having seen almost all of it already through various shows
This... this is why I feel the way I do. It's not like the album has been underrepresented since its release, and certainly not since the tour 5 years ago. I get that some people might want to see all of it in order, but in terms of pure exposure, it's not that special. It's the same reason Geoff Tate touring on the 30th anniversary of Operation: Mindcrime was a big ol' "meh, whatever" from me: I've seen it in its entirety already, and QR proper plays enough of it as is (as they did when Tate was still in the band).
Forgive me for not responding to your PM on the subject. I was pretty slammed at work the day you sent it and felt it deserved a fairly detailed response. I also felt myself coming down with flu symptoms that worsened through the day that left me with barely enough energy over the next few days to do much more than hit buttons on the tv remote.
In any case, this response is much more respectful and tactful than the other thread, which is why that one was locked.
And I get why you feel the way you do. That’s fair. But to most of the fan base, it IS something special that they are recognizing the album by playing it in its entirety. MOST of the fan base is going to be psyched for this. And the timing is right for it because of the anniversary. And unlike the European tour, they haven’t revisited the entire album in North America since the tour cycle for that album. So despite the suite a couple of tours back, the recognition this time around is actually pretty well calculated to make the vast majority of the fan base pretty happy. The fact that you might not like it is unfortunate. But, as the saying goes, you can’t please everybody.
I also entirely get what you are saying about Tate. I was burned out on Queensryche playing Mindcrime a long time ago. They did a huge chunk of it on the Mindcrime tour. They did all of it with probably THE definitive production of it on the Empire tour and released a live version for home video. But unlike DT, they have toured on it a BUNCH of times since then, and Tate has done it solo after leaving QR. It has been beaten into the ground. DT hasn’t done that with Scenes. Again, a few people might not like that they are playing it on this upcoming tour. But they haven’t done nearly what QR did with Mindcrime, and most people can easily see the difference. And on top of that, they have never played themselves as a nostalgia act touring primarily on past success. EVERY tour of theirs, with the exception of this last tour for I&W and Beyond, has prominently featured whatever their newest album is, and this is no exception. And even the I&WaB tour was in the same album cycle where they toured HEAVILY on The Astonishing before doing the I&WaB legs. They have NEVER been a nostalgia act, and they aren’t doing that here.
Samsara pretty much nailed it in this post:
To be frank, its not that Scenes is what is being promoted. The new album is PLUS Scenes. It appears the band's marketing is (rightly so) focused on the new album, and its "hey, you liked the whole album thing so much, we'll do Scenes considering it is the 20th anniversary of it."
It'd be different if the tour was billed as the 20th Anniversary Tour of Scenes From a Memory (plus new music and hits). That would be...weird for DT.
As I said in the locked thread, I don't particularly like this tour (and will not be attending), but I see why they are doing it, and I'm pleased for fans who never got to see SFAM in its entirety (of which there are many, since DT's popularity skyrocketed after Scenes).
Honestly, there are really only three albums in their catalog where you can really make a strong case for full-album treatment, in my opinion:
-WDADU: This album is panned by a HUGE majority of the fan base. That isn’t really disputed. But prior to WDADRU, the only existing version was with Charlie on vocals, and there had been a clamoring among the fan base for a version with James. It made sense to do a one-off celebration with him on vocals since they couldn’t do a remix of the studio album. But because it is so universally disliked as an album overall, it would make zero sense to do anything further. I get that you like it and would appreciate it being done. But, respectfully, if you think billing a tour based around this album being played would draw in fans, you are not really well in touch with what the overall fan base wants or likes.
-I&W: Their classic album. And their breakthrough. This is an obvious choice. Which is why they did I&WaB.
-SFAM: For the vast majority of fans, this is either their top album, or at least top 3 (behind I&W or Awake). That isn’t true of all fans. But it is true of most. And it was a landmark album for the band, for a number of reasons. And it hasn’t been revisited in the U.S. since then. So for these reasons and the reasons mentioned above, what they are doing makes sense.
I believe this should all respond to what you said when you PM’d me, zappafrank2112, so I don’t plan to send a separate response to your PM. Again, sorry for not responding to that earlier. But if you want to further discuss why that thread was closed, send me another PM and we’ll go from there.
Seems very Queensryche-ish.
Yeah, and this isn’t anything like what QR has done, as I explained above. You just can’t even compare the two.
I also think the Queensr˙che comparison is hugely unfair as if DT are becoming some nostalgia act just doing a cash grab playing their old albums.
Exactly. This is a far, FAR cry from that. See above.
Again, Bosk alluded to this being something special, so I'll have to have faith and take his word on that, because he obviously knows something we do not.
Yes, I do know some things about it, and can’t really say more. Look, I don’t want to get expectations out of whack. It isn’t something earth-shattering. For most people, the fact that it is SFAM revisited is more than enough to send them through the roof. That’s the gist of it. There is more, and the fact that they are doing SFAM is the main point.
Anyhow, I am way behind on this thread and other stuff. This is only page 13 of 17, so some of this may have been addressed. But I wanted to respond to some of this before I got farther in.