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Wikipedia

Dream Theater

June 06, 2023

This article is about the band. For their self-titled album, see Dream Theater (album). For the Kansas theater, see Dream Theater (Russell, Kansas).

Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci, John Myung and Mike Portnoy — all natives of Long Island, New York — while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater. Their current lineup consists of Petrucci, Myung, vocalist James LaBrie, keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Mangini.

Dream Theater
Dream Theater in 2020. From left to right: John Petrucci, James LaBrie, Mike Mangini, Jordan Rudess and John Myung.
Background information
Also known asMajesty (1985–1988)
OriginBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Genres
Years active1985–present
Labels
Spinoffs
Members
Past members
Websitewww.dreamtheater.net

Over the course of various lineup changes, Petrucci and Myung have been the only two constant members. Portnoy remained with the band until 2010, when he was replaced by Mangini after deciding to leave to pursue other musical endeavors. After a brief stint with Chris Collins, followed by Charlie Dominici (who was dismissed from Dream Theater not long after the release of their first album), LaBrie was hired as the band's singer in 1991. Dream Theater's first keyboardist, Kevin Moore, left the band after three albums and was replaced by Derek Sherinian in 1995 after a period of touring. The band released one album with Sherinian, who was replaced by current keyboardist Jordan Rudess in 1999.

To date, Dream Theater has released fifteen studio albums. The band's highest-selling release is their second album Images and Words (1992), which reached No. 61 on the Billboard 200 chart.[1] The albums Awake (1994) and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2002) also entered the charts at No. 32 and No. 46 respectively, and each received critical acclaim. Their fifth album, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999), was ranked number 95 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine's list of the greatest 100 guitar albums of all time.[2] It was also ranked as the 15th Greatest Concept Album in March 2003 by Classic Rock Magazine.[3]

As of 2018, Dream Theater has sold over 12 million records worldwide[4][5] and has received three Grammy Award nominations (including one win in 2022).[6][7] Along with Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, the band has been referred to as one of the "big three" of the progressive metal genre, responsible for its development and popularization.[8]

History

Formation (1985–1987)

Dream Theater was formed in Massachusetts in 1985 when guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, and drummer Mike Portnoy decided to form a band while attending the Berklee College of Music. Petrucci and Myung were childhood friends from Kings Park, New York, and met Portnoy of Long Beach, New York while at Berklee. The trio started by covering Rush and Iron Maiden songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee.

Myung, Petrucci, and Portnoy joined on the name Majesty for their newly formed group. According to The Score So Far... documentary, they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the Berklee Performance Center while listening to the band on a boom box. Portnoy commented that the ending of the song "Bastille Day" (from the album Caress of Steel) sounded "majestic". It was then decided that Majesty would be the band's name.[9]

The trio then set out to fill the remaining positions in the group. Petrucci asked his high school bandmate Kevin Moore to play the keyboard. After he accepted the position, another friend from home, Chris Collins, was recruited as lead vocalist after band members heard him sing a cover of "Queen of the Reich" by Queensrÿche.[10] During this time, Portnoy, Petrucci, and Myung's hectic schedules forced them to abandon their studies to concentrate on their music, as they did not feel they could learn more in college. Moore also left his college, SUNY Fredonia, to concentrate on the band.

 
"Another Won"
"Another Won" from The Majesty Demos
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The beginning months of 1986 were filled with various concert dates in and around the New York City area. During this time, the band recorded a collection of demos, titled The Majesty Demos. The initial run of 1,000 sold out within six months, and dubbed copies of the cassette became popular within the progressive metal scene. The Majesty Demos are still available in their original tape format today, despite being released officially on CD, through Mike Portnoy's YtseJam Records. (and on InsideOut in 2022, after YtseJam Records was shut down)

In November 1986, after a few months of writing and performing together, Chris Collins was fired.[citation needed] After a year of trying to find a replacement, Charlie Dominici, who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band, successfully auditioned for the group.[11] With the stability that Dominici's appointment brought to Majesty, they began to increase the number of shows played in the New York City area, gaining a considerable amount of exposure.[citation needed]

Shortly after hiring Dominici, a Las Vegas group also named Majesty[12] threatened legal action for intellectual property infringement related to the use of their name, so the band was forced to come up with a new one. Various possibilities were proposed and tested, among them Glasser, Magus, and M1, which were all rejected, though the band did go as Glasser for about a week, with poor reactions from fans. Eventually, Portnoy's father suggested the name Dream Theater, the name of a small theater in Monterey, California, and the name stuck.[13]

When Dream and Day Unite (1988–1990)

With their new name and band stability, Dream Theater concentrated on writing more material while playing more concerts in New York and in neighboring states. This eventually attracted the attention of Mechanic Records, a division of MCA. Dream Theater signed their first record contract with Mechanic on June 23, 1988[14] and set out to record their debut album. The band recorded the album at Kajem Victory Studios in Gladwyne, Pennsylvania. Recording the basic tracks took about 10 days, and the entire album was completed in about 3 weeks.[15]

When Dream and Day Unite was released in 1989 to far less fanfare than the band had anticipated. Mechanic ended up breaking the majority of the financial promises they had made to Dream Theater prior to signing their contract, so the band was restricted to playing around New York City. The promotional tour for the album consisted of just five concerts, all of which were relatively local. Their first show was at Sundance in Bay Shore, New York opening for the classic rock power trio Zebra.[16]

After the fourth show, Charlie Dominici was let go because the band was starting to feel the limitations of his voice based upon the vocal style they wanted. The band was looking for a singer with a style more like Bruce Dickinson or Geoff Tate, and Dominici's stage presence was not what they wanted for a front man. Shortly after, however, the band Marillion asked Dream Theater to open for them at a gig at the Ritz in New York, so Dominici was given the opportunity to perform one last time.[16] It would be another two years before Dream Theater had a replacement vocalist.

Addition of James LaBrie and Images and Words (1991–1993)

 
"Pull Me Under"
"Pull Me Under" from Images and Words.
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James LaBrie joined the band in January 1991 and has been their vocalist ever since.

Following Dominici's departure, Dream Theater fought successfully to be released from their contract with Mechanic and set about auditioning singers and writing material for their next album. In their search for a new singer, they auditioned over 200 people, among them former Fates Warning front man John Arch. John ultimately decided that his personal commitments were more important and he opted not to join the band.[17] On June 9, 1990, at a gig at Sundance in Bay Shore, New York, Dream Theater introduced Steve Stone as their new singer after playing half the set as an instrumental band. Stone had successfully recorded demos with Dream Theater, but he was fired following a single, ill-fated live performance. According to Mike Portnoy, Stone moved around the stage in a rather odd manner, seemingly doing a bad impression of Bruce Dickinson. Additionally, he shouted "Scream for me Long Beach!" several times throughout the show (Dickinson can be heard saying this on Iron Maiden's live album Live After Death), although they were actually performing in Bay Shore.[18] The audience was immediately turned off by the new singer. It was five months before Dream Theater played another show, this time all-instrumental (under the name YtseJam). Until 1991, the band remained focused in an attempt to hire another singer and writing additional music.[16] It was during this period that they wrote the majority of what would become Images and Words (1992).

