Mike Portnoy shared his thoughts on his return to touring with Dream Theater after many years away.
“It feels great. I mean, it’s funny because for the whole world, they’re just starting to see the reunion now, but we’ve been together for a year behind the scenes,” the drummer explained in a new interview with Ola Englund on his ‘Coffee With Ola’ series. “So it’s been over a year for us behind the scenes and making the new record, but it’s only now in the past couple weeks since the [40th-anniversary European] tour began and since the first music video [from the upcoming Dream Theater album] came out that people are actually seeing us back together again.”
“But for us, it’s, like, it’s old news… It is exciting, though,” he added. “And you could feel the excitement and the love and the emotions at every show. And every night James [LaBrie] welcomes me back on from stage. And it’s been overwhelming, the amount of love and everybody being so welcoming back and everything.”
The drummer performed his first show with the band in October this year. He reflected on the experience in a social media post.
“So many thoughts, so many emotions, I don’t even know where to begin… I’m seeing so many posts from fans who were in attendance last night, so I’ll just let their images and words do the talking…,” the drummer wrote with a picture from the night.
Portnoy continued, “I’ll just sum it up by saying it was one of the most incredible evenings in my life! Thank you London and all of the amazing fans that travelled from all over the world to join us for this reunion & celebration and to kick off our 40th Anniversary Tour!! So excited to do this again night after night for all of you around the world!”
The London show was the start of Dream Theater’s 40th-anniversary tour. The tour, titled ‘An Evening With Dream Theater,’ will travel across Europe until November 24 and will continue through 2025.
New tour dates for 2025 will be announced in February, alongside the release of the new album titled ‘Parasomnia.’ The first single, ‘Night Terror,’ came out almost two months ago with a music video directed by Mike Leonard.
‘Parasomnia’ will be released on February 7 through Inside Out Music. This is the first album featuring Portnoy since 2009’s ‘Black Clouds & Silver Linings,’ and it is produced by John Petrucci.
