Possible “35th Anniversary Tour” After D/T Tour?

[Mojado Ilegal]

[REDACTED]

[fischermasamune]

I don't have any inside info, but given that they may record an album this year and possibly release it, if they do start a new tour still in 2020, I imagine it would be in promotion of the new music.

[The Curious Orange]

After 4 tours in a row playing albums in their entirety (OK, we only got half of Awake, but I'm still counting it), I expect the next tour to be all of 6DOIT in it's entirety. 

[MirrorMask]

We only had one tour with Mangini with a "anything goes" setlist. It's about time the next tour will be one not tied to any specific album or recurrence.

[Lonk]

We only had one tour with Mangini with a "anything goes" setlist. It's about time the next tour will be one not tied to any specific album or recurrence.

And that tour was only in Europe 

[pg1067]

Given that DT has been doing Anniversary tours almost every 5yrs since 2005. . . .

Huh?

They didn't do an "anniversary tour" in 2005.  They toured in support of Octavarium.  Are you suggesting it was an "anniversary tour" because of the way they structured the set list?

They didn't do an "anniversary tour" in 2010.  They toured in support of BC&SL (and more than half of the shows in 2010 were in support of Iron Maiden).  They also toured in support of BC&SL in 2009, and in 2011, they released and started touring in support of ADTOE.  Nothing even close to an "anniversary tour."

They did Images and Words and Beyond in 2017.  That tour and the tour that concluded last night are the only tours that could legitimately be called "anniversary tours."  Having never toured to mark anything other than the anniversary of an album release, I don't think they're likely to start now.

My Hypothetical Set-list: (1989-2019)

I didn't check it, but wouldn't this be about an eight hour set list?  There's a bunch of songs on that list that are among my favorites, but I don't think we're too likely to see much from I&W or ACOS any time soon.  I also don't expect anything from SFAM on the next tour.  I think the most anniversary-esque thing we're likely to see would be side 2 of SDOIT, but I think that depends on when the next album comes out and when the tour for it starts and ends.

[hefdaddy42]

Given that DT has been doing Anniversary tours almost every 5yrs since 2005. . . .

Huh?

They didn't do an "anniversary tour" in 2005.  They toured in support of Octavarium.  Are you suggesting it was an "anniversary tour" because of the way they structured the set list?

It was a 20th anniversary tour.  That's why the name of the DVD was Score (a double entendre, in this case).

[Max Kuehnau]

Given that DT has been doing Anniversary tours almost every 5yrs since 2005. . . .

Huh?

They didn't do an "anniversary tour" in 2005.  They toured in support of Octavarium.  Are you suggesting it was an "anniversary tour" because of the way they structured the set list?

It was a 20th anniversary tour.  That's why the name of the DVD was Score (a double entendre, in this case).

yes. It was advertised as the 20th anniversary tour as well (I remember the posters from back in the day). Back to topic: I don't mind them doing xth anniversary tours, but for now, I'm more excited for DT15 than anything else. (I'd love TOWHTSTS or Only A Matter Of Time on the setlist btw, if they were to choose a piece from WDADU, but that's besides the thread title)

[pg1067]

Given that DT has been doing Anniversary tours almost every 5yrs since 2005. . . .

Huh?

They didn't do an "anniversary tour" in 2005.  They toured in support of Octavarium.  Are you suggesting it was an "anniversary tour" because of the way they structured the set list?

It was a 20th anniversary tour.  That's why the name of the DVD was Score (a double entendre, in this case).

Obviously "Score" makes reference to the 20(-plus) years that the band had been in existence as of the date of the concert, but I have no recollection of the tour being advertised as a "20th anniversary tour" (although I don't disagree that the structure of the setlists on that tour arguably make it a de facto anniversary tour).

[hefdaddy42]

It was billed as a 20th anniversary tour.

[Lonk]

I could be wrong but I think it was the concert from "Score" that was labeled was 20th anniversary, not the entire tour.

[OpenYourEyes311]

Quick google search pulls up plenty of pics just like the one above. I remember this tour being billed as the 20th Anniversary Tour.

They also did a 30th Anniversary setlist in Europe during the festival run in 2015. Not sure if was specifically billed as the “30th Anniversary Tour.”

