2019 set list and tour discussion (**KEEP ALL SPOILERS HERE**)

[Destiny Of Chaos]

I thought I was the only one who didn't like Viper King!
And then there were two heh

I don't hate it....but it's one of my least favorite DT songs of all time. I don't begrudge them for writing it, but that's not what I listen to DT for.

[KevShmev]

That line of thinking always baffles me.

I listen to Dream Theater, and every other artist, for good music.

Good music comes in different shapes and sizes.

What is the problem?

[TheFrozenInferno]

Viper King could be this album's Space Dye Vest

[Progmetty]

I thought I was the only one who didn't like Viper King!
And then there were two heh

I don't hate it....but it's one of my least favorite DT songs of all time. I don't begrudge them for writing it, but that's not what I listen to DT for.

That's my take on it.

That line of thinking always baffles me.

I listen to Dream Theater, and every other artist, for good music.

Good music comes in different shapes and sizes.

What is the problem?

I don't want "lighthearted and casual" from Dream Theater, that's not what I put them on for. Don't get me wrong, I like that vibe but not from DT. I listen to punk rock and I don't want "impactful and dramatic" from it, that's what I go to DT for. It's not a matter of right and wrong, it's just the way the type of music appeals to you.

[Volante99]

I thought I was the only one who didn't like Viper King!
And then there were two heh

Make that three. Let’s just say it’s definitely “bonus track” for a reason. Not terrible, but nothing special. I think my main issue is that LaBrie’s voice just doesn’t suit this type of song...at all.

[Max Kuehnau]

That line of thinking always baffles me.

I listen to Dream Theater, and every other artist, for good music.

Good music comes in different shapes and sizes.

What is the problem?

you're right of course. I'm into DT for the complex technical bits, that's all. VK has less of them. I'm sure it can be considered an interesting piece, musically speaking. The verse reminds me of Black Dog though and I'm not a fan of Zeppelin, amongst other things that happen in VK. If you like it, great. I may go on to like it myself at some point, who would know.

[RaiseTheKnife]

Food for thought: its possible that Pull Me Under was added as an encore because of its Hamlet reference.  For the encore they switch out the infinity SFAM mic stand and bring back the "yorick" skull mic stand for the encore - so it's a deliberate move, and I suspect that the Hamlet connection is the reason,  Also, I noticed that James uses an (untethered angel) vocoder during the PMU Hamlet quote, so for the first time the live rendition resembles the layered vocal track recording from 1992.

[lonestar]

Just got out.... Goddamn they were incredible. James sounded better than he has in years. Such a killer energy to the night, very, very satisfied for sure.

[Architeuthis]

Just got out.... Goddamn they were incredible. James sounded better than he has in years. Such a killer energy to the night, very, very satisfied for sure.

Most excellent!!!   

[JLa]

Listened to a few songs on YouTube. Band is tight as always, but really happy to hear James delivering the goods! May it last!

[erwinrafael]

In The Presence of Enemies Pt. 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENbu2dZQxf8

1. The audience seems really happy to hear this song.

2. Mangini makes it appear as if this song is easy. Damn it.

And a new Finally Free upload:

https://youtu.be/KU04KjjFUkw

Looks like Mangini changes his drum outro every performance. He did the cross-hands within the song!

[Progmetty]

I wish they had a t-shirt with the original album cover, D/T equation logo. I just maybe too old for a t-shirt with a skull on it hehe

[Architeuthis]

I wish they had a t-shirt with the original album cover, D/T equation logo. I just maybe too old for a t-shirt with a skull on it hehe

Ha, same here,   I would like a shirt that has a space scene with a pale blue dot in the middle. Missed opportunity?
 I could almost see some bootleg T- shirts outside the venue for sale that say WOW ! 

[Dedalus]

I wish they had a t-shirt with the original album cover, D/T equation logo. I just maybe too old for a t-shirt with a skull on it hehe

Ha, same here,   I would like a shirt that has a space scene with a pale blue dot in the middle. Missed opportunity?
 I could almost see some bootleg T- shirts outside the venue for sale that say WOW ! 

