RAH RAH 2: How AB Got Its Parallax Back

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maximzub
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Re: Do you guys think he knows about Creed?

Post by maximzub »

zazthespaz wrote:
maximzub wrote:
MuffinMcFluffin wrote:
maximzub wrote:- I haven't heard Take The Crown, Indoctrination, or The Bitter End yet.

- I haven't heard Clear Horizon, Walking On The Sky, or Tear Us Apart yet.
Does this just mean you haven't heard them play these live yet, or that you haven't heard these songs before?
I haven't heard those songs in full before. I know that Indoctrination has the scream part, as well as the solo that sounds almost exactly like The Writing On The Wall, but I haven't heard the rest of it. The other songs, I can't remember any part of. I've only heard about half of Alter Bridge's songs.
Wait wait wait wait - you've only heard about half of AB's catalog, but you posted that huge AB facts post?! :lol I think we're the ones who need to be educating you!

Welcome to the boards btw - glad to have new members posting!
I typically know about facts before I know songs. Also, maybe it isn't half of the songs that I haven't heard, maybe it's 1/4. I should probably count sometime.

And no, I'm not leaving :)

EDIT: I just counted. Out of 83 songs that I have downloaded, I have not heard 35. That's around 42%.

EDIT 2: Now it's only 26. That's around 31%.
I'm in love with somebody...
Found someone who completes me...
I'm in love with somebody...
Oh yeah...
And it's Lzzy Hale!

MaraCarr wrote: It is not like a crush or a lust thing.
Check out my coolest TABN posts!
My Long Alter Bridge Facts Post
Order Of Me Hearing Alter Bridge Songs
Order Of Me Hearing Tremonti Songs

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maximzub
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Joined: Thu Jan 14, 2021 11:57 am
Location: Where women don't exist.

Re: RAH RAH 2: How AB Got Its Parallax Back

Post by maximzub »

Well, I don't know if anybody is going to see this, but it's been over 2 years since I posted in here. And this thread is the reason why I joined TABN in the first place. I was randomly thinking about this topic today, and I thought it might be fitting if I updated my setlist prediction to reflect the new album release and the current tour setlist.

So, what would they play if they teamed up with the Parallax Orchestra again in 2023?

Most likely a similar set as last time, with a few changes. I'll go song by song like I did last time. And yes, some of my comments are copy-pasted because I'm lazy. Deal with it.

- Slip To The Void as opener will probably keep the integrity of it being a sequel to the original show. Plus, it's been played a good number of times recently.
- Addicted To Pain is one of their biggest hits. They almost never skip it at shows, and they played it at the last RAH show. So I can't see it not being there.
- Before Tomorrow Comes is another one of their biggest hits, and they brought it back to the setlists recently. So it'll probably be there as well.
- The Writing On The Wall is very unlikely to be there. I doubt they'll play much, if anything, from The Last Hero.
- Cry Of Achilles has to be there.
- In Loving Memory will most likely be there as well. The question is in what form. At the last RAH show, they played the full band version. Since then, they just played the acoustic version. I think they'll go for the acoustic version to do something different than last time.
- Fortress is one that I'm not sure about. They've had a couple more epics since then so I could see it being replaced by something else.
- Ties That Bind mysteriously disappeared from their setlists after the tour for The Last Hero. I don't see them resurrecting it just for another show with the Parallax.
- The Other Side is from The Last Hero, so my first guess would be that it's unlikely. But they have been playing it recently, so who knows? I'll still lean towards no because they have other songs that they could do instead so they don't have to do much the same as last time.
- Brand New Start has only been played live 6 times since the RAH shows. Sure, 2 of those were last year, but I think by now they see it as a very deep cut to bring out only occasionally. For that reason, I'm leaning towards not including it in my prediction.
- Ghost Of Days Gone By is a staple for the most part, so they'll probably keep it.
- The Last Hero is from The Last Hero, so once again, I don't see this one staying in the set.
- The End Is Here is a pretty deep cut from their older days. It was a special one last time, but they didn't play it much other than the two RAH shows and four other shows surrounding them. I could see them replacing it with something else that has the potential to be special.
- Words Darker Than Their Wings was the highlight of the entire RAH event. Although it can be argued that they would probably try to do something else that has the potential to be a big highlight, I'd think that they would bring this one back for the same reason that they played it live in the first place.
- Waters Rising may or may not be there. Considering their recent setlists, they've been shying away from using it as the Mark lead vocal song of the night. There are three other songs that they could play instead, and there's one that I think lends itself well to a symphonic arrangement.
- Lover is another one I'm unsure about. Sure, they played it a couple times last year, for the first time since the RAH shows. However, I think the bigger reason for bringing it back then was to do something different for the acoustic promo tour. Otherwise, I see this one as replaceable as well.
- The medley of Wonderful Life and Watch Over You might be there, or it could be just Watch Over You to be different than last time. That would be my personal preference. One problem they might run into is what key to play it in. Last time, they played it in the original key and had symphonic arrangements in that key. Since last week, Myles has been playing it a half-step down from the original. That would either mean that he would have to play it in the original key again, or all the symphonic arrangements would have to be transposed. Not sure which one they'd rather do.
- This Side Of Fate is from The Last Hero, and unlike the other songs they played from The Last Hero at the last RAH show, this one was barely played otherwise, and never played after the RAH shows. I'm almost 100% sure it's not coming back.
- Broken Wings is played a lot nowadays. It's most likely gonna be there.
- Blackbird...100% gonna be there.
- Open Your Eyes is another staple, and they're currently closing their shows with it when they're not running into curfew problems like the last two shows. It would be an obvious choice to close the night again.