In January 1991, the band received a demo tape from Kevin James LaBrie, of glam metal band Winter Rose.[19] The band had received the tape just before they were about to commit to another singer. The band was so impressed by his demo that he was flown from Canada to New York for an audition. LaBrie jammed on three songs with the band and was immediately hired to fill the vocalist position. Once recruited, LaBrie decided to drop his first name to avoid confusion with the other Kevin in the band. For the next few months, the band returned to playing live shows (still mostly around NYC), while working on vocal parts for the music written before acquiring LaBrie. Derek Shulman and Atco Records (now East West), a division of Elektra Records, signed Dream Theater to a seven-album contract based on a three-song demo (later made available as "The Atco Demos" through the Dream Theater fan club).

The first album to be recorded under their new record contract was Images and Words (1992). For promotion, the label released a CD Single and video clip for the song "Another Day", but neither made significant commercial impact. The song "Pull Me Under", however, managed to garner a high level of radio airplay without any organized promotion from the band or their label. In response, ATCO produced a video clip for "Pull Me Under", which saw heavy rotation on MTV. A third video clip was produced for "Take the Time", but it was not nearly as successful as "Pull Me Under".

The success of "Pull Me Under", combined with relentless touring throughout the U.S. and Japan, caused Images and Words to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum status in Japan. A tour of Europe followed in 1993, which included a show at London's famed Marquee Club. The show was recorded and released as Live at the Marquee, Dream Theater's first official live album. Additionally, a video compilation of their Japanese concerts (mixed in with documentary-style footage of the off-stage portion of the tour) was released as Images and Words: Live in Tokyo.

Awake and Kevin Moore's departure (1994–1995)

 
"A Mind Beside Itself: II – Voices"
"Voices" from Awake.
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Eager to work on fresh material, Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994. Awake, Dream Theater's third studio album, was released on October 4, 1994, amidst a storm of fan controversy. Shortly before the album was mixed, Moore had announced to the rest of the band that he would be quitting Dream Theater to concentrate on his own musical interests, since he was no longer interested in touring or the style of music which Dream Theater performed.[20] As a result, the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist before a tour could be considered.

Former Yngwie Malmsteen/Dio keyboardist Jens Johansson, who would go on to become a member of Stratovarius, was among the biggest names to audition, but the band members were eager to fill the position with keyboardist Jordan Rudess. Portnoy and Petrucci had come across Rudess in Keyboard Magazine, where he was recognized as "best new talent" in the readers' poll. The two invited him to play a trial gig with the band at the Concrete Foundations Forum in Burbank, California.[16] Although the show was a success, and Rudess was asked to fill the keyboardist position permanently, he opted to tour with The Dixie Dregs instead, since it granted him more personal latitude. Dream Theater hired fellow Berklee alumnus Derek Sherinian, who had previously toured and recorded with Alice Cooper and KISS, to fill in for the Waking Up the World Tour. By the conclusion of the tour, the band decided to take Sherinian on as Moore's full-time replacement.[9]

A Change of Seasons, Falling into Infinity (1995–1998)

 
"A Change of Seasons"
"Carpe Diem/The Darkest of Winters" bridge from A Change of Seasons.
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Once again finding themselves with a new member, the band did not immediately start working on new material. Fans around the world, united on the YtseJam Mailing List (the most popular form of communication between Dream Theater fans at that point), had begun to put pressure on the band to officially release the song "A Change of Seasons". This had been written in 1989 and was intended to be a part of Images and Words, but at almost 17 minutes, it was deemed too long for studio placement. It had nevertheless been performed live by the band, who continued to revise it in the years leading up to 1995.

The petition was successful, and the group entered BearTracks Studios in New York in May 1995 to rewrite and record the now 23-minute-long song with Sherinian contributing significantly to the final product. The band released A Change of Seasons as an EP along with a collection of cover songs from a live show recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London earlier that year.

After a brief run of small concerts and a short break, the band released a special Christmas CD through their official fan club, consisting of rare live tracks recorded during the band's early years. They continued releasing a new CD each Christmas until 2005.[21]

Meanwhile, there were several changes at East West, and Dream Theater's main contact within the label was fired. As a result, the new team at the company were unaccustomed to the relationship Dream Theater had with former East West personnel, and they pressured them to write an album that was more accessible. In mid-1997, they entered the studio to write their next album. In addition to pressuring the band to adopt a more mainstream sound, East West recruited writer/producer Desmond Child to work with Petrucci on polishing the lyrics to his song "You or Me". The whole band substantially reworked the song, and it appeared on the album as "You Not Me" with a chorus that bore little resemblance to the original. Child also had a noticeable impact on the album, with a shift towards less complex and more radio-friendly compositions.

The band wrote almost two CDs worth of material, including a 20-minute-long follow-up to the Images and Words song "Metropolis–Part I: The Miracle and the Sleeper". The label, however, did not allow the release of a double album because it felt that a 140-minute record would not be well received by the general public. James LaBrie also felt that the CD should be a single disc.[22] The unused songs were later released in the YtseJam Records release The Falling into Infinity Demos.[23]

The material that made it onto the album proper was released as Falling into Infinity, which received a mixed reception from fans who were more familiar with the band's earlier sound. While the album was moderately progressive-sounding, tracks such as "Hollow Years" and "You Not Me" prompted some to believe it was the dawn of a new, mainstream-sounding Dream Theater. Overall, the album was both a critical and commercial disappointment. Although Portnoy did not speak out publicly at the time, he later revealed in the 2004 DVD commentary for 5 Years in a Livetime, that he had been so discouraged during this period that he had considered disbanding Dream Theater altogether.

During the European leg of the Touring Into Infinity world tour, two shows were recorded for a live album titled Once in a LIVEtime, in France and The Netherlands. The album was released at around the same time as the video 5 Years in a Livetime, which covered the years from Kevin Moore's departure to the Falling into Infinity promotional tour.

Derek Sherinian's departure, addition of Jordan Rudess, and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory (1999–2000)

In 1997, Magna Carta Records' Mike Varney invited Portnoy to assemble a progressive 'supergroup' to work on an album, which would become the first in a long string of side-projects for the members of Dream Theater.[24] The lineup consisted of Portnoy on drums, Petrucci on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, and keyboardist Jordan Rudess, who had finished with the Dixie Dregs. The band assumed the name Liquid Tension Experiment, and would act as a medium through which Portnoy and Petrucci could once again court Rudess to join Dream Theater. In 1999, he accepted an offer to become the third full-time Dream Theater keyboardist, replacing Sherinian.[9]

With yet another new member, Dream Theater entered BearTracks Studio once again to write and record their next album. As a result of an ultimatum from Portnoy, the label gave the band complete creative control. The band began by revisiting the follow-up to "Metropolis–Part I", which had been partially written during the Falling into Infinity sessions but which had not been completed or used on that album. They decided to expand the 21-minute song into a complete concept album, with a story revolving around themes such as reincarnation, murder and betrayal. To avoid stirring up the fan base, a tight veil of secrecy enveloped the writing and recording process. The only things fans were privy to prior to its release were a track list that had been leaked against the band's wishes, and a release date. In 1999, Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was released to high critical acclaim, being lauded as the band's masterpiece, despite only reaching No. 73 on the US album chart.[1]

The album was mixed by David Bottrill, but only a few of his mixes made it on the final album. The bulk was remixed by Kevin Shirley, who had produced Falling into Infinity. The rest of the mixes can be heard in the band's official bootleg The Making of Scenes from a Memory.