 

[llpyyz]

I wish they had a t-shirt with the original album cover, D/T equation logo. I just maybe too old for a t-shirt with a skull on it hehe

Ha, same here,   I would like a shirt that has a space scene with a pale blue dot in the middle. Missed opportunity?
 I could almost see some bootleg T- shirts outside the venue for sale that say WOW ! 

They actually had a long sleeve PBD shirt on sale at the venue. Has the Voyager doodles down the left sleeve and "Dream Theater" text plus a blue dot on the front. Not available online (yet?)

[Architeuthis]

I wish they had a t-shirt with the original album cover, D/T equation logo. I just maybe too old for a t-shirt with a skull on it hehe

Ha, same here,   I would like a shirt that has a space scene with a pale blue dot in the middle. Missed opportunity?
 I could almost see some bootleg T- shirts outside the venue for sale that say WOW ! 

They actually had a long sleeve PBD shirt on sale at the venue. Has the Voyager doodles down the left sleeve and "Dream Theater" text plus a blue dot on the front. Not available online (yet?)

COOL!   

[pg1067]

A friend of mine who lives in USA attented two nights of Wiltred. We msg'd about that in ekşi sözlük. I asked him how he find DT's performance overall. He responded very long in Turkish. Here a couple of his thoughts I translated.

* The sound is too loud but James' mix is very low and even sometimes burried and literally there was no sound coming time to time even though James kept on singing.
* Stage looked so simple and good. Visiual effects of SFAM was great.
* This is the first concert that I feel Mike Mangini gives the Portnoy feeling and energy since his presence began. (And he thinks Mangini is technically andvanced but feeling was absent until this concert.)
* To be honest I have zero expection about James' performance because of I&W anniversary tour. But man, James slapped me right in the face. He is just amazing. Not just his voice. He was the most energetic member of all. I can't believe he performed Fatal Tragedy and The Spirit Carries On that well with all high notes.
* Seeing Pull Me Under in two nights was a big dissapointment. I love the song but enough is enough.
* Strange enough John Petrucci did many mistakes in two dates. I'm not a expert. Maybe this is a mix problem or something but several time he messed up some solos and passages. (he did go more than 20 concerts of DT and never witness that more than minor fails.)
* Overall this tour starts pretty amazing. After TA and I&W tours which I didn't enjoy that much DoT tour gave my energy back.

*I was in the second row  for the Friday, March 22 show, right in front of JM.  Unfortunately, I didn't get in the building until after Untethered Angel had started.  It was VERY loud where I was, and it took a while either for my ears to adjust to the mix or for the sound guy to get it just right.  If it was the latter, that's surprising for a second night at the same venue.  I think this is also a by-product of how low-tuned many recent songs are.  For most of the night, I couldn't hear JM at all, and that's disappointing, but it's not uncommon.

*The stage setup was really cool, with the stairs and platforms (although JP and JLB didn't make a ton of use of them, and JM made zero use of them).

*I thought MM was more subdued than he was on the ADTOE, DT12 and I&W&B tours.  He posted something on Facebook on Saturday or Sunday about being very overwhelmed and happy to have had the off day on Saturday.

*JLB was on point all night (although there were times when he was very buried in the mix).  I was a little concerned about going to the third of three consecutive nights at the start of the tour, but he delivered.

*Being completely honest, I was very disappointed with the inclusion of ANTR and ITPOE and both disappointed and surprised that they did PMU for the encore.  I assumed that they would not have any I&W songs in the set (unless they perhaps decided to do Metropolis Part 1 in conjunction with SFAM).  In the moment, however, I put that aside and REALLY enjoyed the show, although I have to confess that I sort of stood there and said, "really?" when JP played the opening notes of PMU.  My friend, however, who is not a big DT fan, was thrilled that they played it.

*I recall noticing what I thought sounded like one mistake, but I don't recall who made it.  That being said, it would take a pretty big gaffe for me to notice.  It's not like I'm going to notice an F where there should have been an F# in a 64th note run.

