In a new interview with the ‘Pure Saturation’ radio show on January 29, 2024, Mike Portnoy was questioned about whether he planned to resume preparing different setlists for each Dream Theater concert now that he is back playing with the band. Returning to the band more than ten years after his dismissal, the rocker wanted to see a difference in the setlist. He explained:
“For me, changing the setlist for all those years with Dream Theater, a lot of it was a reaction to me kind of — I don’t wanna say ‘get bored’, but you get a little complacent playing the same songs over and over and over and over. So I would switch it up a lot, not only for the fans, but for ourselves to keep it fresh. But now, coming back after 13 years, it’s gonna be fresh every night for me. So that in itself will be exciting. But all that being said, I think the band really does want to interject those kinds of things back into the live show.”
Ultimately, the band gave the charge to the drummer’s hands:
“They have expressed to me that they kind of have been missing it and that they kind of want me to take the reins with the setlist and with the ideas of crazy sets and crazy shows and unique things. It seems to me — I mean, John Petrucci and I talked about it briefly. I think he really wants me to take those reins again. So fingers crossed that it will evolve naturally and organically to get to that point soon enough, because it really is such a unique thing, and I know a lot of the Dream Theater fans have missed it in the last decade or so, so it would be nice to interject it back in.”
Will Portnoy Play Mangini’s Songs?
With the return of the original drummer, Mike Mangini, the former drummer, was automatically dismissed.
Mangini, who played with the band from 2010 to 2023, has contributed to six studio and two live Dream Theater albums in total. Well, will the band be playing his stuff live? A fan asked the same question during a Q&A session, to which Portnoy replied with:
“It’s too soon to tell. When I left the band 13 years ago, I was the one writing the setlist and things like that. So, we haven’t even discussed what the new dynamic is gonna be.”
But as it appears, there is still hope to hearing him play some of the stuff from these five records:
“I’m open to it, of course, so I surely would do it, if that’s what they wanna do. But it’s definitely gonna be a different dynamic.”
You can watch the interview here.