The subsequent Metropolis 2000 world tour was by far their largest to date, and took over a year to complete. The concerts reflected the theatrical aspect of the album, with the first half of each show comprising the entire Scenes From a Memory album accompanied by a film showing dramatized portions of the story projected onto a video screen behind the stage. For the last date of the North American leg, at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City, actors were hired to play characters in the story, and a gospel choir was enlisted to perform in some sections of the performance. The show was filmed and eventually released in early 2001 as the band's first DVD release, Metropolis 2000: Scenes from New York, which was certified Gold in the US on November 8, 2002.[25]

Since several songs from the second half of the four-hour show had to be cut from the DVD to save space, the band also released the full show on the live CD Live Scenes from New York. The original cover depicted one of Dream Theater's early logos (the Images and Words-era burning heart, modeled on the Sacred Heart of Christ) modified to show an apple (as in "Big Apple") instead of the heart, and the New York skyline, including the twin towers of the World Trade Center, in the flame above it. In an unfortunate coincidence, the album was released on the same date as the September 11 attacks. The album was quickly recalled by the band and was re-released with revised artwork later,[26] although the few copies which were sold with the original artwork have since become rare collector's items.

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence (2001–2002)

 
"Overture"
Part one of the eight parts that constitute "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence".
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Putting the whole ordeal behind them, Dream Theater once again entered BearTracks Studios to record their sixth studio album. Four years after they first petitioned East West to allow them to release a double album, they finally got their chance with Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence. The first disc consisted of five tracks of 7–13 minutes in length, and the second disc was devoted entirely to the 42-minute title track, which remains to date the longest song Dream Theater has written. Many of the song's melodies and musical themes originated in an instrumental piece, written by Rudess, which would eventually become the song's "Overture". Those themes were then expanded by the rest of the band to form individual chapters in a complete story.[9]

Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence was very well received by critics and the press. It was the most publicized of Dream Theater's albums since Awake, debuting on the Billboard charts at No. 46[27] and the Billboard Internet charts at No. 1.[28] The subsequent world tour included a select few special "album cover" gigs (see Cover songs section, below), in which they played Metallica's Master of Puppets and Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast in their entirety.

Train of Thought (2003–2004)

In 2003, Dream Theater entered the studio to write and record another album. Unlike Scenes from a Memory, which had been written and recorded simultaneously in the studio, the band took a different approach by setting aside three weeks for writing prior to recording. In the middle of the recording sessions for the album, a special tour with two other progressive metal bands, Queensrÿche and Fates Warning, was undertaken in North America. Referred to in the band's promotional material as the "Escape from the Studio American tour", the tour featured Queensrÿche and Dream Theater as co-headlining acts with Fates Warning performing supporting act duties. As a finale for each concert there was an extended encore in which both Dream Theater and Queensrÿche performed together on stage simultaneously, often playing cover songs.

At the completion of the tour, Dream Theater returned to the studio to finish the recording of their seventh album, Train of Thought. In contrast to the extended songs of their previous album, the band aimed to write a more song-oriented album, inspired in part by covering the Master of Puppets and Number of the Beast albums on their previous concert tour.[29] Although the album was a critical success, its more straightforward metal sound alienated many of the band's existing fans, who had been attracted by the band's roots in progressive rock.[9] During this time they also re-released their first two live videos for the first time on DVD, titled "Images and Words: Live in Tokyo/5 Years in a Livetime" on June 29, 2004, through Rhino Records. This release was certified Platinum on March 22, 2006.[25]

Another world tour followed, named Train of Thought Tour. A modest North American tour was completed by the two bands, which Dream Theater supported Yes, a band which had been a major influence on their own musical style. After which Dream Theater continued to tour the world with their so-called "An Evening With Dream Theater" shows. The latter were captured in another live CD/DVD release, recorded at the famous Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, Japan on their Train of Thought Tour. Live at Budokan was released on October 5, 2004, and was certified Platinum in the US on January 26, 2005.[25]

Octavarium (2005–2006)

 
Dream Theater after a concert in Paris during the first European leg of their tour (2005). From left to right: Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, James LaBrie, John Myung and Jordan Rudess

After their Train of Thought promotional tour, Dream Theater entered the Hit Factory studios in NYC to record their eighth album. They would in fact become the final group to use the famous studio, which closed on April 1, 2005.[30]

Octavarium was released on June 7, 2005, and took the band's sound in yet another new direction. Its eight songs included a continuation of Portnoy's "Twelve-step" saga ("The Root of All Evil", steps 6–7 in the 12-step plan), as well as the title track, a musically versatile 24 minute epic rivaling "A Change of Seasons". Octavarium received mixed reviews from fans and has been the subject of spirited debate. Octavarium was the last album under their seven-album deal with Elektra Records, which had inherited the contract upon its absorption of EastWest Records.

Dream Theater started the Octavarium Tour extensively throughout 2005 and 2006 to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a band, including a headlining spot on Gigantour alongside Megadeth and put together by frontman Dave Mustaine, also featuring Fear Factory, Nevermore and Symphony X. During a show on August 2, 2005, in Dallas, the band paid tribute to Pantera's late guitarist Dimebag Darrell by performing the song "Cemetery Gates" as an encore. In addition was the unexpected appearance of fellow musicians Russell Allen (Symphony X vocalist), Burton C. Bell (Fear Factory vocalist) and Dave Mustaine (Megadeth vocalist/guitarist), who joined the band on stage to perform parts of the song.

Dream Theater later departed from Gigantour 2005 a few dates before it ended and continued on with their own series of concerts, several of which were recorded and released for the band's fanclubs. The 20th anniversary tour concluded with a show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1, 2006. Though the show had minimal promotion, it was sold out days after tickets were made available. This show, which was recorded for a CD/DVD called Score released on August 29, 2006, through Rhino Records, featured songs from the band's entire history, as well a second half accompanied by a full symphony orchestra (the "Octavarium Orchestra"). This release was the band's third Live DVD release to be certified Platinum in the US on October 11, 2006.[25]

Systematic Chaos and Greatest Hit (...And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) (2006–2008)

 
Dream Theater playing live March 8, 2008

For the first time in their career, the band decided to take the summer off after their show at Radio City Music Hall. In September 2006, Dream Theater entered Avatar Studios to record their follow-up to Octavarium with legendary studio engineer Paul Northfield. Dream Theater's ninth studio album, Systematic Chaos, was released on June 5, 2007. The record marked their first with new label Roadrunner Records, which in 2010 would become a wholly owned subsidiary of the band's previous label Atlantic Records. Roadrunner implemented increased promotion for the album and Systematic Chaos duly reached number 19 on the Billboard 200. It also oversaw the release of a video for "Constant Motion" on July 14, the band's first music video since Hollow Years in 1997. The album was bookended by the two parts of "In the Presence of Enemies", written and conceived as a single piece but split into two halves for the purposes of the album. The other six tracks included the most recent part of Portnoy's continuing AA Saga with the song "Repentance".

