*Official* The Astonishing discussion thread

[gzarruk]

I had a dream last night that DT did another Astonishing tour with MP. I went and there was about 3 dozen people there

I'm still pissed they didn't film that tour.

I doubt MP himself would be there

I still think they should've played TA in full + Octavarium or something similar as the encore. It would've fit perfectly with the album and it would've boosted the attendance quite a bit. The encore they played during the last leg wasn't too good IMO, as the "hits" didn't have too much pull anyway.

[Kyo]

Don't forget that on the first leg of the tour, the encore was simply the last song from disc 2. Yaaay, what a "surprise".  

[gzarruk]

Don't forget that on the first leg of the tour, the encore was simply the last song from disc 2. Yaaay, what a "surprise".   

Yes, that was a huge missed opportunity to do something special and different. They were already playing a prog-centered album and JP even brought a 12 string acoustic with him, OVM would've fit perfectly there as the show closer.

[brakkum]

I only saw that first leg, didn't even know they stopped doing that. I wasn't frequenting here around the time of that tour, but I imagine casual fans were not super stoked on that tour.

[Dedalus]

Today the algorithm decided to show me this cover of Emma Zoldan for Lord Nafaryus. Just voice and piano. I think it turned out pretty cool. In case anyone is interested.

[TAC]

Well, that was interesting.

[BeatriceNB]

Today the algorithm decided to show me this cover of Emma Zoldan for Lord Nafaryus. Just voice and piano. I think it turned out pretty cool. In case anyone is interested.

Cool cover. What a great song that one is, it covers so much ground in 3 minutes, and I think it feels really cohesive nevertheless. And James shows a wide range of... styles? I don't know the word

[Dedalus]

Cool cover. What a great song that one is, it covers so much ground in 3 minutes, and I think it feels really cohesive nevertheless. And James shows a wide range of... styles? I don't know the word

It's really amazing how they manage to put so much diversity into such short tracks. After all, at various points in their career, the opposite happens, they spend several minutes developing just one idea. The contrast is striking. And Lord Nafaryus is not the only one.

In discussions here, we often come to a kind of conclusion that "you can't expect big revolutions from a 40-year-old band", which makes sense. On the other hand, on this album they showed that they can be truly surprising (the biggest surprise I've ever had listening to a new DT album is the kind of prog tango in this song lol).

It gives the feeling that they control themselves to produce "Dream Theater-type music", as if there were a protection to produce what people expect from them. And TA was a moment when this broke through this protection and escaped.

[Thoughtspart3]

It's really amazing how they manage to put so much diversity into such short tracks. After all, at various points in their career, the opposite happens, they spend several minutes developing just one idea. The contrast is striking. And Lord Nafaryus is not the only one.

In discussions here, we often come to a kind of conclusion that "you can't expect big revolutions from a 40-year-old band", which makes sense. On the other hand, on this album they showed that they can be truly surprising (the biggest surprise I've ever had listening to a new DT album is the kind of prog tango in this song lol).

It gives the feeling that they control themselves to produce "Dream Theater-type music", as if there were a protection to produce what people expect from them. And TA was a moment when this broke through this protection and escaped.

And then a significant chunk of the fan base complained about the change in direction. I think you are right that they are certainly capable to do more diverse compositions but they do have a sense of what people expect and are writing to a certain degree with that expectation in mind.

I feel like I have heard JP acknowledge something along this line in an interview a while back but can't remember which one it was. I remember feeling disappointed because it gave the impression that they would not do something like the Astonishing again. Anyone else remember this? I think it was not too long after The Astonishing and the interviewer asked about the mixed reaction from fans.   

[Dedalus]

And then a significant chunk of the fan base complained about the change in direction. I think you are right that they are certainly capable to do more diverse compositions but they do have a sense of what people expect and are writing to a certain degree with that expectation in mind.

I feel like I have heard JP acknowledge something along this line in an interview a while back but can't remember which one it was. I remember feeling disappointed because it gave the impression that they would not do something like the Astonishing again. Anyone else remember this? I think it was not too long after The Astonishing and the interviewer asked about the mixed reaction from fans.   

I think that most bands end up being influenced, even if unconsciously, by this more "commercial" aspect. After all, for those who make a living from this, it is important to keep your audience enjoying what you are doing.

In DT12 they bet on The Looking Glass to be the third single (remember that the second single was a power ballad!!). They recorded a video and everything. In AVFTTOTW, among the heavier and darker songs, there is a song that stands out quite a lot, in terms of the type of vibe and atmosphere, which is Transcending Time, which has some similarities in atmosphere to TLG (both with what some say have a "Rush flavor"). TT looks like a single, but it wasn't. The song wasn't a single and wasn't even played live. They bet on IM for the second single and chose the heavier and darker songs for the shows. I think it's possible that there was some kind of thinking along the lines of "our most popular songs are usually heavy, like AIA or PA... so let's work with songs like that in our repertoire".

My impression is that after TA they started to be more careful about this.