Mesa, AZ 2/2/2022 - Mesa Arts Center (Setlist Spoilers)

[WilliamMunny]

James is the voice of DT.
If he's out, I'm out.
If he's replaced, I hope the band fails. They'd deserve it.
I love all of the DT guys, but if they kicked out James, I'd be done.

Wow...is that you, John?

[Ben_Jamin]

He’s doing a great job on 99% of the setlist overall.

Well, he wasn't though. The clips from the first week were excruciating to watch. I did watch a few clips from the Denver show, and he seems to be a little better as the tour progresses.

They were also coming off a two year hiatus of not playing live shows. Of course it's expected for them to be rusty for a couple of shows.

I personally think they did an amazing job when taking that into account. I was not expecting them to be completely 100% perfect, I actually do not expect any band to be 100% perfect at their live shows.

[UndercoverMyung]

Perhaps I sound aggressive, LOL
I just feel like without James it would no longer be DT - it would feel like a cover band.

[Madman Shepherd]

Believe me, I’d love to defend it, but this is what it is. Great thing is, it’s only 2 minutes out of 120, and the 2 minutes aren’t in an overly iconic moment. If he needs to rest to hit the “shaman, take my hand”, then I say let the man rest.

As a Bond fan, I feel the need to quote Gareth Mallory from Skyfall. “There’s no shame in admitting you’ve lost a step”. He’s doing a great job on 99% of the setlist overall.

Boom. Perfectly put.

Also, to crystalstars, I may be one of LaBrie's biggest defenders here so I totally get where you're coming from. I agree with most of what you say. I do think the majority of people here are being fair and constructive in their comments though. We're all nerds and somewhat starved for what to talk about. I'm not a huge sports fan but I hear my friend analyzing some dudes swinging pattern or whatever and I think, "get a life!" and then I come on here and do somewhat the equivalent. There are definitely some people here that rely on the negative and don't even seem like they like the band anymore yet hang on just to criticize or try to reminisce over when they worshiped the band. I don't understand it. The rest are pretty cool and just want to have something to talk about when they get a second in front of the computer screen and will still shell out 20-100 bucks a year on DT music and another 200 on tickets and another 50-100 on a shirt or two. I wouldn't take any criticism too much to heart from them. We're all (mostly) still hardcore fans.

[Madman Shepherd]

I'm totally in agreement to use backing tracks as a backing track and to enhance the live experience... Every band does this.

They do??

No, they do not.  Plenty of bands do not use backing tracks at live shows.  I won't list any because that would elicit the "yeah, but those bands suck anyway, so who cares?"-type retorts, which would be missing the point.

But today more than ever A LOT of bands do. Even bands that aren't very complex, I'm surprised play to a click with backing tracks.

Back in the late 90s there was a Norweigan band, smalltime side project  that only had 3 members but involved music and they played to a backing track and people lost their shit. I admit it was odd to have a sparse stage but half a dozen other instruments being played. Nowadays I'm no longer shocked. Probably because with technology it is so easy they just figure why not.

[Ben_Jamin]

Perhaps I sound aggressive, LOL
I just feel like without James it would no longer be DT - it would feel like a cover band.

It would still be Dream Theater for me. The same way that Kansas is still Kansas without Steve Walsh, Kerry Livgren, and Robby Steinhardt.

I'm totally in agreement to use backing tracks as a backing track and to enhance the live experience... Every band does this.

They do??

No, they do not.  Plenty of bands do not use backing tracks at live shows.  I won't list any because that would elicit the "yeah, but those bands suck anyway, so who cares?"-type retorts, which would be missing the point.

But today more than ever A LOT of bands do. Even bands that aren't very complex, I'm surprised play to a click with backing tracks.

Back in the late 90s there was a Norweigan band, smalltime side project  that only had 3 members but involved music and they played to a backing track and people lost their shit. I admit it was odd to have a sparse stage but half a dozen other instruments being played. Nowadays I'm no longer shocked. Probably because with technology it is so easy they just figure why not.

Exactly...If the technology is there, why not utilize it.

Do fans of music fear the technology intruding into the natural humanistic qualities of music? In the same way some see the intrusion of technology intruding on other natural aspects of human life?

This is that fine line of technology advancement and how it's utilized for things of human value, such as Music.

But to me, it's not surprising seeing Dream Theater utilize the technology available, because their shows and the album cover of D/T portrays this very thing of AI and technology advancement. That is actually what the cover art of D/T symbolizes, the point where AI takes over Human life, questioning what came before.

[pg1067]

If I wanted to see musicians play songs to a pre-recorded vocal track, I'd have gone to one of the shows where they played Dio songs with a hologram of Ronnie.  If I'm buying a ticket to see Dream Theater, I expect that they will be performing live and not lip-synching and playing air guitar.  If that's what's happening (and I'm not saying it is or, if it is, to what extent), then be honest about it and reduce the prices accordingly.  Also, the "technology" for people to lip-synch is nothing new.

[UndercoverMyung]

Air guitar??? What???

[wolfking]

James is the voice of DT.
If he's out, I'm out.
If he's replaced, I hope the band fails. They'd deserve it.
I love all of the DT guys, but if they kicked out James, I'd be done.

And they would be devastated losing you as a fan too.

[TAC]

 

Get ready for the Dream Theater Fan Auditions.

[wolfking]

Get ready for the Dream Theater Fan Auditions.

No Mike's allowed to apply for the position.