My further observations:

*The crowd -- at least in my area -- was far more gender-diverse than at past DT shows.  In particular, there were two REALLY attractive blondes who seemed to be there without male accompaniment in the first row of the left section.  This actually made for some very entertaining moments in which a few younger guys were rocking out with them.  One of them was very receptive to this and spent most of the SFAM set singing a duet with some guy (they even tried, poorly, to do a little jig during JR's old-timey keyboard part in TDOE).

*JM may as well be a statue.  He's had zero stage presence for years, but it was very noticeable.  I don't think he looked out at the crowd once, and he alternated from standing in front of his pedal board, looking down at his hands or feet, to standing sideways in front of MM.  He and JP did their usual stand together parts in a couple of places, but they seemed to have very little interaction with each other.  Having recently watched a couple of the old live shows, when JM was bouncing all over the place, this was a little disappointing (but not surprising).  On a positive note, he very firmly shook my hand when the show was done.

*I was very happy with the lack of guitar, keyboard and drum solos.  The return of the drum solo was one of the more disappointing parts of the MM-era shows I've seen because I'm REALLY not a fan of drum solos (Neil Peart being the notable exception).  I'm even less of a fan of long guitar solos.  JP's never done that, but I was glad not to have an extended wank section on TSCO.  JR did use his keytar twice, but it made sense in context, and he used it sparingly.

*The SFAM set was everything I was hoping for.  I missed the SFAM tour and, while this obviously isn't the same, it was absolutely amazing.

*Aside from the SFAM set, the highlight of the night was Barstool Warrior.

[nobloodyname]

Nice read, thank you.

[bosk1]

Wow, looks like I have about 12 pages of material to read through this morning!     Well, before I do, now that I have seen the show and can read this thread, here is my brief review of the show in San Francisco last night:

What a great day and great show!  It is hard to believe that Dream Theater has been my favorite band for 20 years now.  But at the same time, I am constantly reminded that the music and the live presentation they give the fans are always of such high quality that it should not be a surprise at all.

I went into the show relatively spoiler free.  I say "relatively" because we all knew they were playing SFAM, which was going to eat up a HUGE amount of set time.  And we knew they would play a lot from the new album, and that that would almost surely include some or all of the promo singles.  So that didn't leave a lot of room.  I had also been told by JP that my favorite song from d/t, At Wit's End, would not make it into the set this time around.  But I had already surmised that anyway just based on set list time and what I figured were the most likely "must-play" songs, so that really wasn't much of a spoiler.  So I knew a good deal of what would be played despite my efforts to stay "spoiler free," but there were still some nice surprises.

They went through Untethered Angel at soundcheck, and used some of the intro video to lead into it, so it was easy to figure out that that would open the show.  (I was certain they were going to play it, but I thought it would be later in the set and that Fall Into the Light would be the likely show opener just because it has a very similar vibe to it as Constant Motion, which they used to open the Chaos in Motion tour)  I saw and heard some other interesting things during sound check as well that I will not get into right now.  I don't know when or how they may be brought in at some point.  But it was very cool, and that's all I'll say about that. 

Anyhow, after that, my son and I left the venue to rejoin our group of friends that were hanging out up the street.  We came back just a bit before doors opened, and there were a TON of meet-and-greet fans inside.  I'm not sure if there has been a general uptick in other places for people buying those packages.  But this was definitely more than I have seen in N. Cal. before.  Before the show started, we ran into several old friends, some from DTF and some from real life.  It's always great to catch up, even if those moments are brief.

When the lights finally went down, we were treated to a spooky, futuristic opening video reminiscent of Terminator and robots taking over the world, as we have seen in some of the promo videos and hinted at on the album art (by the way, LOVE James' mic stand, which also tied into that theme).  Songs in set #1 (hopefully, I got them in the right order--I'm going off of memory):
-Untethered Angel
-A Nightmare To Remember
-Paralyzed
-Barstool Warrior
-In the Presence of Enemies, Pt. I
-Pale Blue Dot

When UA started, my son joked, "Yeah, yeah.  We've seen that already..." 

