5 great short MM era songs
The Alien, Invisible Monster, Out of Reach, Answering the Call, Moment of Betrayal.
Those 5 are great! However, I was saying it in the context of a hypothetical 40th anniversary setlist with one song per album in reverse chronological order.
I would pick: Transcending Time, S2N, Moment of Betrayal, This is the Life.
Don't get me wrong--that's a solid list as well (although you are missing DT12). But IF they tried to do a 40th anniversary set list that encompassed every single album, I think it would be more "hits" centered. And I use "hits" pretty loosely since they haven't had a lot of what would generally be considered "hits." But I think a lot of the set would focus on songs that are more familiar and were either put out as singles or have a solid history of good crowd response. 3 of the 4 you chose are more deep cuts.
I agree with those above that think it is unlikely that they will hit every album. But it might be possible to do it and put together something good. I'm going to give it a quick try...
Yeah, I forgot DT12 
My pick from it was going to be Surrender to Reason, but I think you're spot on with the "hits". The thing is, I don't see Portnoy playing The Alien at all. But I guess time will tell.
I'm torn on The Alien. It's tough to imagine anyone but Mangini playing that insanity. But as mentioned in a few places, even though Portnoy is, by his own admission, a "less technical" player than Mangini, let's not forget that he is
incredibly talented and capable. I doubt he would try to play it as written. But I think he could probably easily handle coming up with a drum part that suits his style and preserves the feeling of the song, and would sound great in a live setting. I think anyone selling him short on being able to play it is not being realistic about how good a drummer he has
demonstrated himself to be over that past several decades.
Anyway, I took a shot at creating a hypothetical set list that abides by the following guidelines: (1) Hits every studio album; (2) is focused more on "hits"/popular songs; and (3) is focused on
shorter songs, whenever possible. Here is what I came up with:
A Fortune in Lies
Pull Me Under
Lie (aside from the fact that I just like it, it hasn't been played much in awhile and fits the above criteria nicely)
Just Let Me Breathe
One Last Time (I struggled with which song to pull from this album. I think they would go with the tried and true TSCO, but I thought I would try a different direction)
VI Solitary Shell
As I Am
Panic Attack
Forsaken
Wither (even though I don't care for it, it's perfect for a set that needs "ballads" and needs something short from an album full of long songs)
Beneath the Surface (unlikely, but I was going for "short" and "ballad," and having 2 ballady songs back to back is a pretty DT thing to do, so I think it works)
Looking Glass
Our New World
S2N (OK, yeah, I went with a deeper cut here rather than one of the songs they did a video for and gave the "single" treatment. I think that's fine here since I don't think any of those four songs really were even a blip on the music industry's radar. But I wouldn't be surprised by any of them, and they are about the same length.)
The Alien
Encore: Learning To Live
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was surprised to see that that is short of 2 hours, and would probably be right at about 2 hours with a typical length intro tape. If we factor in a 15-20 minute intermission, there's still space to change some of those with slightly longer songs and add in some from a new album, depending on length. Something like the above is pretty doable. And given the three criteria I layed out above, combined with how doable that would likely be for James in a 3-hour set, and my guesses about the band members' willingness to play them, I think that's just about as likely a set as any for this type of format.
Topic: A WAY TOO EARLY reunion tour setlist fantasy thread (Read 8016 times)
