A fan captured video footage of Dream Theater’s concert on October 23 at the Palladium in Cologne, Germany.
The band kicked off their first concert with Mike Portnoy in 14 years on October 20 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Portnoy was one of the founding members of Dream Theater in 1985, along with guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung.
He played on 10 of the band’s albums before leaving in 2010. In October 2023, he rejoined Dream Theater after Mike Mangini departed.
London marked the beginning of Dream Theater’s 2024-2025 40th-anniversary tour. The European leg, titled ‘An Evening With Dream Theater,’ will run until November 24 in Amsterdam, visiting various cities across multiple countries.
In a recent interview with Jorge Botas from Portugal’s Metal Global, Portnoy discussed the experience of performing live with the band again after 14 years. He stated, “I said it to the guys right after the [first] show [of the tour in London on October 20], it’s, like, ‘We can all take a deep breath now and now we can start to have fun.'”
He added, “The first show was just so intense that even during the show, it just was a lot of concentration and there was so much expectations. And so now with that out of the way, we can actually take a deep breath and now start to enjoy it.”
When asked about feeling nervous before going on stage in London, Mike admitted, “I’ll admit — I was. I never, ever get nervous before a show, but it was nerve-racking. My first time back with the guys in, I guess, 14 years live, plus such a massive venue and so much expectations and focus on us that we knew we’d be under the microscope. So, yeah, it was actually nerve-racking.”
The band is set to perform next in Munich on October 28 and in Zagreb, Croatia on October 29.
