Scotty covered most of this, and far better than I (because he was actually there for some of the shows I'm referencing) but nonetheless...
Do people actually watch other bands live? Do Iron Maiden, Rush, Bon Jovi etc start pulling out old demos in their live shows? No, they stick to their big hits, stuff of the latest album and maybe play the odd album track they haven’t played for a while if you’re lucky. Do you think Maiden fans complain when they play Hallowed Be Thy Name or 2 Minutes To Midnight for the millionth time or do Bon Jovi fans complain when Wanted Dead Or Alive, Livin On A Prayer come on? No they sing along and belt those songs out.
Not an unfair point, but it's not really apples to apples. I think there are differences in the audience that matter (there is no "bootleg" culture in the Bon Jovi universe, and there is far more likely a member of that audience that's there for the radio hit they heard last summer). But the Maiden fans DO complain about "Run To The Hills", "Fear Of The Dark", et al., and Bruce, for one, has addressed that a couple times. The BAND has addressed that I think about five times over the past 20 years by doing their alternating album/legacy shows.
I think the popularity factor makes this a circular argument. If you're playing 20,000 seat arenas as a headliner, it's a different equation than selling 1,500 seats in a theater. At any given Maiden or Bon Jovi show there is a percentage of fans that are there for the last song, or the song in the encore. I've seen enough Kiss shows, that even after 40 years, Rock And Roll All Nite STILL gets the best reaction of any song in their setlist. That's not because I'm there, wishing for "Sweet Pain" or "Flaming Youth". Put a different way, a 20,000 seat arena Bon Jovi show is getting a number of people that are "ah, fuck it, I'll scalp a ticket, have a few beers and see what the girls are wearing at the Jovi show. Hope they play a song I know". A 1,500 seat theater DT show is not.
I’m sorry but DT never put on crazy, sweaty rock shows. People go to see them play their instruments and play these incredibly technical intricate songs and pull them off live. It’s always been that way even when Portnoy was in the band. I think Portnoy even said that the spectacle of a DT show was seeing them play their instruments. It’s always been a performance rather than a big rock show, Portnoy throwing his sticks in the air and occasionally standing up added a little bit of showmanship but not much and JLB has upped his game in that regard in recent years.
Up until... Scenes, I guess, DT was playing places around me like Toad's Place and the El & Gee Club, and while I didn't see any of those shows, be straight right up front, I've seen OTHER shows in those places, and BY DEFINITION they are sweaty rock shows. And not to throw fuel, but in the post-Portnoy show I saw, JLB did not up his game all that much. He SOUNDED great, but he wasn't noticeably more animated than the last show I saw with Portnoy.
Dream Theater are out there playing their asses off doing 2.5 - 3 hour shows every night doing a mix of new stuff and old and celebrating the 20 year anniversary of their greatest album, give them a break for fucks sake.
Also not an unfair comment. But for someone who's been there, done that, 10, 12 times and has t-shirts for every one of them, what's the new attraction?
I'm really not taking a stand here, since I think you make very good points and my "care" level is pretty low on this, but I do see both sides to the equation.