As per the thread title, I’d rather just get pot luck next tour. They do a really good job mixing up the set from tour to tour, I’d just rather be 90-100% surprised by the songs they play (like I was for the first set of this past tour.)

[bosk1]

I don't remember one way or the other in terms of the actually concert billing/advertising.  But I do remember that it was generally known that the band were intending the tour as a whole to be partly a celebration of 20 years of Dream Theater, which is why every show on the tour was structured to play something representing the Majesty period and every album, in addition to being structured to feature the Octavarium album and concept.

But I think maybe we're just being overly pedantic about what it means for something to be an "anniversary tour." 


EDIT:  But I guess OYE311's post clears that part up. 

As far as others, I know that when they were touring for Black Clouds, it was also understood that they were celebrating 25 years.  Again, I don't recall whether those shows were officially billed that way, but I remember the 25th anniversary posters (I still have a bunch of those) and other swag.  That was just an odd tour in that they didn't really do a separate headlining tour, at least in the U.S.  They did Prog Nation and the opening slot with Maiden, and that was it. 

Then moving forward to the next 5-year period, I don't recall the 2015 tour being officially billed as a 30th anniversary either.  But, again, they had 30th anniversary shirts and swag, and their own official website has a photos page labeled "30th Anniversary Tour," so...  http://dreamtheater.net/photos/30th-anniversary-tour-2015/

But I think more importantly, going back to the OP, for each of those, they didn't really do anything special in terms of the set, other than on the 8VM tour.  No idea whether they will make a big deal out of "35th anniversary" for any upcoming tour," but I suspect not, since that isn't a number that people generally consider to be especially special.  And it would surprise me if they did anything with the set list in honor of 35 years.  But who knows?

[MirrorMask]

35 is also kinda lame as a number to celebrate. 10 is cool, 20 is a score, 25 is the silver one (at least celebrating years of wedding), 30 is round, but 35? anything celebrating a 35th anniversary would just be for the very sake of it. Wait for 40.

[Max Kuehnau]

35 is also kinda lame as a number to celebrate. 10 is cool, 20 is a score, 25 is the silver one (at least celebrating years of wedding), 30 is round, but 35? anything celebrating a 35th anniversary would just be for the very sake of it. Wait for 40.

Yes. I'll just focus on anticipating DT15 for now (and Mike's solo album)

[pg1067]

As far as others, I know that when they were touring for Black Clouds, it was also understood that they were celebrating 25 years.  Again, I don't recall whether those shows were officially billed that way, but I remember the 25th anniversary posters (I still have a bunch of those) and other swag.  That was just an odd tour in that they didn't really do a separate headlining tour, at least in the U.S.  They did Prog Nation and the opening slot with Maiden, and that was it. 

Posters or not, I think it would be pretty hard to characterize those as anniversary shows.  At least as far as the shows I saw (8/29/09 PN at the Greek Theatre in Hollywood and 6/19/10 (w/ Maiden) at San Manuel Amph in San Bernardino) as anniversary shows.

As far as the Octavarium shows, I was completely taken by surprise when I got to the show (3/9/06 at the Grove in Anaheim).  Although I owned some sort of bootleg with the Majesty demos, I barely ever listened to it and was completely unfamiliar with Another Won (although the video made it obvious what they were doing).  At that time, I wasn't actively following any DT-related internet sites, so maybe that's why I had no idea.  That was one of those real hit or miss shows (Never Enough, Another Won, Innocence Faded and Just Let Me Breathe (yawn....) followed by The Glass Prison, Sacrificed Sons, Octavarium and ITNOG (!!!)).

Anyhoo...I agree with this:

35 is also kinda lame as a number to celebrate.

[Mojado Ilegal]

[REDACTED]

[Setlist Scotty]

No sane person would go to an 8hr show

I just learned that I'm apparently insane!   

[Fritzinger]

35 is also kinda lame as a number to celebrate. 10 is cool, 20 is a score, 25 is the silver one (at least celebrating years of wedding), 30 is round, but 35? anything celebrating a 35th anniversary would just be for the very sake of it. Wait for 40.

