Randalf
Ancient Mariner
No, seriously, all of this doesn't add up. Why would Bruce word it in such a way. That he would like the song to be in the set, but “unfortunately” it won't be if was his decision that caused that.
I slightly disagree. As others have pointed out, it might very well be down to the amount of lyrics, the structure of the song, singing-technical stuff like the room for expression etc.
If Somewhere in Time revisit was done on another tour and Senjutsu had more spotlight on it's totally "own" album tour, I believe The Parchment would've most likely been in the set. As it is, I can totally see why they went with Celts instead, even though Bruce has often expressed his love for The Parchment too.
I often like to bring this comparison up when it comes to Celts vs Teh Pakrement:
Death of the Celts
- song introduction
- short-ish intro -> some singing
- long instrumental break & a breather for Bruce
- just a bit more singing, outro, move on to the introduction of the next, quite an easy song
The Parchment
- possible song introduction
- intro with a slow, albeit amazing build-up -> healthy doze of singing; this is just my guess, but I imagine Bruce would most likely be standing on the front of the stage in the middle, with a mic stand (just like during Alexander), concentrating on the lyrics and delivery as the song has a very different type of drama and vibe compared to the Celts
- long instrumental break & a breather for Bruce
- be ready to come back for more singing, be careful with the timing...
- another instrumental section!
- come back to the stage for introduction of the next song
It's not a huge difference, but the groove of these two songs, the structure of the whole set and its flow considered, I can kind of see why they probably ended up thinking that Death of the Celts is a better fit, even though I personally like The Parchment a lot more. From purely playing and performance point of view, Death of the Celts is probably a tad bit more lively and expressive song to be played in this particular set.