Mike Portnoy reflects on I&W

[MinistroRaven]

Thanks to Pete Pardo at Sea of Tranquility for choosing Images & Words as his #1 Album celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2022! 🎉
I joined Pete for a 25 minute conversation discussing the making of this album, what led to it and what followed in in the wake of its success…a great discussion of a great album that changed many of our lives! 🙏
Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFTgT08cVFM

 

[faizoff]

This was a great video. In the end MP also talks about attending his first DT concert and how he's really chill with the guys now.

But the tidbits on IAW are excellent.

[Mladen]

I really enjoyed this video. Mike seems to be in a really good place. Kudos to the guy. 

[Chino]

This was a great video. In the end MP also talks about attending his first DT concert and how he's really chill with the guys now.

But the tidbits on IAW are excellent.

It made me really happy, like legitimately happy, to hear him same that (19:00ish minute mark for anyone looking).

[Madman Shepherd]

Sounded pretty humble in the video. Two big things he said:

1. He understands why DT doesn't do a rotating setlist now 

2. Meanstreak reunion?!?!?!?!? 

[WilliamMunny]

Sounded pretty humble in the video. Two big things he said:

1. He understands why DT doesn't do a rotating setlist now 

2. Meanstreak reunion?!?!?!?!? 

Yeah, it was a great video and very cool to watch.

I've always wondered if Mike had stayed in the band if the rotating setlists wouldn't have stopped at some point. JP is obviously not a fan, and I could see it being something that slowly faded as the tours got bigger.

[KevShmev]

I've always wondered if Mike had stayed in the band if the rotating setlists wouldn't have stopped at some point. JP is obviously not a fan, and I could see it being something that slowly faded as the tours got bigger.

I wish they would find a happy medium. I can't believe it would be that difficult to leave 2-4 spots open a tour that can rotate while everything else remains static. 

Anyway, as I said in the other thread, nice interview and thoughts by Portnoy.  If nothing else, it is good to see that he has mellowed out a lot.  Aging does that to most of us.

[Trav86]

I've always wondered if Mike had stayed in the band if the rotating setlists wouldn't have stopped at some point. JP is obviously not a fan, and I could see it being something that slowly faded as the tours got bigger.

I wish they would find a happy medium. I can't believe it would be that difficult to leave 2-4 spots open a tour that can rotate while everything else remains static. 

Anyway, as I said in the other thread, nice interview and thoughts by Portnoy.  If nothing else, it is good to see that he has mellowed out a lot.  Aging does that to most of us.

Yeah, the dude doesn’t seem as full as himself as he has in most interviews over the last decade.  And even though that stuffed really soured my view of him, I still think of him as my musical hero for all of those years. I can’t help but love the guy.

[Dream Team]

I've always wondered if Mike had stayed in the band if the rotating setlists wouldn't have stopped at some point. JP is obviously not a fan, and I could see it being something that slowly faded as the tours got bigger.

I wish they would find a happy medium. I can't believe it would be that difficult to leave 2-4 spots open a tour that can rotate while everything else remains static. 

Anyway, as I said in the other thread, nice interview and thoughts by Portnoy.  If nothing else, it is good to see that he has mellowed out a lot.  Aging does that to most of us.

Rotating 2-4 spots is eminently reasonable. They did it on the ADTOE tour.

[DTA]

I mean, do they really need to rotate setlists if they’re playing Philly one night and Cleveland the next? The chance of overlapping fans will be so minimal and both cities may miss out on songs that realistically won’t likely be played live again after the tour. They still rotate from leg to leg which is a lot more logical

Great interview though. It’s funny how many decisions the record company made for them back then that he hated at the time but proved to be good decisions.

[Madman Shepherd]

I mean, do they really need to rotate setlists if they’re playing Philly one night and Cleveland the next? The chance of overlapping fans will be so minimal and both cities may miss out on songs that realistically won’t likely be played live again after the tour. They still rotate from leg to leg which is a lot more logical

Exactly. Still pissed I never got to hear them play Beneath the Surface  :'(

[TheCountOfNYC]

I mean, do they really need to rotate setlists if they’re playing Philly one night and Cleveland the next? The chance of overlapping fans will be so minimal and both cities may miss out on songs that realistically won’t likely be played live again after the tour. They still rotate from leg to leg which is a lot more logical

Great interview though. It’s funny how many decisions the record company made for them back then that he hated at the time but proved to be good decisions.