In the same year, the first version of Rich Wilson's Lifting Shadows, an authorized history of the band's first twenty years, was released.[31]

The 2007–08 Chaos in Motion Tour started off in Italy. Dream Theater played in the Gods of Metal concert on June 3, 2007,[32] as well as various other European festivals including the Netherlands' Fields of Rock Festival, UK's Download Festival, the French festival Hellfest Summer Open Air alongside Megadeth, Korn, Mastodon and Slayer. The North American leg of the tour began on July 24 in San Diego, California and wrapped up on August 26 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They played with opening acts Redemption and Into Eternity. The Chaos In Motion Tour continued for the rest of the year and into 2008, playing shows in Asia, South America and, for the first time, Australia.[33]

On April 1, 2008, a two-disc compilation album titled Greatest Hit (...and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs) was released by the band. The title jokingly references the song "Pull Me Under", the band's only significant radio hit. It also includes three song re-mixes from their second album, Images and Words, five edited versions of previously released songs, and a track from a single B-side. Unlike most greatest hits compilations, Dream Theater was actively involved with the album, coming up with the track listing that they felt best represented their musical careers.

After the release of Greatest Hit, drummer Mike Portnoy organized a new tour called Progressive Nation 2008. Unlike previous Dream Theater tours, performances were held in cities that they had not visited before in the past (such as Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) or cities they had not played in for several years. This tour also marked the first time, since the release of Images and Words, where the group performed in small venues and performance halls.

In September 2008, the band released a DVD set called Chaos in Motion 2007–2008, featuring songs recorded at several shows during the Chaos in Motion tour.

Black Clouds & Silver Linings (2008–2010)

On October 7, 2008, Dream Theater returned to Avatar Studios to begin work on their tenth album, resuming their relationship with Paul Northfield to engineer and mix the record. The album, titled Black Clouds & Silver Linings, was released on June 23, 2009.[34] In addition to the standard CD, the album was made available on vinyl LP, as well as a 3-disc Special Edition CD that includes the full album, a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs from artists such as Queen and Rainbow. On July 1, 2009, the album debuted at No. 6 on Billboard's Top 200 album chart, with first week sales totalling 40,285, making their highest entry on the chart.[35] The album featured "The Shattered Fortress", the last in Mike Portnoy's series of songs about his 12-step recovery from alcoholism, as well as the song "The Best of Times", described by Portnoy as "a real heavy personal subject about my dad who passed away during the making of the album ... He was battling cancer throughout its making."[36]

The band also embarked on a second Progressive Nation tour, including the tour's first performances in Europe. Opeth, Unexpect and Bigelf supported Dream Theater in Europe, while Zappa Plays Zappa, Pain Of Salvation, and Beardfish were slated to perform on the North American leg. However, Pain of Salvation and Beardfish were unable to tour with Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa because of financial troubles within their respective record labels. The two new bands that filled the vacated slots for the Progressive Nation 2009 tour in North America were Bigelf and Scale the Summit with Bigelf performing on both European and North American legs.

After the Progressive Nation Tour, Dream Theater re-entered the studio to write and record a brand new instrumental track for inclusion on the God of War III soundtrack EP God of War: Blood & Metal. The track, titled "Raw Dog" (God (of) War reversed), marked the first time that the band has written and recorded an exclusive track for an outside project.[37] "Raw Dog" includes the first ever commercially recorded harpejji track, performed by Jordan Rudess, as well as Dream Theater's final recorded performance with Mike Portnoy on drums. In December 2009, during their Black Clouds & Silver Linings tour whilst visiting Australia, Dream Theater appeared with one support act, Pain of Salvation.[38] In March 2010, they toured South America with Bigelf. Afterwards, during the summer of 2010, Dream Theater supported Iron Maiden on the US and Canadian legs of their summer tour which were the last shows DT played during 2010.[39]

Mike Portnoy's departure and arrival of Mike Mangini (2010–2011)

 
Mike Portnoy announced that he would be leaving Dream Theater on September 8, 2010.

On September 8, 2010, Mike Portnoy announced that he would be leaving Dream Theater, citing better relationships in other projects, burnout, and his desire for a break as reasons.[40] Elaborating on the situation for MusicRadar, John Petrucci revealed that originally, Portnoy did not want to leave the band; he only wanted to take a five-year break.[41] He eventually dropped this number to around one year.[42] Only after the rest of the band rejected his proposal did Portnoy decide to quit.

After Portnoy left Dream Theater, relationships between him and his former bandmates became strained. In February 2011, Portnoy complained that no one from the band was returning his calls and e-mails.[43] However, later Portnoy commented that both Petrucci and Rudess were the only members that stayed in touch with him.[44] Tensions became especially high when Portnoy called James LaBrie "disrespectful" for comments LaBrie made during an interview,[45] stating that Dream Theater were "not sad at all" that Portnoy was no longer a band member. By July 2011, LaBrie had not remained in touch with Portnoy.[46] Portnoy later stated that he would rejoin the band in a heartbeat, stating: "They are the ones that have closed the door on it. I've only needed a break, and I've had that break. So I'm ready, willing and able. But I honestly don't think they ever will; they've closed their door on it and I think they're too headstrong in having to prove themselves without me. So I wouldn't count on it. But my door is always open."[47]

A little more than a month after Portnoy's departure, Dream Theater began auditioning for a new drummer in New York City. The drummers who auditioned were Mike Mangini, Derek Roddy, Thomas Lang, Virgil Donati, Marco Minnemann, Aquiles Priester, and Peter Wildoer.[48] Fates Warning drummer Bobby Jarzombek was also invited to audition, but had to turn down the offer due to scheduling conflicts.[49] The candidates were notified whether they had been chosen on November 5;[50] however, the results of the audition were not made public until April 2011 via a three-part YouTube documentary series called The Spirit Carries On.[51] In the last episode of the series, it was revealed that Mangini was the drummer selected. Petrucci later explained that Portnoy approached them to rejoin after they had selected Mangini; Mangini however, by this time had left his job as a professor at Berklee and committed to Dream Theater full-time, so Portnoy's offer was rebuffed.[52]

A Dramatic Turn of Events (2011–2012)

Dream Theater entered Cove City Sound Studios to begin working on a new album on January 3, 2011.[53][54] Writing was completed on March 2 and done without Mangini.[55] On April 14, LaBrie began tracking vocals and by June 28, the album's mixing and mastering by Andy Wallace were finished.[56][57][58] Released worldwide on September 12 and in the United States on September 13, A Dramatic Turn of Events debuted at number one in some countries and attained the eighth position on the Billboard 200,[59] the band's second ever top ten debut position on that chart after Black Clouds & Silver Linings.[60] Although the album received mixed reviews,[61] it won numerous awards from music publications and its lead single, "On the Backs of Angels", was nominated for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance at the 2012 Grammy Awards,[6] representing the band's first ever Grammy nomination.