That makes 11 sure songs and a few other unsure ones.

Last time, I said that they probably won't play songs that were released before the last RAH show and not played then. This time, I'm not predicting that that will be the case. They don't have as extensive of a catalog as Metallica to be able to do that.

So, what can replace each song?

Pawns & Kings is the current album they're touring in support of, so I could imagine they would play a good number of songs from it like they did for The Last Hero the last time. We'll go with 4 for now. There were 4 types of songs they did from The Last Hero last time.
- The hard and fast song (The Writing On The Wall). I could see this being replaced by This Is War. Why this and not Dead Among The Living or Silver Tongue? Dead Among The Living is very similar to Come To Life and Isolation, two songs that they chose not to play last time. Silver Tongue is more similar to Show Me A Leader, another song that they chose not to play last time. On a side note: The intro of Show Me A Leader would have been amazing with the symphony.
- The slow plodding song (The Other Side). I didn't completely rule it out, but it's more likely it would be replaced by Sin After Sin.
- The mid-album epic (This Side Of Fate). Although I wouldn't personally root for it, I bet others would want this to be replaced by Fable Of The Silent Son, and I think that's a fair trade.
- The title track and album closer (The Last Hero). Obviously, this would get replaced by Pawns & Kings, which is a great song to play with the symphony in my opinion.
I didn't consider Stay, Holiday, Season Of Promise, or Last Man Standing yet. Maybe Season Of Promise would work, but I don't know where to put it. Last Man Standing as well, but I think those two songs are the ones from this album that they're going to avoid playing live and I'm not disappointed in that, even though they're good songs.

Fortress being an epic from what was the second newest album back then might hint that an epic from the currently second newest album could replace it. What would that be? Dying Light. We know Brian wants to play it, so I wouldn't be surprised if they opted for that song to represent Walk The Sky for these shows. I can't see Wouldn't You Rather being there as it's similar to Come To Life and Isolation, which I previously said were two songs that they left out. Not that they absolutely can't have symphonic arrangements written for them, I just don't think they would be good choices considering the amount of time they have.

When going through these options in my head earlier today, I had trouble figuring out what could replace Ties That Bind. I thought of some ballads and epics, but that would change the energy of the show as a whole. The setlist was already full of those last time and needed some of the heavier songs to restore the balance. Then I thought: Holiday. It has a very similar style of intro, with vocalized parts by Myles that could be played by the strings, and it has the same shuffle-time feel. Plus, it's the current single. So that could be an additional new song to add to the list.

The End Is Here was the One Day Remains deep cut last time. They recently brought out Shed My Skin for a few shows. Maybe that could be the One Day Remains deep cut this time? If they start playing it live on the US tour, I would be betting on it more and more.