I was super stoked for ANTR.  It has long been my favorite from Black Clouds, and I figured it would be a beast in a live setting.  It really translated well as a live song.  And speaking of beasts, Mangini really stood out on this song.

Paralyzed was short and sweet.  And I'll just take the opportunity right here to say that ALL of the songs they played from the new album really worked in a live setting.  Paralyzed was no exception.  I was a bit concerned that it would sound muddy live with those low, chugging riffs.  But it sounded great!

Barstool Warrior was one I expected to be in the set, and it was a great addition.  James in particular really sounded like he was loose and enjoying himself on this song.  And it was a great choice of song to lighten up the tone of the set a bit without doing a ballad.

I was NOT expecting ITPOE.  And it is not one I would have chosen.  But it really fit in nicely with the rest of the set.  And as one of my friends at the show commented, I forgot how much I really like that song.

When they started Pale Blue Dot, I was surprised.  Not because they were playing it.  But because I figured it to likely be the set one closer, and it seemed to come earlier than expected.  I checked my watch, and quickly realized that by the end of the song, we would be right at an hour, so that was about right.  But, man, the first set flew by!  It wasn't "short," but it definitely had the desired effect of leaving us wanting more.  PBD itself was fantastic live.  The imagery on stage was dead on with what I envisioned them using to go with that song, and it REALLY worked.  Great way to close the first set.

Set 2...well, we know what that is.  And it was great.  I knew going in that they had reworked the presentation and had new video to go with it, so I was expecting that.  I was not expecting that particular style.  But it was effective and complimented the music nicely.  The band just tore it up.  James was spot on.  Mangini was beastly.  JP was so precise and otherwordly.  Jordan looked like he was having a blast.  And Myung quietly held down the rock-solid, intricate rhythm as he always does.  The presentation of this album on LSFNY really cemented DT as my favorite band and cemented SFAM as one of my all-time favorite albums.  This presentation of the album really hammered that home.  A few other stray notes about set #2:

-I really like what they did with Through Her Eyes and Finally Free.  The changes were subtle, but very well done.

-Mangini REALLY cut loose on the end of Finally Free, and it was AWESOME!

-Jordan...he was just so great.  He owned this set.  And I love his new toy.  The Zen Riffer is gone and replaces by something even more slick looking.  It seems tailored to exactly what he likes to do and how he likes to play.  It's cool getting to see him come up front for a bit and get to leave his keyboard world.

-As much as I've heard The Spirit Carries on and feel like it is a bit overplayed, it's such a great live song.  It gets great crowd reaction every time.  And in context of the entire album, it's even that much better.  The sea of cell phone lights in the crowd (as well as the lone 1980s holdout who had an actual cigarette lighter out! ) really enhanced the atmosphere.

I was not expecting Pull Me Under as the encore song.  I thought I remembered the band saying at some point that they were going to feature Awake, so I was really expecting something from Awake as the encore.  But PMU was a great choice.  DT has really done a fantastic job through the years of mixing things up and really giving a huge part of their catalog time to shine in their live shows.  They have never felt the need to focus too much on their biggest hits.  But in recent years, they have started to gravitate toward more regularly featuring the small handful of their better known songs that are closest to what most bands would consider their "must play" songs.  I think it's a smart thing to do.  Even though we've all heard Pull Me Under a ton of times, they have a lot of fans that were first exposed to the band by that song 27 years ago.  And the fact that it's a great song doesn't change no matter how many times it gets played.  It really ended the show on a nice note.  Solid choice.   

A few other stray observations:

-The new stage setup was really cool.  I'm not used to seeing stairs and multiple levels for the band to move around on, and it was nice to see them use it all.  For obvious reasons, James utilized the different levels and spaces the most.  But JP did at times as well, and Jordan did a bit as well.

-James really sounded good last night.  His hard work and preparation through the years are evident when he takes the stage.  It goes without saying that the material he has to deliver night after night is incredibly challenging.  And it should be obvious to anyone in attendance that he gives it his all.

-And lastly, I just want to say that I am always impressed with the other people the band have with them on tour that I interact with.  I have interacted with band management and/or crew for a few bands.  But this band surrounds themselves with quality people who really feel like family that enjoy what they do.  My hats off to all the people behind the scenes that make the band go!

