A message from the band regarding recent European dates

[pg1067]

Moral of the story: No more album anniversary tours

Seriously, I really hope the remaining legs of the D/T tour are focused on the new album + some songs from the rest of the catalog instead of the whole SFAM for set 2. This anniversary thing isn’t working well for them, imo.

How do you figure?  And how is whether it's "working well for them" something about which anyone other than the band could have a valid opinion?

[gzarruk]

Moral of the story: No more album anniversary tours

Seriously, I really hope the remaining legs of the D/T tour are focused on the new album + some songs from the rest of the catalog instead of the whole SFAM for set 2. This anniversary thing isn’t working well for them, imo.

How do you figure?  And how is whether it's "working well for them" something about which anyone other than the band could have a valid opinion?

Because of all the fans complaining about not getting SFAM played at their show. This is supposed to be the Distance Over Time tour, supporting their widely acclaimed new album, but instead they tried to do both things and now SFAM takes the spotlight away from D/T. That’s why things got confusing for many fans/promoters to begin with.

And, btw, I was talking about this not working well for their image and the fans’ perception/opinions, not financially or anything else. But, again, it’s just my opinion.

[Fritzinger]

This anniversary thing isn’t working well for them, imo.

I actually think it's working very well for them, hence why they keep doing it.

Plus, it looks like everyone wants to see it. Everyone is complaining about not being able to see SFAM in Europe.

[Lethean]

The fans are complaining about not getting SFAM because they thought that's what they were getting and someone dropped the ball.  Not because the anniversary thing in general isn't working.  This tour got screwed up, and they need to get someone who's going to stay on top of these things. Even if there was no SFAM in the mix, people would have been upset thinking they were getting a full DT headline show, and then seeing multiple bands being added to the roster at the last minute. This was a communication problem. One that they can easily remedy in the future.

[RoeDent]

Anniversaries mean the band doesn't have to think too hard about the setlist. Half the concert can be dealt with in one fell swoop by just playing an entire album in full.

[pg1067]

Moral of the story: No more album anniversary tours

Seriously, I really hope the remaining legs of the D/T tour are focused on the new album + some songs from the rest of the catalog instead of the whole SFAM for set 2. This anniversary thing isn’t working well for them, imo.

How do you figure?  And how is whether it's "working well for them" something about which anyone other than the band could have a valid opinion?

Because of all the fans complaining about not getting SFAM played at their show. This is supposed to be the Distance Over Time tour, supporting their widely acclaimed new album, but instead they tried to do both things and now SFAM takes the spotlight away from D/T. That’s why things got confusing for many fans/promoters to begin with.

And, btw, I was talking about this not working well for their image and the fans’ perception/opinions, not financially or anything else. But, again, it’s just my opinion.

I'm still not following what you're saying.  While I understand the snafu that has resulted with the small number of European dates where folks have gotten confused (regardless of how that confusion occurred), I don't see how that translates to anniversary tours in general not working well for the band.  The U.S. dates seemed to be incredibly well-received, and the disappointment relating to the European dates all seems to relate to the band NOT playing SFAM in its entirety.  In other words, folks are disappointed that the European dates ARE NOT party of an "anniversary tour," and things would have been better if they had been.

There are obvious issues relating to the promotion of these European dates, and one would hope -- and probably can reasonably assume -- that this has been and will continue to be addressed by the band's management.  Whether anniversary tours/shows are a good idea going forward is a completely separate issue.

As far as remaining legs of the tour, I believe the information that has been made public this far is that future U.S. dates will not include SFAM in its entirety but that some future European dates will include it.

[KevShmev]

I'm not sure what to believe anymore regarding the future legs on the current tour, but if they come to St Louis, I hope they have ditched all of Scenes by then and play more of the new album.  I miss the days when DT would release a new album and then feature it heavily in the set lists of the tour that immediately followed the album's release.

[Anguyen92]

I honestly don't care what set DT would play, but if they do come back to SoCal, I hope they ditch the all seats arrangements and make the typical GA section of the venue an all standing GA and if people want to sit, they can choose the sections that have seats.  Everyone is going to be on their feet anyway.

As for the topic, I guess it would have been ideal to be more upfront in all outlets (band's website, social media, any interviews they give to any rock publications) that they were not playing SFAM in full on this Europe tour and quell the backlash.  Of course, it would have been a lot easier to just forgo doing festivals and non-festival shows in the first place and just do the set they were doing in the NA tour, but in Europe, and there would have been no issues regarding intention of what the set is.

