In a recent interview with The Metal Voice, drummer Jeff Plate discussed Savatage’s upcoming 2025 live shows. When talking about how the band came back together, he revealed that they never officially broke up.
“The band never broke up,” he clarified. “We haven’t done a proper tour in over 20 years, but we never officially broke up. Obviously, we all work together in TSO [Trans-Siberian Orchestra]. We’ve played a lot of this Savatage music in the TSO shows. Throughout the years, we’ve done at least one Savatage song per tour, I believe — at least one. So the music has been out there. And the fanbase has been clamoring for this for the longest time. And, man, I’ve gotta hand it to them.”
The drummer also talked about Jon Oliva’s role in the band. “Jon Oliva, several years ago… Jon is always writing music, and the plan was to do some recording — he’s got a bunch of new ideas — do some recording and get out there and let’s do this again. Jon has obviously run into a number of health problems, which are serious, and I’m sure everybody’s read about them. But in Jon’s wisdom, he’s, like, ‘You know what?'”
“The ball kind of started rolling again. He’s not going to stop it this time. Jon’s gonna be involved in everything that we’re doing from here forward. He can’t go out and do these tours right now, and he’s gonna work himself back into it. We’ve got our fingers crossed. But I tell you, man, the music in general, the fanbase, there’s just a strength behind all that that’s really kept the name alive, kept the interest alive,” he added.
Savatage announced their first headlining shows since 2002 in December last year. The 2025 tour will feature Stevens on vocals, Johnny Lee Middleton on bass, Caffery and Al Pitrelli on guitars, and Jeff Plate on drums. However, Jon Oliva will not be joining the band on the road due to health issues.
Chris Caffery also talked about the band’s upcoming headlining shows. He explained how the decision came about. “Everybody asks me what’s coming next. And I’m taking it one day at a time right now, because I had no idea this was gonna be happening. So I have all the answers you have. And when I get the news, everybody else will. So, I mean, we’ve talked. We wanna play everywhere. Everybody is really excited about it. So hopefully this is the beginning of a new run for Savatage,” he said during an interview on SiriusXM’s ‘Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk.’
Savatage’s first tour in 20 years will kick off on April 19 in Brazil at the Monsters of Rock festival. The band will then head to Europe on June 13, performing in the Netherlands, Germany, the U.K., Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Greece throughout the rest of the month.