This was when the record company still had executives that signed them, and the powers at be most likely had the band’s best interest in mind. Mike had mentioned in the past that the problem with FII was most of the higher ups who were there when they were signed were gone by that point and it felt like the new guys in power didn’t care about the band. It makes sense in that context that he could look back at the IaW period when they were first signed and see how the decisions the record company made back then were good ones. Of course the record being successful helps the mind forget about the bad parts of the process but everything he said about that time period makes sense.

[KevShmev]

I mean, do they really need to rotate setlists if they’re playing Philly one night and Cleveland the next? The chance of overlapping fans will be so minimal and both cities may miss out on songs that realistically won’t likely be played live again after the tour. They still rotate from leg to leg which is a lot more logical

I think you have to look at it from the standpoint of the "what is coming next?" factor, and to explain that, in the modern day internet age, most set lists from bands that have any kind of following are usually online pretty quickly, so it is easy to for fans to check them out.  So, going to a concert where you know the exact set list ahead of time takes a little of the fun out of it.  Now, it is easy to say, "Well then, don't look at the set list ahead of time," but that is not realistic for most, so I think it is better served for artists to adjust accordingly and keep them a little fresh from night to night.  Not saying every night has to be completely different, but I think having those a handful of spots that can rotate is the best of both words.  I can say with great confidence that concerts are far more exciting in general when you go in having little to no idea what the set list is.  Take when I saw Radiohead in the late 00s.  IIRC, they played 25 songs a show, and probably 16-17 spots were the same song each night, but even those often bounced all over the set list (All I Need was our opener, but I think that might have been an encore the next night for all I remember), and then you had roughly 1/3 of the show being different each night.  That was awesome.  And using the stage show thing as an excuse to not rotate at all doesn't pass the sniff test, as bands like U2 and Pink Floyd have done massive stadium tours in the past, with lighting and screening shows far more elaborate than anything DT ever could likely afford, and had variations in their set lists on a nightly basis.

[Madman Shepherd]

I mean, do they really need to rotate setlists if they’re playing Philly one night and Cleveland the next? The chance of overlapping fans will be so minimal and both cities may miss out on songs that realistically won’t likely be played live again after the tour. They still rotate from leg to leg which is a lot more logical

I think you have to look at it from the standpoint of the "what is coming next?" factor, and to explain that, in the modern day internet age, most set lists from bands that have any kind of following are usually online pretty quickly, so it is easy to for fans to check them out.  So, going to a concert where you know the exact set list ahead of time takes a little of the fun out of it.  Now, it is easy to say, "Well then, don't look at the set list ahead of time," but that is not realistic for most, so I think it is better served for artists to adjust accordingly and keep them a little fresh from night to night.  Not saying every night has to be completely different, but I think having those a handful of spots that can rotate is the best of both words.  I can say with great confidence that concerts are far more exciting in general when you go in having little to no idea what the set list is. 

And I can say that your opinion is not shared widely. Occasionally you'll get a show like when I saw Uriah Heep and had no idea they were doing Magician's Birthday. That was cool. But the majority of the time it's actually better to know what's coming, especially if DT is playing a song like Nightmare to Remember so I can prepare rather than reacting, "Well, the next 14 minutes is going to suck." Because I prepped, I actually enjoyed it MORE and was excited to see James do the "day after day" part since it seemed kind of cool from the youtube videos I watched before the show. I actually really enjoyed it live.

Also on the last tour, I looked at the setlist but forgot the order. So I kept wondering when they would play TMOLS and then started to thinking it was after About to Crash so I anticipated the shit out of it but wasn't sure. When they transitioned, it was awesome. Surprisingly the people around me had the same reaction. It was one of the coolest moments of the night.

