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Ex-DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Portnoy attended the group’s live performance on March 4 at Beacon Theatre in New York Metropolis. It was the primary time Portnoy witnessed his former bandmates carry out reside since his exit from the enduring progressive metallic outfit greater than 11 years in the past.
In line with DREAM THEATER followers who attended the present, singer James LaBrie gave Portnoy a shoutout from the stage and Mike waved. A number of followers additionally took footage of Portnoy on the venue, with Mike and his spouse reportedly watching the efficiency from close to the Beacon Theatre soundboard.
The subsequent day, Portnoy shared just a few backstage images from the live performance and he included the next message: “After 36 years, I lastly bought to see my 1st DREAM THEATER present final evening! It was an exquisite night and it was such a pleasure to spend time with my previous buddies once more”.
Requested in a brand new interview with The Razor’s Edge what it was like for him and his bandmates to see Portnoy on the New York live performance, DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess mentioned: “I am so glad he [came out]. What a cool factor to have the ability to see a DREAM THEATER present — one thing that I by no means get to do… So I used to be considering it was most likely fairly cool for Mike to see DREAM THEATER. And it was very nice of him to return out and I believe it was nice he healed the dynamics with everyone as nicely. Yeah, it was nice.”
As for his private relationship with Portnoy, Rudess mentioned: “Mike and I proceed to work collectively. We have finished the LIQUID TENSION EXPERIMENT not all that way back, and we had a good time doing it. It was nearly like we by no means skipped a bit. So, he and I are buddies, and we simply sort of stored out relationship going.
Earlier within the month, LaBrie informed Sonic Views that it was “nice” to reconnect with Portnoy on the New York present. “The factor is that you just get to a degree in life the place you’ve got gotta… You may’t carry round that. Do not carry round hate; do not carry round negativity,” LaBrie mentioned. “We carried it round far too lengthy, so far as I am involved, and it did not serve any objective; it simply served frickin’ division. It was very divisive and really damaging.
“So, it is nice to be again,” James added. “We’re speaking to 1 one other, we’re chatting and all that stuff. And that is the sort of world that I wanna reside in versus negativity, hate and frickin’… It is simply not value it. It isn’t value it.”
Portnoy, who co-founded DREAM THEATER 37 years in the past, abruptly stop the band in September 2010 whereas on tour with AVENGED SEVENFOLD. He has since been changed by Mangini (ANNIHILATOR, EXTREME, STEVE VAI).
Portnoy was a visitor on Petrucci‘s second solo album, “Terminal Velocity”, which was launched in August 2020 through Sound Thoughts Music/The Orchard. The hassle marked the primary time Petrucci and Portnoy recorded collectively in over a decade, in addition to their first time enjoying collectively since Portnoy departed DREAM THEATER.
In a 2017 interview with Rockhok, Portnoy insisted that had “no longing to reunite” with DREAM THEATER however mentioned that he would return to his former band “for the followers.” He defined: “The ball’s of their court docket, to be sincere. I’ve no longing to reunite with them; it is not one thing I essentially am seeking to do or need to do. I am very content material with all of the eighty-seven bands I at present have going, so it is one thing I would like. However I’d do it for the followers, as a result of I am a really sentimental particular person and I’ve a whole lot of nice, fond recollections of these guys and the occasions. I am a sentimental man, so I’d by no means shut the door on it. So, actually, the ball’s of their court docket, truthfully. [But] in case you’re asking me the chances [of a reunion happening], I’d say, do not guess on it, as a result of I do know their personalities as nicely and I do not assume they’re the kind which can be trying backwards.”
A few years in the past, Portnoy informed Loud that he left DREAM THEATER as a result of he needed to broaden his musical horizons. “[I didn’t] need to go to my grave and simply be the drummer from DREAM THEATER,” he mentioned. “I knew there was far more to what I needed to provide.”
For the reason that 2010 departure of Portnoy, Petrucci, together with Rudess, has taken on a lot of the songwriting load for DREAM THEATER, together with 2016’s controversial double idea album, “The Astonishing”, 2019’s “Distance Over Time” and the band’s newest LP, 2021’s “A View From The Prime Of The World”.
