORE releasing the album.. I don't remember if we knew this much for TA, but that was obviously a different case..

[Adami]

Lyrically, and only lyrically, I hope it's better than The Greatest Show on Earth song by Nightwish.

[bosk1]

Listen to Adami in all things.

[Darkstarshades]

The Greatest Show on Earth was a large disappointment for me.
Sure it's great, climactic and does feel like an ambitious quest by Nightwish, but it just falls very short with it's insanely repetitive lyrics, too much ambience filler, which would be ok if it just featured a little bit more music.
Not a bad song, it's great, one of the best on that album, for me it just falls short on many ways.

But again, this is a prog band, Nightwish isn't, so don't expect a cinematic track like the NW one.

[Adami]

Bosk should make me a moderator.

[bosk1]

Bosk should make me a moderator.

No.



Well, okay...

[Pax]

hopefully ''paralyzed'' will be as good as haken's ''crystallized'' 

seriously, if any song is on crystallized's level, I'm going to cry out of happiness

[Adami]

Bosk should make me a moderator.

No.



Well, okay...

YAY!

[ToT-147]

seriously, if any song is on crystallized's level, I'm going to cry out of happiness

FTFM




Nah, j/k..

[Architeuthis]

Lyrically, and only lyrically, I hope it's better than The Greatest Show on Earth song by Nightwish.

  It's funny, The Greatest Show on earth is preachy with the evolution concept yet the music is uplifting and spiritual. I love the song though, even if I don't agree with the lyrics.
 DT always writes great epics !

[LTE777]

hopefully ''paralyzed'' will be as good as haken's ''crystallized'' 

seriously, if any song is on crystallized's level, I'm going to cry out of happiness

They should get the same guy to do the "Gong" at the end too, whoever he is 





 

[SwedishGoose]

Seeing the title Pale Blue Dot makes me want to listen to Karmakanic - Dot, God the Universe and everything else noone cares about.

[dream75]

Another date added! June 29th in Oslo

I already see the band at  Noxon home 

https://tonsofrock.no/2018/11/30/dream-theater-til-tons-of-rock-2/

[Pettor]

Dream Theater coming to Gävle in Sweden with two support bands. This is interesting. First, DT was always playing in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden (which as a Götteborgare was a bit disappointing but ok  ) but since The Astonishing they have changed it a bit. They were actually playing in 3 different locations last time and at least the show in Gothenburg was far from filled. Gävle is a odd choice from my experience. I have gone to so many concerts in my life and never had to go to Gävle to see a band. I guess it will be interesting to go there but why not Stockholm? The crowd must be way bigger if you choose Stockholm than Gävle. Gävle is a city in size of ~100.000 and quite average. Don't get me wrong, I will be there not doubt and maybe there will be more dates to come?

Also a bit interested in the 2 support bands + SFAM setlist. Will it be a 3 hour DT setlist plus the support? Last time they had support the DT setlist was shortened to ~1h50m, but then you have SFAM, 2 new songs and 2 old ones but no chance of longer songs like Glass Prison etc. We will see what happens ofc.

[noxon]

It's "festival dates", and Gävle is getting a lot of attention as of late. Toto is playing there the day before. Besides, DT is actively looking to play places they usually don't play for the past few years. They'll probably be back in europe for the winter season 2020 doing the evening with format, and will probably hit Stockholm then.

I've already booked hotel, so I will be there I do doubt that they will be doing the full 3 hour evening with format ANYWHERE on the festival tour

[SwedishGoose]

Dream Theater coming to Gävle in Sweden with two support bands.

But it's three other bands, right.... Tesseract, Animals as Leaders and Freak Kitchen.

I soo want to go to this but am unsure if I will be able to get away at that date.

[Pettor]

Aha so this is festival tour? So not gonna be "an evening with" until the next one or something like that? I am fine with festival tour, just want to make sure I should buy tickets tomorrow for me and my friends and not wait and suddenly have new date with "an evening with"?

EDIT: To clarify my question a bit, is this part of the "distance over time" tour or part of summer festivals in general? Like will the concerts displayed as part of "distance over time tour" on their website for US be the same kind of concert as this, with support etc.?

[MirrorMask]

My assumption is that the european dates will all be festival dates, and therefore with a reduced set and NOT the SFAM one. They might do separate, headlining shows where they might do the Evening With format, as they always did in their summer european tours with Portnoy (alternating festival appereances and stand alone shows), but I wouldn't be too surprised if they'd only do "normal", festival shows in Europe next year.

