The amount of complaints in this thread is remarkable.
The band is going out of their way to release something that people have been clamoring for for three years, and there are so many people saying stuff like, "What the hell, I gotta pay for this??" Yeah, streams cost money. As much as people don't want to admit it, Dream Theater is not Metallica. They can't stream old shows for weeks on end for free.
Yeah, it's a stream. Oh well. I wanted a physical release too, but that's not happening (yet), so I'll gladly fork over $16 (maybe I won't get coffee that week) to the band I've supported since 2003. I've paid a lot more for a lot less when it comes to DT stuff, and a lot of that money didn't go to the band (ie, buying old Fan Club CDs on ebay). $16 to support my favorite band? Easy. I'll probably get a buddy or two over to watch it too. Compared to going to the movies with a few friends, $16 is a friggin' steal.
To be fair, I haven't seen most of this. Probably a song or two back when it was first uploaded. So I get not wanting to pay for this if you saw it already. But the band didn't make money on those youtube streams. They deserve to be paid for their work. Ask Lars, he'll tell you.
And what about this suggests that the band is out of touch? Are they the only band doing streams of older shows? Nope. Are they the only ones asking for money for streams? Nope. This is what a lot of bands are doing. Is it because they're doing this instead of putting out a DVD? If that's the case, then maybe it's not them who's out of touch.
My 2¢. I'm excited.