Dream Theater kicked off their tour in support of A Dramatic Turn of Events on July 4, 2011, in Rome, Italy.[57][62] The second leg of the tour took place in North America, where the band headlined with Trivium.[63] After a short break to conclude 2011, the band returned to Europe with Periphery,[64] to Asia with Andy McKee, to North America with Crimson Projekct and then to South America for the final leg of the tour.[65] On August 19 and 20, two shows were recorded at Luna Park in Buenos Aires, Argentina for a live Blu-ray release by Over the Edge Productions.[66][67][68] After a six-month delay, Live at Luna Park was released on November 5, 2013, by Eagle Rock Entertainment.[69] The tour concluded on September 1, 2012, in Brasília, Brazil.

On December 25, 2013, at 06:00:00 EST, as a holiday gift to the fans, Dream Theater released a free electronic 2-CD set of live tracks that were not recorded for Live at Luna Park from their 2011-2012 tour in FLAC format via BitTorrent.[70] The release date and time are an allusion to their 1994 song 6:00, the intro of which contains a repeated sample of the line "Six o'clock on a Christmas morning" as spoken by Helena Carroll in The Dead.[71][72]

Dream Theater (2013–2014)

Writing for Dream Theater's twelfth studio album commenced on A Dramatic Tour of Events.[73] During soundchecks, the band would jam and record their ideas, and John Petrucci would bring in material he wrote independently. Following the conclusion of the tour, the band took a break but continued writing. They reconvened in early 2013 to enter the studio.[74]

In December 2012, Dream Theater re-signed with Roadrunner Records.[75] The band's self-titled twelfth album was released on September 23, 2013, as part of the new agreement with Roadrunner. The album sold more than 34,000 copies in its first week and landed on the Billboard 200 chart at No. 7, the band's third consecutive top 10 album. In addition, the album cracked the top 10 in 24 countries including Japan, Germany, Argentina, The Netherlands, Finland, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Australia and United Kingdom.[76] Dream Theater's seventh live album, Live at Luna Park, was released on November 5, 2013.

On July 8, 2014, Dream Theater released The Studio Albums 1992–2011, a box set spanning all albums from Images and Words to A Dramatic Turn of Events.[77]

On September 30, 2014, Dream Theater released their eighth live album and film, Breaking the Fourth Wall, which was recorded live from The Boston Opera House on March 25, 2014. During this concert, the band were joined by the Berklee World Strings and the Berklee Concert Choir, directed by Eren Başbuğ, for the second half of the set.[78] The set list for the tour featured the entire second half of Awake, in celebration of the album's 20th anniversary, including the song "Space-Dye Vest", which had never been performed live. The set list closed with a performance of four songs from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, in celebration of the album's 15th anniversary.[79] The Along for the Ride Tour concluded on October 30, 2014.

The Astonishing and Images and Words anniversary tour (2015–2017)

On January 6, 2014, John Petrucci said that Dream Theater were already "planting seeds for album No. 13". He commented: "There are some song ideas and little things like that -- nothing really official, but the seeds just start to get planted. One of the great things about this career is that you have the opportunity every time to go in and start again with a blank slate and think, 'What can we do differently? How can we make this better? Where can we go from here?' Every album has a story, and to constantly have a fresh opportunity to do it is really satisfying."[80]

The band headed into the studio in February 2015 to record its thirteenth album.[81][82] The album, titled The Astonishing was released on January 29, 2016. It is a concept album set in a dystopian future society devoid of real music, centering on a conflict between a group of rebels and an oppressive empire.[83] Two singles, "The Gift of Music" and "Moment of Betrayal" were released on December 3, 2015, and January 22, 2016, respectively.

Throughout 2016, Dream Theater went on a tour titled The Astonishing Live to support the album. They played the album in its entirety, with an intermission between the two acts, only playing songs from earlier albums on occasions later in the tour. Their performance was accompanied by a visual representation of the story on background screens. The band also made it a point to play at indoor theater halls such as Radio City Music Hall. In 2017, Dream Theater went on another tour, titled Images, Words & Beyond, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Images and Words. Each night they performed the album in its entirety, as well as "A Change of Seasons", which was originally written during the Images and Words sessions, and other selections from their catalogue.

Distance over Time and Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory anniversary tour (2017–2019)

 
Dream Theater performing at Hellfest in 2019.

In a May 2017 interview with Rockbook, frontman James LaBrie talked about the style of the band's fourteenth studio album: "It's really important for us that the new album will be our best effort. It should be who we are at that particular moment. [...] But if along the way we feel that there is another album we should recognize once again, then we'll do it."[84] In December 2017, Dream Theater announced that they had signed a worldwide longterm deal with Sony Music via Sony's progressive music label imprint Inside Out, for the release of the album.[85]

The album was written in June and July 2018,[86][87] and features pieces written collectively and lyrics written by Petrucci, Labrie, Myung and, for the first time ever, Mangini.[88] In anticipation of the album, the band launched a "treasure hunt" in the form of an alternate reality game, where participants would search for various clues across the internet. The game ultimately led to a site revealing the title of the album to be Distance over Time. The site also revealed the cover art for the album, its scheduled release date in February 2019, as well as dates for a tour in North America celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band's fifth album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory.[89] On November 6, 2018, a press release from Inside Out officially announced Distance over Time, with a release date of February 22, 2019.[90] Upon release, the album received widespread critical acclaim.[91]

A View from the Top of the World and Lost Not Forgotten Archives (2020–2022)

In April 2020, Metal Addicts reported that Dream Theater was expected to begin working on their fifteenth studio album in 2021.[92] About the direction of the album, guitarist John Petrucci stated in an August 2020 interview with Ultimate Guitar: "The eight-string project with Ernie Ball Music Man is something we are working on and hoping to have developed as this year goes on. I'm hoping that on the next Dream Theater record I'll be able to explore that."[93] This would later be confirmed in an interview with Ultimate Guitar in February 2021.[94] Also in August 2020, Petrucci also told Spain's Metal Hammer that the band would begin working on their new album in the fall.[95] Recording sessions started at DTHQ (the band's own studio) in October 2020.[96] The band was confirmed on November 27, 2020, to be writing the songs, while LaBrie was writing his parts back home in Canada. When asked in an interview, Petrucci said that the writing sessions were "off to a great start".[97]

Petrucci released his first solo album in fifteen years, Terminal Velocity, on August 28, 2020. The album was recorded at DTHQ earlier the same year. Its recording sessions marked the first time in ten years that Petrucci worked with his former Dream Theater bandmate Mike Portnoy, who played drums on all tracks from the album.[98][99] This collaboration led to speculation of a Dream Theater reunion with Portnoy, which was denied by Petrucci, who told Metal Hammer: "I understand where people are coming from with that. One of the concerns I had, a little bit - not musically at all - but about Mike, is I didn't want people to get the wrong idea."[100]

On November 27, 2020, Dream Theater released their ninth live album, Distant Memories – Live in London, recorded at Hammersmith Apollo prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.[101] On December 1, 2020, the band released the single "The Holiday Spirit Carries On", a medley of holiday songs played in a progressive metal style, exclusively through Bandcamp. The title references the fan-favorite song "The Spirit Carries On" from Scenes from a Memory. The proceeds from sales of the single benefited the band's road crew.[102] On January 30, 2021, Dream Theater held a special streaming event titled Images, Words & Beyond Live in Japan, an online broadcast of a concert from the band's 2017 tour, which was originally recorded for Japanese television.[103]