Also, I would figure that they would not announce further european dates only after the next summer shows are done, otherwise people are gonna bail out on these shows that will sell less because of the "eh, I will see them again in 6 months anyway" mindset.

[Max Kuehnau]

My assumption is that the european dates will all be festival dates, and therefore with a reduced set and NOT the SFAM one. They might do separate, headlining shows where they might do the Evening With format, as they always did in their summer european tours with Portnoy (alternating festival appereances and stand alone shows), but I wouldn't be too surprised if they'd only do "normal", festival shows in Europe next year.

Also, I would figure that they would not announce further european dates only after the next summer shows are done, otherwise people are gonna bail out on these shows that will sell less because of the "eh, I will see them again in 6 months anyway" mindset.

count me in that group, I won't go see them when they play short sets. Not worth it IMHO.

[Pettor]

Yeah I really dislike when they (which can be anyone really, management, ticket sellers whatever) do this. Making it unclear what the concert types are and what to expect, at least for me. It's confusing and really hurts my trust if suddenly a "real" concert pops up after the festival dates. An Evening with is worth so much more than having the setlist shortened to include support bands for me. I will feel pure envy if I see US concert having full SFAM + extra song and then having to get the "compromised" experience myself.

[nikatapi]

Why miss the opportunity to see them even in a festival, given they might be back again with a different setlist?

[noxon]

From a business standpoint, festival circuit makes perfect sense. Playing headliner shows, or evening with shows, is catering to the audience you already have. Festivals is playing for a potential audience. People who might be interested in seeing you, but not willing to go to a headliner show, and people who have never seen your and had no intention of seeing you. This is a place where the band has gained a lot of fans in the past, and it makes sense to continue to do it. Especially with an album that is more fitting to a rock/metal festival setup.

[abydos]

Hell yeah! Dream Theater will return to Sofia, Bulgaria on the 3rd of July next year. Funny, cos the first time they played in Bulgaria was in the same concert hall on the same date in 2002 . Some Octavarium nugget shit right there!

[Max Kuehnau]

From a business standpoint, festival circuit makes perfect sense. Playing headliner shows, or evening with shows, is catering to the audience you already have. Festivals is playing for a potential audience. People who might be interested in seeing you, but not willing to go to a headliner show, and people who have never seen your and had no intention of seeing you. This is a place where the band has gained a lot of fans in the past, and it makes sense to continue to do it. Especially with an album that is more fitting to a rock/metal festival setup.

very true, I'm not criticising that kind of strategy. Just not my personal preference of concert I usually go to. I want to go to 3 hour concerts, that's all.

[Setlist Scotty]

My assumption is that the european dates will all be festival dates, and therefore with a reduced set and NOT the SFAM one. They might do separate, headlining shows where they might do the Evening With format, as they always did in their summer european tours with Portnoy (alternating festival appereances and stand alone shows), but I wouldn't be too surprised if they'd only do "normal", festival shows in Europe next year.

Also, I would figure that they would not announce further european dates only after the next summer shows are done, otherwise people are gonna bail out on these shows that will sell less because of the "eh, I will see them again in 6 months anyway" mindset.

count me in that group, I won't go see them when they play short sets. Not worth it IMHO.

Your choice and I understand how you feel because I was always of that mentality. But be careful, because there's no guarantees that the band may play in your area again with an Evening With leg. I say that, because I regret not having seen them more on the 2009 tour in North America. I just assumed that they would swing back thru and do a proper headlining tour in 2010, and it never happened.

[Max Kuehnau]

Hmm, ok, well... (still hard to decide by now)

[gzarruk]

As someone who lost his first (and most likely only) chance to see DT live, I’d suggest you to go see them if they hit your city/country. I’m still mad because I missed them the first time they were here (2010) and they haven’t returned since

[Max Kuehnau]

That's sad of couse and I feel sorry for you. I live in Germany though and they like to play here and they come here quite often. I'll take that into account though (as I always do)

[DreamerTV]

Hell yeah! Dream Theater will return to Sofia, Bulgaria on the 3rd of July next year. Funny, cos the first time they played in Bulgaria was in the same concert hall on the same date in 2002 . Some Octavarium nugget shit right there!

And this is not a festival, actually.
So we have the first indoor european gig for summer 2019. Wonder if others like this will follow.

(https://www.radiotangra.com/en/news/read/32753.html)

[erwinrafael]

hopefully ''paralyzed'' will be as good as haken's ''crystallized'' 

seriously, if any song is on crystallized's level, I'm going to cry out of happiness

No. Crystallized is a boring song that repeats patterns for four bars before progressing. A long song that is just long to feel "epic"