And using the stage show thing as an excuse to not rotate at all doesn't pass the sniff test, as bands like U2 and Pink Floyd have done massive stadium tours in the past, with lighting and screening shows far more elaborate than anything DT ever could likely afford, and had variations in their set lists on a nightly basis.

Yeah and U2 only had a crew of an extra couple hundred people to make that happen.

Not a great comparison.

[KevShmev]

And I can say that your opinion is not shared widely. Occasionally you'll get a show like when I saw Uriah Heep and had no idea they were doing Magician's Birthday. That was cool. But the majority of the time it's actually better to know what's coming, especially if DT is playing a song like Nightmare to Remember so I can prepare rather than reacting, "Well, the next 14 minutes is going to suck." Because I prepped, I actually enjoyed it MORE and was excited to see James do the "day after day" part since it seemed kind of cool from the youtube videos I watched before the show. I actually really enjoyed it live.

Also on the last tour, I looked at the setlist but forgot the order. So I kept wondering when they would play TMOLS and then started to thinking it was after About to Crash so I anticipated the shit out of it but wasn't sure. When they transitioned, it was awesome. Surprisingly the people around me had the same reaction. It was one of the coolest moments of the night.

There is no way of knowing that, and I could provide some anecdotal evidence one side to counter the anecdotal evidence you just shared for yours, but it would mean just about as much. I was merely offering my opinion.

 
Yeah and U2 only had a crew of an extra couple hundred people to make that happen.

Not a great comparison.

Perhaps, but it can be done.  DT's lighting and stage show is not that elaborate to where they need to be a slave to the same set list on a nightly basis, IMO.  I ask, is even just a few spots per tour that rotate from night to night too much to ask for?

[MrMike]

But the majority of the time it's actually better to know what's coming, especially if DT is playing a song like Nightmare to Remember so I can prepare rather than reacting, "Well, the next 14 minutes is going to suck."

   I know what you mean.  I was glad I already knew this tour's set so that Ministry and Count weren't such a shock.  I actually really enjoyed The Count, but I'm still lukewarm on Ministry.

[Stadler]

I mean, do they really need to rotate setlists if they’re playing Philly one night and Cleveland the next? The chance of overlapping fans will be so minimal and both cities may miss out on songs that realistically won’t likely be played live again after the tour. They still rotate from leg to leg which is a lot more logical

Great interview though. It’s funny how many decisions the record company made for them back then that he hated at the time but proved to be good decisions.

I don't think that's necessarily the point for many, though.  I know for me I RARELY go to a show wanting to hear "a" song.  Maiden and "Sign Of The Cross" is really the only example I can think of; maybe "Seasons Of Wither" by Aerosmith.  For me, it's the fascination of seeing something unique.   I get that my position is not the common one here, but I am interested in what the artist has to say, not what I want to hear.  I PREFER the varied setlists, but if a band is going to commit to ONE setlist, then I'm not going to complain, but I'm going to value them on how well they deliver that fixed setlist.   The Dead were shambolic at times, but I also knew they were tapping into a songbook that was something like 350 deep at any given time.  If Bob Weir missed the cue for the bridge, well, duh, he still remembered all the lyrics on a track that hadn't been played in five years.  I'm not going to afford the same courtesy to a guy that's played the SAME song over the past 75 nights verbatim.  When I saw Kiss at Madison Square Garden (homecoming show) on the reunion tour, they mixed it up by inserting... I think it was "Let Me Go, Rock and Roll" (one of my favorite songs).  I was down front, Gene was on top of the amps on the right and he fucked up the words to the second verse, but it was REAL, it was powerful, and the rest of the band was in full flight.  It's a highlight of that show for me.   Steve Hogarth reading the words to "Freaks" at the show I saw at Toad's because the crowd wouldn't let it go once Rothery played the intro as a sort of joke.   A mess, but a beautiful mess.  I would rather hear other songs, but it was a moment. 

[RaiseTheKnife]

Portnoy references something else lined up that he can't announce yet.  I wonder if that could be some dates with JP for his new solo material?  That would be killer!