On May 5, 2021, Dream Theater announced a series of albums titled the Lost Not Forgotten Archives, the first release of which is the second set of the Images, Words & Beyond Live in Japan concert. The band added that the Lost Not Forgotten Archives will eventually include every YtseJam Records release on CD, vinyl and digital formats, along with previously unreleased archival material.[104]

 
Dream Theater performing live in 2023

Dream Theater teased the new album on July 26, 2021, revealing that it would have seven songs, with more details to be released on July 28, 2021.[105] On July 28, it was announced that the album was titled A View from the Top of the World, and it was released on October 22, 2021. The album was supported by four singles, "The Alien", "Invisible Monster", "Awaken the Master" and "Transcending Time", and music videos were released for each of them.[106][107][108][109] The band promoted the album with a concert tour of Europe from April 20 to June 1, 2022.[107] They had previously announced a tour of North America from late October to mid-December 2021 on the same day as the album,[110] but announced on September 27 that it had been rescheduled to early 2022, due to safety concerns related to the COVID pandemic.[111] The rescheduled tour began on February 2, 2022, in Mesa, Arizona.

On April 3, 2022, "The Alien" won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance, giving Dream Theater their first Grammy.[112]

Upcoming sixteenth studio album (2022–present)

When asked in April 2022 by VW Music about the future of Dream Theater, keyboardist Jordan Rudess said, "After we get back from its last show of the European tour we have a bit of a break. And after I finish my solo shows, Dream Theater will continue on the road with some shows in Japan, South America, and more to be announced as we go. When that settles down, we'll be entering the studio again, and doing a new album, which will be awesome. So, yeah, stuff like that is on the horizon."[113][114]

In October 2022, Petrucci stated that Dream Theater would begin recording their sixteenth studio album in late 2023.[115] Two months later, LaBrie said that he does not "see [the band] going into the studio until the beginning of '24", adding, "I don't think it would make sense to be in there before then. But don't quote me on that. Some things always change."[116]

Live performances

 
Rudess and Petrucci dueling in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2008)

Throughout their career, Dream Theater's live shows have gradually become bigger, longer and more diverse. Prior to Portnoy's departure, Dream Theater "rotated" its set lists to ensure that fans who attended multiple shows in the same area would not see too many (or any) songs repeated. Portnoy, who constructed the set lists, would take into account the set list from the last time the band was in a particular city for the benefit of fans who saw the band on successive tours.[117]

The band's full world tours, since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, have predominantly been "Evening with..." tours, in which the band performs for at least three hours without an opening act. Until 2012, such tours did not contain an intermission, but every tour since the Along for the Ride Tour in 2013-2014 until the Distance Over Time Tour had. The show that was recorded for Live Scenes From New York was nearly four hours in length, and resulted in Portnoy almost being hospitalized after acquiring severe food poisoning from the food he ate before the show.[118][119]

 
"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"
"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", live at Nagoya, Japan.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

There is also a significant amount of humor, casualness, and improvisation attached to Dream Theater's concert. For example, the performance of "A Change of Seasons" on Live Scenes from New York features changes to a series of instrumental breaks, with Myung playing a baseball organ melody, Petrucci playing the opening theme to The Simpsons, and Rudess playing the ragtime section of "When the Water Breaks" from Liquid Tension Experiment 2 (the latter is also heard on the album Live at Budokan). Several songs included on Once in a LIVETime include snippets of others' pieces, such as Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee." Other quotations include "Mary Had a Little Lamb" during "Endless Sacrifice" on the Gigantour, a calliope-inspired break between verses of "Under a Glass Moon", a quote of "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina"'s main melody played by Petrucci while performing the intro solo of "Through Her Eyes" in Buenos Aires, the Turkish March at a concert in Istanbul, and the opening riff of Rush's "A Passage to Bangkok" at a show in Bangkok, Thailand. On the "20th Anniversary World Tour", Rudess has even thrown in a short "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" theme in a break during "Endless Sacrifice," and during a concert in Israel he started a spontaneous "Hava Nagila", with the rest of the band later joining in. During the band's 2017 tour, a snippet of Metallica's "Enter Sandman" was played during Dream Theater's own song "As I Am".[120]

Perhaps the best example of Dream Theater's unpredictable concert structure came during Derek Sherinian's time with the band. At selected shows the band members all swapped instruments and performed an encore as the fictitious band dubbed Nightmare Cinema. They usually performed a cover of Deep Purple's "Perfect Strangers," and, on one occasion, Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution," At some shows, Sherinian, Petrucci and Portnoy would take the stage together under the name "Nicky Lemons and the Migraine Brothers." Sherinian, wearing a feather boa and novelty sunglasses, would perform a pop-punk song titled "I Don't Like You" with Petrucci and Portnoy backing. During the Chaos in Motion tour, in several concerts before "Trial of Tears," Portnoy and Petrucci would change positions.

 
Concert of the A Dramatic Tour of Events in 2012. LaBrie in the foreground; Myung and Rudess in the background.

In the Score and Chaos in Motion DVDs, an animation has accompanied certain parts of the songs, showing the band playing along to the music as cartoon characters. On the Score DVD, during the song Octavarium, the band is seen performing in an octagonal shaped maze. As the animation continues Jordan Rudess spontaneously turns into Santa Claus and John Petrucci catches fire.[121] In "The Dark Eternal Night" from the Chaos in Motion DVD, the band battles against a monster by shooting fireballs from guitars, throwing drum sticks, and screaming.[122]

Shows and concerts

Dream Theater played and recorded a live performance at the Nippon Budokan Hall on April 26, 2004. It was later released as Live at Budokan on October 5, 2004.[123]

Dream Theater's largest audience as a headlining act was 20,000 in Santiago, Chile on December 6, 2005.[124] The show was released on DVD through Portnoy's YtseJam Records.

In 2007, after their show in Salt Lake City on July 30, Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. signed a proclamation officially marking July 30, 2007 as Dream Theater Day in the state of Utah.