Apparently there are artists who think otherwise 

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, I'm not saying it's arbitrary as celebrating the "21st anniversary" or the "33th anniversary", but round numbers like 10, 20 and 30 and the "silver nuptials" of 25 seem all to be more meaningful than 35. A 45th anniversary is random too, but hey, any band that lasts 45 years has the right to celebrate 'cause they don't know if they'll make it to 50 

[Peter Mc]

Would be very surprised if there was any kind of acknowledgement of 35th anniversary in terms of a special tour. I think we’re done with the anniversary shows now. You may get a nod to SDOIT on its 20th anniversary but not the whole album or anything close. It’s just not that important of an album and neither are any of the others.

[MirrorMask]

Anyway, speaking of these anniversary tours we just had, I wonder what came first - the Evening With format, that gives them more freedom, or the celebration angle, which kinda forces them to do a 3 hours (or 2.5 and counting) show.

I mean, what was the most likely scenario? "Evening With tours are cool, let's do another one, and hey, since we have two sets anyway, why don't we play Images and Words / SFAM in full given the anniversary?" or "Hey, it's the I&W / SFAM anniversary, how about we play the whole album? this means however we'll have to do an Evening With show, we'll have an opening band like for the Dramatic tour next time around".

[Fritzinger]

I'd really like a nod or two to Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. I feel like the last tours mostly ignored this awesome album, with the exception of War Inside My Head and The Test That Stumped Them All. Yes, I know that About To Crash and The Great Debate have been played with Mangini already (if I remember correctly). But I feel like this album (as well as Train Of Thought and Octavarium!) fell a little short on the last few tours. I'd love to see The Glass Prison, Blind Faith or The Great Debate live.

[Zydar]

Come to think of it, how much attention has Falling Into Infinity gotten recently?

[Mladen]

One song per tour since DT12, I think. Trial of tears got played in 2014, Burning my soul was performed during the summer festival run in 2015, they performed Hell's kitchen in 2017, and Peruvian skies was featured last year.

[Peter Mc]

I'd really like a nod or two to Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. I feel like the last tours mostly ignored this awesome album, with the exception of War Inside My Head and The Test That Stumped Them All. Yes, I know that About To Crash and The Great Debate have been played with Mangini already (if I remember correctly). But I feel like this album (as well as Train Of Thought and Octavarium!) fell a little short on the last few tours. I'd love to see The Glass Prison, Blind Faith or The Great Debate live.

It’s strange to me how little any of it gets played. It’s not a huge favourite of mine but does seem a fan favourite in general.  I’m sure if they asked fans for this tour if they’d rather have had The Glass Prison or A Nightmare To Remember, TGP would’ve overwhelmingly won that vote.

[Fritzinger]

I'd really like a nod or two to Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. I feel like the last tours mostly ignored this awesome album, with the exception of War Inside My Head and The Test That Stumped Them All. Yes, I know that About To Crash and The Great Debate have been played with Mangini already (if I remember correctly). But I feel like this album (as well as Train Of Thought and Octavarium!) fell a little short on the last few tours. I'd love to see The Glass Prison, Blind Faith or The Great Debate live.

It’s strange to me how little any of it gets played. It’s not a huge favourite of mine but does seem a fan favourite in general.  I’m sure if they asked fans for this tour if they’d rather have had The Glass Prison or A Nightmare To Remember, TGP would’ve overwhelmingly won that vote.

Well, in THAT case, my vote would've gone to Nightmare  But I might be in the minority there.

[Setlist Scotty]

Anyway, speaking of these anniversary tours we just had, I wonder what came first - the Evening With format, that gives them more freedom, or the celebration angle, which kinda forces them to do a 3 hours (or 2.5 and counting) show.

I mean, what was the most likely scenario? "Evening With tours are cool, let's do another one, and hey, since we have two sets anyway, why don't we play Images and Words / SFAM in full given the anniversary?" or "Hey, it's the I&W / SFAM anniversary, how about we play the whole album? this means however we'll have to do an Evening With show, we'll have an opening band like for the Dramatic tour next time around".