To sum up the show in a word:

[JayOctavarium]

So I wasn't crazy. I was telling my buddies that I heard from a source that there was a rumor that we would have a track from Awake played... so we started taking bets on the Encore song I was holding out for Erotomania / Voices or The Glass Prison.

[lonestar]

I was quite happy with the set, though At Wit's End would've been nice. Since I missed both the BCSL and SC tour, the whole first set was a first time for me. My secret wish at the end was that they would've let the white noise roll on as they were off stage and then they would've gone into Glass Prison for the encore.


It was good seeing you again Bosk, and Fierywinds as well, funny how you ended up five rows in front of me haha

[geeeemo]

Well Bosky, no mosh as there isn't a pit, didn't matter as I moved as much as I could within my space I have been waiting to hear your review - I have been on DT high since Friday.  Now since the only live shows I have seen have been TA, I was really stoked to hear whatever they played. And knowing SFAM was coming - my first in-love album from them - the hype was big.

My son has been into them less than I and we both really dig Nightmare and ItPoE, so when Nightmare started, we turned to each other, I said "is it that?" and he was just grinning nodding his head frantically!! Then later with ItPoE, we again were just enjoying that moment together with that same glee. What made the surprise more surprising is that your predictions were what I expected.... I haven't enjoyed a surprise like that I think ever....

I usually have my eyes on JP and JLB, but this night belonged to JLB and MM!.  Man, I loved watching him play. Seeing him count for some reason is enjoyable for me, and at one point JP was up there facing him, MM was counting to 5 over and over. The section ended and they both laughed.

I am finally coming down a bit, but super excited that I get to go again next Sunday - treating my sis-in-law to some "sonic ecstasy"  lol!!
 

[bosk1]

To respond to a bunch of posts throughout the thread:

JP'll probably lip sync it.

Just to address this:  JP does not lip sync.  If you happen to be close enough to him during the show, you can hear him singing.  But they do use backing tracks for the vocals, and JP's live vocals are low in the mix.  That is the reason you are primarily hearing "another James" and the backing track.  JP sings his parts to blend in, not to stand out as another singer. 

I’ll be interested to see the encore. If they do just tracks from the new album, then why bother having us do that “What songs do you want to hear” thing.

That was MY choice to do that, not something the band had me do.  And they are glad for the feedback.  They had already planned this leg of the tour by the time those songs got to them.  But that doesn't mean that our choices won't show up.  Be patient.

Two things I noticed from pictures and video online already. No amps on stage, and Mangini is playing only one bass drum. Besides acoustic shows, that’s a first for DT. The single kick, that’s is.

Well, JP hasn't had (real) amps on stage for years and years so no change there. Not sure about JM.

Amps, no.  I mean, he has his signature Mesas.  But you're right--they aren't on top of speaker cabs right behind him that are pointed at the stage, as we're used to seeing a lot of musicians do through the years.  But he does have speakers, and has for awhile.  I can't remember whether he did it first for the AFTR tour or the TA tour, but he had his diamond plate footrests modified to have speakers in them.  And as you can see in the video from this tour, he has more "traditional" wedge speakers by his pedal rig.  Since they all use inner ear speakers, it isn't really necessary to have monitors onstage.  But he does it for the times he needs to get some guitar feedback.  You can't do that without monitors.

I feel like doing all of SFAM on the SECOND time through would've been fine. At least get a proper D/T tour first.

Yeah, but then they'd miss the anniversary opportunity.  And doing SFAM to further boost ticket sales (which it will across the broader fan base) at this stage of things really makes a ton of business sense.  It's really a VERY solid choice for right now.  And this is Dream Theater we're talking about.  Those other d/t songs WILL be played at some point, whether it is on another leg of the d/t tour or on future tours.  Can you think of a band with such a huge catalog of music that goes out of their way to constantly play so much of it?  There aren't many.