Considering songs that could replace Waters Rising, there are three options: Burn It Down, Forever Falling, and Stay. Forever Falling was not a good live song in my opinion and put a lot of strain on Mark's voice. They probably won't opt for it, especially considering that they haven't played it at all recently. That leaves Burn It Down and Stay. I think people will agree with me that Burn It Down is much better suited for a symphonic arrangement than Stay.

Here's one out of left field. Last time I tried to predict the setlist, I said that there might be a chance that they bring out a song they've never played live before just for this occasion, like Words Darker Than Their Wings was at the last RAH show. Back then, I thought All Ends Well might be the song of choice, but I don't think anymore that that would be the case. Myles has played that song solo a lot and is probably very comfortable with it himself, while the rest of the band probably doesn't care much for it. That's most likely the reason why the band never played it live while Myles plays it all the time by himself. Back to my point. I think to make the shows extra special, they'll throw one that's out of Myles's comfort zone like Words Darker Than Their Wings was last time. Any guesses yet as to what song I'm referring to? I'm talking about Cradle To The Grave. I've already given two good reasons for it. Here's an interesting third one that some user on this board mentioned back when the first show was around the corner. It took them 7 years from releasing Words Darker Than Their Wings to playing it live. It's been almost 7 years since they released Cradle To The Grave. Maybe Myles will finally man up and play it?

They also brought back a song that hadn't been played in almost a decade last time: In Loving Memory. Now it's very doubtful that they would do that again, especially when they had the chance to choose a lot of songs that they hadn't played much or hadn't played in years back then. But maybe they would? It's just one more song to fill out the set so I'm gonna go out on a limb and throw Calm The Fire in the mix. Wouldn't it sound tremendous with the symphony?

With all that said, I think we can build the setlist. I'll try to change the order around a little so it doesn't look like a carbon copy of last time, and also because of the tunings of songs.

Slip To The Void
Addicted To Pain
Ghost Of Days Gone By
Before Tomorrow Comes
This Is War
Broken Wings
Fable Of The Silent Son

Holiday
Sin After Sin
Cradle To The Grave
Shed My Skin
Dying Light
Words Darker Than Their Wings
Burn It Down
Calm The Fire
Cry Of Achilles
Watch Over You
In Loving Memory
Pawns & Kings
Blackbird
Open Your Eyes

Fingers crossed that they announce another show or shows with the Parallax for this year and we get to see what they actually choose to play.
I'm in love with somebody...
Found someone who completes me...
I'm in love with somebody...
Oh yeah...
And it's Lzzy Hale!

MaraCarr wrote: It is not like a crush or a lust thing.
Check out my coolest TABN posts!
My Long Alter Bridge Facts Post
Order Of Me Hearing Alter Bridge Songs
Order Of Me Hearing Tremonti Songs

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UninvitedZero
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Joined: Tue Feb 13, 2018 11:44 pm

Re: RAH RAH 2: How AB Got Its Parallax Back

Post by UninvitedZero »

I was thinking about another RAH orchestra show this morning and forgot there was already a dedicated thread to the idea!

Personally, I'd have to do away with all of the classic tunes... No Metalingus, no Addicted To Pain, even the almighty Blackbird wouldn't make the set this time around. There are so, so many songs that have been buried overtime or ignored completely since their inception.
You easily could write an entire DVD setlist of songs only performed once or even not at all! I know the guys wanna play the singalongs that everyone knows and loves, but I have enough faith in this fanbase that all of us would be psyched for an entire show of rarities. Something such as:

1. Calm The Fire
2. Cry A River
3. Indoctrination
4. Pay No Mind
5. Show Me A Sign
6. Cradle To The Grave
7. Forever Falling
8. Never Born To Follow
9. Clear Horizon
10. Life Must Go On (Acoustic)
11. Fallout
12. Fable Of The Silent Son
13. Dying Light
14. Peace Is Broken
15. Last Man Standing
16. Wayward One

Giving this all this thought really makes me wish that AB would take a page from my second favorite band, Clutch.
Clutch has been around for 30 years at this point and they have never once played the same set twice in a row! Neil, Tim, Dan and JP all take turns writing a different set every single night. Hits, rarities, b-sides, new tunes. Encompassing everything... Not settling for playing the majority of the same two teenaged albums night after night.
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