I'm pretty sure it started out with the idea of being able to play more material - especially during the MP-era. In more recent times, it's a little more hard to say. I'd imagine that both those factors came into play, but which one initiated it is hard to say. Although now that I think about it, I think Blob had posted about reminding JP that 2014 marked the 20th anniversary of Awake. Whether JP/the band had already decided on doing another Evening With tour before hand or not, I don't remember (though it might have been mentioned in interviews from that time period), but my hunch is that they did. Another factor to remember is purely from a business standpoint: Evening With shows means no opening acts that have to be paid.
 
 

It’s strange to me how little any of it gets played. It’s not a huge favourite of mine but does seem a fan favourite in general.  I’m sure if they asked fans for this tour if they’d rather have had The Glass Prison or A Nightmare To Remember, TGP would’ve overwhelmingly won that vote.

I have a feeling the reason why neither TGP nor BF have been played is due to some of the really tough guitar passages in both songs. Even when those songs were regularly played, JP struggled with them. Now that he's the sole leader of the band and a perfectionist in terms of band performance, he might veto those songs outright.

TGD was featured in 2011 but dropped because of the lack of audience reaction. Dunno why neither Misunderstood nor Disappear have been played, but maybe because they're both ballad-y type songs with weird production.

[pg1067]

I'd really like a nod or two to Six Degrees Of Inner Turbulence. I feel like the last tours mostly ignored this awesome album, with the exception of War Inside My Head and The Test That Stumped Them All. Yes, I know that About To Crash and The Great Debate have been played with Mangini already (if I remember correctly). But I feel like this album (as well as Train Of Thought and Octavarium!) fell a little short on the last few tours. I'd love to see The Glass Prison, Blind Faith or The Great Debate live.

TGD is no better live than it is on the album.  The other two are strong.  I'm hoping they play all of disc 2 (same reason as I wanted all of SFAM -- I missed that tour).

Come to think of it, how much attention has Falling Into Infinity gotten recently?

More than it warrants (although more so in Europe than in North America).  During the Mangini years:

Peruvian Skies was played on Euro dates in 2019 and 2011.
Burning My Soul was played on Euro dates in 2015.
Hell's Kitchen was played during the I&W&B tour in 2017.
Trial of Tears was played during the Along for the Ride tour in 2014.

TGD was featured in 2011 but dropped because of the lack of audience reaction. Dunno why neither Misunderstood nor Disappear have been played, but maybe because they're both ballad-y type songs with weird production.

Sadly, TGD was not dropped soon enough for me in 2011.

I'd love to see Misunderstood again and hope Disappear remains in mothballs where it belongs.

[cramx3]

Meanwhile I got Misunderstood twice and missed out on Blind Faith back in 08 (I think).  Bring back Blind Faith! (or TGP, both would be optimal)

[pg1067]

Meanwhile I got Misunderstood twice and missed out on Blind Faith back in 08 (I think).  Bring back Blind Faith! (or TGP, both would be optimal)

I would LOVE to see Blind Faith again!

When SDOIT came out, I spent so much time listening to disc 2, and I didn't particularly like disc 1 at all.  The thrashiness of TGP didn't appeal to me at all, and I'm not sure what the issue was with BF and Misunderstood, but I now love both of those songs (I still think Disappear and TGD are two of DT's worst songs, so some things never change).  The impetus to check out BF again came from one of those "misheard lyric vidos on YouTube.  The video in question had the "And still life pushes on" section, and I dug it but didn't recognize it.  Once I figured out what song it was and heard that middle instrumental section, I wondered how the heck I had missed it.  This all happened shortly before the Prog Nation show where they played it and I had front row seats, so the timing was perfect.

[bosk1]

I've never liked Blind Faith (there are parts that I like, but I never cared for it as a song).  But the rest of the album is incredible.

[Zydar]

I've never liked Blind Faith (there are parts that I like, but I never cared for it as a song).  But the rest of the album is incredible.

I agree. That's the weak point for me on the album (although that piano break is cool).

[KidInTheDark666]

I agree too. If all of the songs were on par with TGP, Misunderstood and TGD it would probably be my favorite album by them. As of now it's outside my top 5.

[Architeuthis]

I've never liked Blind Faith (there are parts that I like, but I never cared for it as a song).  But the rest of the album is incredible.

That song was awesome live on the Progressive Nation tour!