And related to that, regarding various comments about PMU being overplayed:  Considering it is by far their biggest hit and was their breakout song 27 years ago, it's honestly surprising that it isn't in almost every single set.  And it makes total sense that, on a tour where they are going to be pulling in fans who haven't seen them in awhile that will come for the nostalgia factor of seeing SFAM, they would play their biggest hit ever.  I think anyone who might be inclined to complain about that might to well to just get some perspective.  We're talking one song.  It's not like they are a certain band that, over the same span of time, has a running 30-minute span of songs to close almost every show that consists of Number of the Beast, Run To the Hills, Iron Maiden, Hallowed Be Thy Name, and Running Free.  Every.  Single.  Show. 

Also Manginis cymbal placement made sense in a recording environment, but live? . His shoulder must hurt like hell playing this kind of music every other night.

He was joking after the show last night that he loves looking in the mirror at himself now, because playing that way is creating a lot of upper body muscle definition he didn't have before. 

People make WAAY too big of a deal about those Portnoy growls.

How so? The drummer (who is frankly not a good vocalist, especially when you have one of the top vocalists in the genre) sang some rather poor lyrics in a style completely different from their vocalist. 

Let's please keep the Haken discussion in the Haken thread and keep this thread about DT.

I was quite happy with the set, though At Wit's End would've been nice. Since I missed both the BCSL and SC tour, the whole first set was a first time for me. My secret wish at the end was that they would've let the white noise roll on as they were off stage and then they would've gone into Glass Prison for the encore.

I was thinking the exact same thing!

It was good seeing you again Bosk, and Fierywinds as well, funny how you ended up five rows in front of me haha

[JayOctavarium]

OH

I noticed something on Friday night...

During Fatal Tragedy, James didn't do the "There can be no turning back / There can be no piece of miiiind" with John like he did during the Dramatic Tour. I really liked how they did it then... sounded a bit better than just JP and the back track singing it. Either that, or I wish they'd bump JP's mic for those. (Or it could just be the sound levels at The Wiltern were fugly).

[bosk1]

Well Bosky, no mosh as there isn't a pit, didn't matter as I moved as much as I could within my space

  Yeah, it is what it is.  I wasn't sure whether our venue would be seated, since the Masonic can be configured either way.  When I was let in for sound check and saw the layout, I commented on that, and was informed that the band prefer seated gigs and are booking either venues with seating or that can be configured that way.

I have been on DT high since Friday. 

I know I definitely am.  And I NEED it.  Didn't get home and in bed until about 2:30, and even "sleeping in," I had to get up at 6:30 to get to the office.  I NEED that DT high!  But it's definitely there.  Such an awesome performance.  I just loved it.  And got to talk to James and Mike a bit after the show about some things that still have me smiling. 

And knowing SFAM was coming - my first in-love album from them - the hype was big.

You know, funny that you mention that.  I said above what a huge role that album played for me in my DT fandom (and music fandom in general).  But honestly, I wasn't sure how I felt about it going it.  I thought it was great that they were doing it.  But I wasn't sure I would enjoy it as much as I...wanted to enjoy it, if that makes sense.  But experiencing it live, I am SO glad I had the opportunity to see it. 

My son has been into them less than I and we both really dig Nightmare and ItPoE, so when Nightmare started, we turned to each other, I said "is it that?" and he was just grinning nodding his head frantically!!

Yeah, I was SUPER excited that they played that.  With the opening thunder peals, I turned to my friend on the right and literally did one of these:


I was a bit less excited about ITPOE, but just because it caught me so off guard.  I wasn't expecting that at all.  Even though I've listened to that album a fair amount recently, it took a second for it to click what they were playing just because it was so far from what I expected.  My reaction was kind of like, "Wait, what...?? Oh, they're playing...Hmm...that's interesting...Hmm...oh yeah...OH YEAH!  I LOVE THIS!" 

I don't usually have the luxury of going into a DT show nowadays and not knowing what will be played, so this was kind of nice.

I usually have my eyes on JP and JLB, but this night belonged to JLB and MM!.  Man, I loved watching him play. Seeing him count for some reason is enjoyable for me, and at one point JP was up there facing him, MM was counting to 5 over and over. The section ended and they both laughed.

