PN09 was pretty good I thought. I enjoyed Zappa quite a lot and Bigelf and Scale the Summit rocked too. DT’s set, while short, was excellent. The visuals were beautiful too. Was my last time seeing them with MP.
Yeah, PN09 was the last time I saw Portnoy with DT. I was supposed to catch them in 2010 when they opened for Maiden. I was supposed to be back in the city the day before the show, but a storm delayed my flight for a few days.
This is very much the "worst" era in DT live shows for me.
I saw the third show on the American "Chaos in Motion" tour. The first part of the set list was excellent, but the second half didn't resonate with me ("Lines in the Sand," "Misunderstood" (which I now LOVE but wasn't into at the time), TSCO and ITPOE). The encore medley was cool, but it was ultimately a disappointingly short set because of the two opening bands (I enjoyed Redemption and didn't see Into Eternity.
I saw the second show on PN2008. I don't think I saw 3. I poked my head in for BTBAM and went back to the bar once I heard the vocals. I had heard good things about Opeth, but the vocals ruined anything good they might have done musically. DT's set list, aside from being very short, was just meh, although I was thrilled to see them do "Blind Faith," which had just recently become one of my favorites.
Despite not liking the Progressive Nation concept, I saw the last show of PN2009. I think we might have arrived toward the end of Bigelf's set. Nothing interesting. I was pleasantly surprised by Zappa. DT's set was just ok, although I enjoyed the extended jams between MP and the drummers from the opening bands (I typically find drum solos REALLY boring) and the JP/Dweezil/Vai jam. The highlight was TCOT as the encore.
I also saw DT open for Maiden. Overall, the show was excellent, although DT's set was obviously short (as it was in 2004 when they opened for Yes).
Had they not returned to the "evening with" format, I might have given some serious thought to not attending some of the more recent shows.