I don't want to point fingers but their set list was pretty diverse before Alex came back.
Was it, really? It's not how I remembered it. Sure, there was more stuff from TG and Demonic, 'cause they were still pretty fresh albums (for Testament), but with regard to the other albums it was really more of the same:
Over the Wall,
The Haunting,
Burnt Offerings,
Alone in the Dark,
Into the Pit,
Disciples,
Eerie,
New Order,
Preacher,
Low,
Dog Faced Gods,
Souls,
Practice,
Legacy
and just a couple of other songs from time to time, still not surprising (mostly Musical Death, Trial by Fire, Apocalyptic City, Sins of Omission).
Shit, even the Demonic and Gathering songs were almost always the "obvious" ones:
Demonic Refusal
Burning Times
DNR
Down for Life (until a certain point)
3 days
Eyes of Wrath
True Believer
Legions of the Dead (i.e., as far as TG is concerned, practically only the first 6 songs, with the exception of TG tour where they did RTS; when it comes to Demonic - almost only the first 2 songs; I think they stopped doing Together as One, John Doe and Murky Waters after Demonic tour).
I've got the impression that Alex is the one who'd welcome some changes in the setlist and even managed to talked the other guys into some of them (Let Go Of My World at some shows in '05). Sure, he probably is not the biggest enthusiast of doing the 1994-1999 stuff, but I think he didn't oppose all that much, as there was time after the reunion when they were doing a relatively big amount of that (he seemed to pretty enjoy doing Trail of Tears). Eric also always declares that he'd like to mix things up a little bit (I think it was him who managed to bring Envy Life back for a while), but has problems with forcing the other guys to re-learn stuff. I think the problem might be Chuck, but I'm not entirely sure (didn't he say that they'd do something different, but the classics are too good to stop playing any of them?). I'm convinced Gene's and Steve's contracts do not set forth an upper limit of songs they agree to learn
BTW, some 12 years ago I'd asked Steve if there was a chance Testament would play Urotsukidoji live (
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/steve-digiorgio/118917-steve-any-chance-well-ever-see-you-play-urotsukidoji-live-testament.html). Here's what he replied:
Well I don't think so. I've asked a few times if we could add it to the set. For obvious reasons, I like that song, and would have a lot of fun playing it. But I think they shot down the idea in favor of filling the set with those oft-played "classics" YOU the fans can't live without.
This might indicate that the "people in charge" (we know who they are, right?) have the impression fans always demand the so-called classics. That is a wrong impression, IMO. There were probably at least 15 discussions on this board regarding this subject over the last decade or so. T. is not a band that plays to new fans every night and has to do only the most well-known stuff all the time.