In 2008 Dream Theater started the Progressive Nation 2008 tour, along with Opeth, Between the Buried and Me, and 3. The tour is the brainchild of Mike Portnoy, who stated, "I've been wanting to assemble a package tour like this for many years now. With all of the festivals and package tours that go through America, I've been talking with our manager and agent for over 10 years now about doing something that focuses on the more progressive, musician-oriented side of hard rock and metal. I decided it was time to stop talking the talk, lace up and finally walk the walk."[125]

On February 13, 2009, Dream Theater announced the official line up for their Progressive Nation 2009 tour. The tour was originally set to feature bands including Swedish bands Beardfish and Pain of Salvation, as well as Zappa plays Zappa. On June 22, 2009, Mike Portnoy announced that Pain of Salvation and Beardfish would not be touring the North American leg of the Progressive Nation 2009 tour because of record label complications. In the same announcement, Portnoy stated that the bands Scale the Summit and Bigelf would replace Pain of Salvation and Beardfish on the tour.[126] This lineup change has put Bigelf on both the North American and European legs of the Progressive Nation 2009 tour. The tour's North American leg ran throughout July and August 2009. On March 26, 2009, it was announced that Dream Theater would take the Progressive Nation tour to Europe for the first time alongside Opeth, Bigelf and Unexpect. The tour ran throughout September and October 2009.[127]

In June/July 2010 Dream Theater were the opening band for Iron Maiden during the first leg of their Final Frontier Tour which included Madison Square Garden as one of the many venues. On December 7, 2010, Dream Theater announced on their website that they would be headlining the High Voltage Festival alongside Judas Priest in 2011. In July 2011 they started A Dramatic Tour of Events to promote A Dramatic Turn of Events. In January 2014, they started the Along for the Ride Tour to promote their self-titled album. On December 13, 2016, Dream Theater confirmed 5 UK tour dates for their Images, Words & Beyond 25th Anniversary Tour, starting in Birmingham on April 18, 2017.[128]

On March 4, 2022, Mike Portnoy attended his first Dream Theater show as an audience member at the Beacon Theatre in New York City, took photos with the band, and received a shoutout from James LaBrie during the show.[129]

Cover songs

Dream Theater have covered other artists' work throughout their career. They have performed cover songs live and in studio, with many of those live performances being recorded for official release. A Change of Seasons features Elton John, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Kansas, Queen, Journey, Dixie Dregs and Genesis live covers. Through YtseJam Records, the band have also released full album live cover performances of Metallica's Master of Puppets, Iron Maiden's The Number of the Beast, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, and Deep Purple's Made in Japan.[130] The special edition of Black Clouds & Silver Linings includes a bonus disc with Rainbow, Queen, Dixie Dregs, Zebra, King Crimson, and Iron Maiden covers. Other notable artists covered by Dream Theater include Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera, Rush, the Who, and Yes.[131][132]

Logo and imagery

 
Dream Theater wordmark and "Majesty" symbol

Despite the band being forced to change their name, Dream Theater adopted a custom logo (known as the Majesty symbol) and wordmark which has appeared on the vast majority of their promotional material and on the front cover of every Dream Theater studio album. The Majesty symbol is derived from Mary, Queen of Scots' mark,[133][134] which was re-worked by Charlie Dominici for use on the album artwork for When Dream and Day Unite.[135]

In September 2010, a fan of Dream Theater discovered that all of the letters of "DOMINICI" fit together perfectly into the Majesty symbol.[136] When Charlie discovered this, he laughed and mentioned that "it only took them 25 years to figure out the 'Dominici Code!'"[137] This has earlier also been discovered as shown on the comment section of DTFAQ[135] and in the DTNorway Podcast Episode 2 from 2008, with Charlie Dominici.[138]

Musical style

AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Dream Theater's music as a "dense blend of progressive rock and post-Halen metal". The band is well noted for being one of the early progenitors of the progressive metal genre,[139] and they are considered a member of the so-called "big three" of the genre, along with Queensrÿche and Fates Warning.[8] The original members, Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci and John Myung, have strong influences from progressive rock bands such as Rush, Yes, and Pink Floyd, heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest, various speed metal bands, and even the glam metal of the day.[140] This synthesis created a unique metal that was not traditional of the day: it had distorted guitars and fast riffing, but the music focused more on technical proficiency and precise execution than on heavy metal riffs. The band's music has focused on three main elements: metal, melody, and progressive roots.[141] In the liner notes for the 2008 Greatest Hit compilation, Mike Portnoy cited artists such as Peter Gabriel, U2, and Journey as inspirations for Dream Theater's softer songs.[142] Dream Theater's music has also been described as art rock.[143][144]

Dream Theater's 2003 album Train of Thought showcased a heavier sound.[145] This decision was inspired by the positive feedback received from their previous heavier songs on stage.[146] 1999's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was praised for its display of old-fashioned progressive rock,[147] and was influenced by classic conceptual rock records such as the Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Pink Floyd's The Wall and The Final Cut, the Who's Tommy, and Genesis's The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.[148]

Dream Theater's music usually borrows elements from other musical styles including symphonic rock, symphonic metal, arena rock, soft rock,[149] and classical music.[150]

Band members

Current members

Former members

Timeline

Notes

  • Chris Collins was the shortest-serving band member, having only been an official member for a few months; first joining them at the same time as Kevin Moore in the summer of 1986, but parting ways after they did some initial touring following recording their 6-track demo.[153]
  • In the wake of Charlie Dominici's departure from the band in October and November 1989[158][159] the band worked with several singers on a temporary basis before fully committing to James LaBrie; they first worked with John Arch, though he was not seriously considering joining the band, then John Hendricks, then Steve Stone (who had a one-off live appearance with the band),[160] then finally Chris Cintron, who they were ready to commit to and officially welcome into the band before James LaBrie's audition arrived.[161][162]
  • During the 1997-1998 world tour, the band would switch their instruments around for brief "Nightmare Cinema" interludes in the concerts; John Myung played the keyboard, Derek Sherinian played the guitar, John Petrucci played the drums, and Mike Portnoy played the bass. They would often cover Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple during these segments.[163]
  • In 2004, Charlie Dominici and Derek Sherinian joined the band as a one-off on stage during the encore of the March 6th show as guests, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of When Dream and Day Unite.[164]

Discography

Main article: Dream Theater discography

Studio albums

Bootleg culture

Dream Theater have released a series of official bootlegs, demos, and other rarities through YtseJam Records, at the time headed by Portnoy.[165] Starting in 2021, the band announced The Lost Not Forgotten Archives in collaboration with InsideOut, which will reissue all the titles mentioned below along with adding in previously unreleased archival material.[166]

Demo series

  • The Majesty Demos 1985–86 (CD) (remastered and reissued in 2022)
  • When Dream and Day Unite Demos 1987–89 (CD) (remastered and reissued in 2023)
  • Images and Words Demos 1989–91 (CD) (remastered and reissued in 2022)
  • Awake Demos 1994 (CD) (remastered and reissued in 2022)
  • Falling into Infinity Demos 1996–97 (CD) (remastered and reissued in 2022)
  • Train of Thought Instrumental Demos 2003 (CD) (remastered and reissued in 2021)
  • Distance Over Time Demos (2018) (CD, newly released in 2023)[167]

Studio series

  • The Making of Falling into Infinity (CD, remastered and reissued in 2023)
  • The Making of Scenes From a Memory (CD)

Live series

  • New York City – 3/4/93 (CD, remastered and reissued in 2022)
  • Tokyo, Japan – 10/28/95 (CD)
  • Old Bridge, New Jersey – 12/14/96 (CD, remastered and reissued in 2022)
  • Los Angeles, California – 5/18/98 (CD)
  • Bucharest, Romania – 7/4/02 (DVD)
  • When Dream and Day Reunite – 5/6/04 (CD/DVD, remastered and reissued on CD in 2021)
  • Santiago, Chile – 12/6/05 (DVD)
  • Images and Words - Live in Japan, 2017 (CD, newly released in 2021, second half of the Budokan concert in 2017)
  • A Dramatic Tour of Events - Select Board Mixes (CD, newly released in physical formats in 2021)
  • ...And Beyond - Live In Japan 2017 (CD, newly released in 2022, first half of the Budokan concert in 2017)
  • Live In Berlin 2019 (CD, newly released in 2022, festival show during the Distance Over Time Tour)
  • Live At Wacken 2015 (CD, newly released in 2022, festival show during their 30th Anniversary Tour)
  • Live At Madison Square Garden 2010 (CD, newly released in 2023, opening for Iron Maiden in 2010)