[Mladen]

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for an European leg featuring the entire SFAM, but after all of this confusion, I wonder if the promoters would bother making it happen. I sort of picked up from the interviews that the summer shows wouldn't feature SFAM, so I decided to wait it out. We'll see if it will be worth it. 

After they're done with SFAM anniversary, I'd like a more balanced set for the next tour.

[MirrorMask]

I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for an European leg featuring the entire SFAM

It's one of those things that you read about and then maybe can't remember correctly, but I swear that the moment I learnt about DT not playing SFAM is when I saw reported a quote from James that in Europe they wouldn't play the whole album 'cause they would come back later in the year / early next year to do it.

[creatchy]

Fact is: DT lost many fans all over Europe due to this behaviour. The misinformation about the setlist/timetable/Fake-Festivals does not only affect 'a small number of gigs in Europe', as stated somewhere above. It is affecting the majority of the European concerts. And the European tour is quite long: 24 shows.

I read in local Forums (Germany) that even or especially long time fans are so disappointed, that they will not go to DT concerts anymore.
I think, whoever (and I don't care anymore, whose fault this was), messed this up, did not do a favour to the band. Losing fans, regardless how 'big' a band is, is never a good thing.

Let's hope for better next time, I, for myself, now will be VERY careful buying tickets for DT shows.

Sorry, but still more than disappointed...

[Dreammajesty]

Hmm i already knew it wasn't going to be an SFAM show but i was going anyway.Don't recall how i knew this.But anyways the added bands didn't do much for me so i arived at the Oberhausen show just before they started.It was a great show as Always.The only thing that was dissapointing was when James said at 1:18:00   Thank you goodnight !!   Ehhrrr wait what ?? This Dream Theater right?? Ah so we still have an hour ?? Well nope after As I Am  it was over which was dissapointing for the 60 euro's times 2.
But i'm still a fan .

[Fritzinger]

Argh please stop spoiling the setlist here 

[MirrorMask]

Argh please stop spoiling the setlist here 

[Lethean]

This place is not good about not spoiling the setlist.  I remember a couple songs getting spoiled for the I&W and Beyond tour, one even before the very first show!  After a second song got spoiled I just decided to stop visiting until after the first show I saw.  Which you shouldn't have to do, but...

[Evermind]

I'm just glad I've finally seen Raw Dog live. A weird choice since they only had 80 minutes to play, but a welcome one still.

[SystematicThought]

Raw Dog was a shock, but even more shocking was The Mission Impossible Theme and Resurrection of Ernie from the WDADU demos

[Setlist Scotty]

Amazing how scary the new lyrics to Resurrection of Ernie ended up being! Who would've thought JP could come up with horror film type lyrics that don't sound corny?

[The Curious Orange]

DT lost many fans all over Europe due to this behaviour...  fans are so disappointed, that they will not go to DT concerts anymore.

Makes me wonder whether they were "true fans" or just "fair weather" fans. I didn't go due to the lack of UK shows, but it sounds like a great setlist and a great night. Oh for the days when you didn't know what a band was going to play until you turned up on the night and saw them play it. 

[nikatapi]

DT lost many fans all over Europe due to this behaviour...  fans are so disappointed, that they will not go to DT concerts anymore.

Makes me wonder whether they were "true fans" or just "fair weather" fans. I didn't go due to the lack of UK shows, but it sounds like a great setlist and a great night. Oh for the days when you didn't know what a band was going to play until you turned up on the night and saw them play it.

Well i think even "true" fans would be disappointed to pay ~100 euros or so to see the band play for 90 minutes (given they usually play more than 2 hours).

[tristl]

In Dresden they played 86 minutes, there where two obscure opening acts,
Massive soud problems, it was by far the worst of the 16 DT concerts i was attending

[CharlesPL]

In Berlin was ok, next european an evening format in Jan/Feb

[Mladen]

Source?

[CharlesPL]

James said it in Berlin

[Peter Mc]

Maybe the band could’ve communicated a little better but they have done these little shows in Europe during festival runs lots of times and they have always been their own thing in odd venues  with opening acts and not the set list that they would do on a proper European tour. I can’t believe any DT fan would go into these shows expecting the full “evening with” experience with a 3 hour set and all of SFAM.

I fully expect DT to return for a full European tour later this year or early next year and it to be a full show in their usual venues. Whether or not they’re still doing SFAM at that point, I’m really not too concerned as I’ve seen it before. I would love to see it again but will also likely love whatever they decide to do. For those who haven’t seen SFAM live, I hope they do it for your sake.

[Peter Mc]

Ok, just read a little more and it seems like the shows were actually wrongly advertised so it is more understandable that people are pissed off.