Dream Theater

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I really like the new DT song, it pretty much meets expectations in terms of their normal riffing style but with a little bit more of a heavy edge and more of a driving drum style compared to Mangini's more technical approach. When you compare this to The Alien, the first single on the previous album, it feels like a logical continuation for them rather than them throwing out the last decade of musical development. It also goes to show though that by the time Portnoy left the first time, DT had settled into a bit of a musical routine that they rarely deviated from in the Mangini years. Bringing Portnoy back into the fold isn't really something that would lead to a major stylistic departure for them with that in mind.

What I hope bringing back Portnoy does do for the band is going back to more overarching concepts within their albums and little things to tie the songs together. Even a non-conceptual album like Black Clouds & Silver Linings feels like it has a musical and lyrical identity that ties the songs together. ADTOE (and obviously The Astonishing) did OK in this area, but generally it felt like there was less focus on the bigger picture of the album without Portnoy in the band. Seeing that they're obviously going for at least some sort of loose concept has me really excited for the album. Also, I know song lengths doesn't tell us anything, but DT is clearly more in their element when working with more "epic" length songs and I'm glad to see them leaning into that as well.
 
Here's the setlist from opening night of the tour in London (no, I wasn't there; I will be seeing the show in Houston);

Was going to discuss, but been so long since I've used Spoiler tags, I forgot how!

www.setlist.fm

Dream Theater Setlist at The O2 Arena, London

Get the Dream Theater Setlist of the concert at The O2 Arena, London, England on October 20, 2024 from the 40th Anniversary Tour 2024-2025 Tour and other Dream Theater Setlists for free on setlist.fm!
www.setlist.fm www.setlist.fm
 
I was following the setlist reveal on the DT forum in real time, I could hardly be happier with the new set. Lots of deep cuts mixed with fan favorites and overall vastly improved show compared to recent years.
 
Idk if anyone is trying to avoid spoilers but I'll use tags as a courtesy. Spoiler tags are easy:
Code: 
[spoiler][/spoiler]

Anyway,

This is definitely a greatest hits oriented show and it makes sense that they won't be rotating as I would say at least 13 songs, if not more, are locks that they want to play at every show. If you've been following the Mangini years, some of these may feel a little overplayed, a lot of it feels like MP picking favorites that he missed playing with the band. Fair enough I guess, it's appropriate for a 40th anniversary tour, although the extra emphasis on I&W and Scenes leads to a few albums being left out. I could see both Mangini songs being rotation slots, maybe one or two others, I kinda hope so just so that we get a little bit more variety over the course of the tour. As a hardcore fan who caught them on all but one Mangini era tour, the second set is really what makes this worth the price of admission. The first set I could give or take, although I really like Barstool Warrior and will be happy to hear that one live again. I wouldn't be sad to never hear a song off I&W and SFAM live again, but I also recognize that this setlist is meant to cater to people who either haven't seen the band live since 2010 or are going to see them on this mega reunion tour and then never again. As I've said many times since the reunion was initially announced, DT is clearly pivoting to being more of a legacy act and this is another example.

As far as the Mangini songs go, I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised. I kinda figured it would be singles or songs that were played frequently already, but I guess the benefit of letting MP pick the setlist is that songs might speak to him that weren't "hits" or songs that DT gravitated toward at the time. I genuinely thought we would never hear either Barstool Warrior or This Is the Life again. In a way, this setlist, does more justice to the Mangini era than DT ever did at the time since for awhile it was feeling like 95% of those songs were going to be retired after that album's tour was up. This bodes well for the future of that part of the catalog and I hope it continues, whether these songs get rotated or other Mangini songs get thrown into the mix in the future. I still want to have faith that DT will eventually be one of the gfew bands able to say they've played every single studio album song live.
 
Watching a few videos from yesterday...

The old DT sound is back and it's great. Lovely to see that they included Mangini era deeep cuts.

That said, LaBrie makes me thankful for Bruce in Maiden. What a struggle fest. When you struggle on a new song that you just recorded a few months ago... It's not good.
 
matic22 said:
That said, LaBrie makes me thankful for Bruce in Maiden. What a struggle fest. When you struggle on a new song that you just recorded a few months ago... It's not good.
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I thought Night Terror sounded pretty much the same as in studio. The first song of the night seemed rough but I thought he did better than during the AVFTTOTW era.
 
It would be harsh to sack LaBrie now but something definitely needs to be done about the vocals. How about bringing in an additional singer? It has worked for Gamma Ray (Frank Beck), Whitesnake (Dino Jelusic) or even Helloween (return of Kiske).
 
James isn't going anywhere. I take slightly out of tune vocals with solid backing from JP and Mike over those horrible pre-recorded tracks from the past decade. You guys should check out any of the post Awake songs from the gig, he sounds way better on those (obviously). Panic Attack and Hollow Years sound as good as ever.
 
I was relatively impressed with JLB's performance on Octavarium, even if it was probably just in contrast with some of the other songs performed. On that note, it's nice to have that song back in the set again after all this time. Although I think overall that they might need plenty of vocal doctoring for that live recording MP wanted to do...
 
Stardust said:
I was relatively impressed with JLB's performance on Octavarium, even if it was probably just in contrast with some of the other songs performed. On that note, it's nice to have that song back in the set again after all this time. Although I think overall that they might need plenty of vocal doctoring for that live recording MP wanted to do...
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Agreed. He was probably somewhat holding back early in the set to be able to nail *that* section of Octavarium later. I think it was a bit more aggressive than the Score version, although he probably could've held the scream a little longer.
 
I think the majority of DT fans go the shows to see the instrumentalists, thus there’s no point to replace LaBrie since most fans don’t even notice he’s there. Personally I tune him out.
 
I'm in the minority as LaBrie's voice is what got me into the band. That being the case I of course want him to sound the best he can. He isn't a great live singer anymore but he's such a cool dude and did a lot of crazy stuff in his prime so I'll always support him. You don't really notice it at a concert if he struggles, from my experience.
 
Detective Beauregard said:
I think the majority of DT fans go the shows to see the instrumentalists, thus there’s no point to replace LaBrie since most fans don’t even notice he’s there. Personally I tune him out.
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This exactly. A piece of the MP reunion is that they want to retire with this lineup I think. I know people think this will create tension with MP as well, but I also figure he has decided it’s better to just shut up and get to play in DT again rather than rock the boat.

With that being said, I wonder at what point this becomes a bigger problem for them. I know DT is about the instrumentalists first, but it’s also not great to have a band with a reputation for consistently poor live performances in the vocal department.
 
Detective Beauregard said:
I think the majority of DT fans go the shows to see the instrumentalists, thus there’s no point to replace LaBrie since most fans don’t even notice he’s there. Personally I tune him out.
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KidInTheDark666 said:
You don't really notice it at a concert if he struggles, from my experience.
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IDK guys, I can't tune it out and it certainly taints the experience. I'm looking forward to seeing Dream Theater again in the spring, but if Portnoy weren't there I wouldn't have bought tickets. And based on the videos from last night, I won't be paying to see them again after this year.
 
MrKnickerbocker said:
IDK guys, I can't tune it out and it certainly taints the experience. I'm looking forward to seeing Dream Theater again in the spring, but if Portnoy weren't there I wouldn't have bought tickets.
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I understand this, too. LaBrie is fine on most of the albums but his live “performances” are headache inducing. They could pull some rando off the street who would do a better job.
 
The new single is growing on me. The question is whether I go for the CD or vinyl. I don’t have any DT on vinyl, but I would love to get Train of Thought someday.
 
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