  Yeah, I know exactly what part you are talking about.  They did that at our show as well, and I loved it.

I am finally coming down a bit, but super excited that I get to go again next Sunday - treating my sis-in-law to some "sonic ecstasy"  lol!!

[geeeemo]

Thanks Bosk! 

[Mladen]

Brilliant review, Bosk. 

[bosk1]

Thanks.     Sorry it was so long.

[Samsara]

It was a really well put together show. Good crowd for a Sunday too. Capacity at the Masonic is just shy of 3,500. I'd say there were a solid 2,900-3,000. Nice venue with good sound too. Deceptive from the outside. You're thinking old theater. It's completely state-of-the-art inside. Nice acoustics too. So if you're a Bay Area rock/metal fan who had never been there (like me), its a solid place for a gig.

Dream Theater deserve a lot of credit. Every time out, they put forth an incredible effort. Whether they are sick, missing home, tired, all of the above, once they hit the stage, they deliver. Continually. And a special shout out to James. There are a lot of musicians on this board, so this comment doesn't really apply to you all, since I think most of you "get it." But James has the most difficult job in the band. He has an organic instrument that over the course of his 27 years with the band, has continually changed. And he's expected by most to deliver near album-like precision each night, spanning back almost three decades. Its an impossible task. But he works his butt off to get his voice in as top shape as possible, working with it to find a consistency point and it shows. I've been fortunate to watch the preparation of a lot of singers like James over the years in bigger touring acts that have a difficult-to-sing catalog. In San Francisco, he gets the ultimately compliment -- he was consistent in his delivery from start to finish. A consummate professional. Big  to the Pirate.

p.s. was tempted to make a crack to Mangini later in the evening when he came out in a Red Sox jersey, but thought I might get thrown out if I started chanting "Let's Go Yankees!" 

[geeeemo]

Thanks.     Sorry it was so long.

One of the reasons I love DT and it applies here.
It's never too long

[gzarruk]

Great show review, Bosk!

Btw, did you happen to hear anything about them coming to South America for this tour?

[bosk1]

Btw, did you happen to hear anything about them coming to South America for this tour?

Dunno.  Unfortunately, there were a variety of circumstances that all converged to give me a lot less time talking to the band than I usually get.  It was unfortunate and a bit disappointing.  But that's how it goes sometimes.  Still a great experience.

[bill1971]

Nice review Bosk. Interesting because you have some inside info.

[pg1067]

I saw and heard some other interesting things during sound check as well that I will not get into right now.  I don't know when or how they may be brought in at some point.  But it was very cool, and that's all I'll say about that. 

Tease!


One thing I didn't mention in my prior post was that a bunch of folks were lined up along the edge of the stage as the road crew started tearing things down.  One other person and I were trying to get someone to give us the set list that was taped down near JM's pedal board (not sure how we'd have divided it had we gotten it).  A guy who I assume was JM's bass tech ignored us, and then another guy seemed willing to give it to us and was about to start removing it from the floor, but the first guy tapped him on the back and told him not to do so.  I couldn't help but wonder why.

[cramx3]

I saw and heard some other interesting things during sound check as well that I will not get into right now.  I don't know when or how they may be brought in at some point.  But it was very cool, and that's all I'll say about that. 

Tease!


One thing I didn't mention in my prior post was that a bunch of folks were lined up along the edge of the stage as the road crew started tearing things down.  One other person and I were trying to get someone to give us the set list that was taped down near JM's pedal board (not sure how we'd have divided it had we gotten it).  A guy who I assume was JM's bass tech ignored us, and then another guy seemed willing to give it to us and was about to start removing it from the floor, but the first guy tapped him on the back and told him not to do so.  I couldn't help but wonder why.

I was front row during for a show on TA tour, the setlist was right in front of me and kept asking the techs for it after the show and they said no.  I don't get it, that's a fun part (throwing it into the crowd) and nice piece of memorabilia for the show for whoever gets it.  I was pretty upset, when I saw it there I thought for sure my chances were super high I would be leaving with it.