Cover series

Certifications

RIAA gold and platinum certifications[168]

  1. Images and Words (Album) (Gold) – February 2, 1995
  2. Metropolis 2000: Live Scenes from New York (Video Longform) (Gold) – November 8, 2002
  3. Live at Budokan (Video Longform) (Platinum) – January 26, 2005
  4. Live in Tokyo/5 Years in a Livetime Video Longform (Platinum) – March 22, 2006
  5. Score (Video Longform) (Platinum) – October 11, 2006

Other platinum and gold certifications

  1. Awake (Platinum) (Japan)

Awards and honors

Grammy Awards

At the 64th Annual Grammy Awards, Dream Theater won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance for their song "The Alien".[169]

Burrn! magazine

In 2007 Jordan Rudess was awarded "Best Keyboards Player of the Year."

In 2011, A Dramatic Turn of Events won Best Album and Best Front Cover, while John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess won Best Guitarist and Best Keyboardist, respectively.[170]

Guitar World

The album Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory was ranked No. 95 on the magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time.[citation needed]

Total Guitar

John Petrucci won Guitarist of the year award (2007)

Ultimate Guitar Archive

In 2009, Dream Theater were placed on the Top 10 in Ultimate Guitar's The Greatest Metal Bands of the Decade.[171]

Classic Rock magazine

Dream Theater won The Spirit of Prog Award at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour 2009 in London.[172][173] They were also nominated for the Album of the Year Award for their album, Black Clouds & Silver Linings in 2009, but lost to AC/DC's Black Ice.[174]

Rolling Stone

On July 25, 2011, Dream Theater were placed on the list "The Best Prog Rock Bands of All Time", chosen by the Rolling Stone Magazine's readers poll.[175]

MusicRadar

The MusicRadar readers poll placed Dream Theater amongst "The 30 greatest live acts in the world today" (as of 2010), peaking at No. 5 on the list, .[176]

John Myung, from August through September 2010, was voted the greatest bassist of all time. In the same time frame, Mike Portnoy was voted the second best drummer ever, losing out to Joey Jordison. In December 2010, James LaBrie was voted the 15th best frontman of all time (with Axl Rose coming first and Freddie Mercury in second). Jordan Rudess was voted the best keyboardist of all time in a poll conducted from June to July this year, with John Petrucci coming second in a shred-guitarist poll conducted in May this year (losing out to Al Di Meola).

John Petrucci was listed as "Best Prog Rock Guitarist in the World" in 2020 by MusicRadar.[41][177]

Metal Edge

Derek Sherinian was voted "Best Keyboardist" in Metal Edge magazine's 1998 Readers' Choice Awards.[178]

Metal Storm

The webzine Metal Storm honored Dream Theater with an award in 2009, when Black Clouds & Silver Linings was voted Best Progressive Metal Album.[179]

The Prog Report

On July 13, 2015, The Prog Report ranked Images and Words at number 1 on their "Top Prog Albums of the Last 25 Years". Four other Dream Theater albums made the list; Scenes from a Memory placed at number 3, Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence at number 14, Awake at number 18, and Train of Thought at number 38.[180]

Other recognition

References

  1. ^ a b Billboard Chart history for Dream Theater can be seen at Billboard.com.
  2. ^ . chud.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
  3. ^ "Classic Rock Magazine - Rock's 30 Greatest Concept Albums (March 2003)". rocklistmusic.co.uk. Retrieved May 15, 2012.
  4. ^ "Dream Theater". iMusic.
  5. ^ . TC Electronic. Archived from the original on June 30, 2017.
  6. ^ a b . Blabbermouth.net. November 30, 2011. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved December 1, 2011.
  7. ^ . Dreamtheater.net. December 7, 2013. Archived from the original on February 6, 2016. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  8. ^ a b "The 13 essential progressive metal albums you need to know". Kerrang!. March 12, 2021. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
  9. ^ a b c d e This was referenced in the documentary "The Score so Far", on the second disc of the Score DVD.
  10. ^ Portnoy, Mike (2003). "The Majesty Demos 1985-1986" [CD Liner Notes]. New York: YtseJam Records.
  11. ^ Savić, Nikola (June 16, 2010). "Charlie Dominici - A Trilogy Concluded, a Career to be Continued". Prog-sphere.com. Retrieved August 29, 2018.
  12. ^ "The Dream Theater FAQ – Graphic Version". Gabbo.net. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  13. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the : "Mike Portnoy – Wikipedia: Fact or Fiction?". YouTube. April 1, 2015. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  14. ^ Portnoy, Mike (2004). And Nathan Edmonds help produce "When Dream and Day Unite Demos" 1987-1989 [CD Liner Notes]. New York: YtseJam Records.
  15. ^ Dominici, Charlie. When Dream And Day Unite liner notes (2004 re-release).
  16. ^ a b c d "Mike Portnoy.com The Official Website". Mikeportnoy.com. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  17. ^ "John Arch Interview by Jeff Wagner (1995)". Fateswarning.com. Retrieved February 9, 2012.
  18. ^ "Mike Portnoy.com The Official Website". Mikeportnoy.com. Retrieved January 30, 2016.
  19. ^ Colin Larkin (May 27, 2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Omnibus Press. pp. 2006–. ISBN 978-0-85712-595-8.
  20. ^ EastWest Records Press Release.
  21. ^ Nine Christmas CDs were released through Dream Theater's fan club before it was closed down in 2005. See DTIFC on Dream Theater.net. January 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ LaBrie, James. (Summer '97) Images & Words No. 14, pg. 5
  23. ^ "Falling into Infinity Demos". Ytsejamrecords.com. Retrieved July 18, 2011.
  24. ^ Portnoy, Mike (1998). "Liquid Tension Experiment" [CD Liner Notes]. New York: Magna Carta Records.
  25. ^ a b c d "Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - August 09, 2014". RIAA. Retrieved August 9, 2014.
  26. ^ "Mike Portnoy FAQ". Mikeportnoy.com.
  27. ^ "Billboard Chart history for Dream Theater".
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Further reading

  • Bredius, Mark. Dream Theater - The official site. (Retrieved February–April 2005.)
  • Dixon, Brad et al. Official Dream Theater FAQ April 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. (Retrieved February–April 2005, moved c. 2007.)
  • Hale, Mark (1993). "1731 Majesty". Headbangers (First edition, second printing ed.). Ann Arbor, Michigan: Popular Culture, Ink. ISBN 1-56075-029-4.
  • Hansen, Scott. (2003). "James LaBrie: As this man thinks". Theater of Dreams 27/28, pp. 26–30.
  • Hansen, Scott & Portnoy, Mike. . (Retrieved February–April 2005.)
  • King, Brian. (2003). "JaM Progductions! Interview with John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy". Theater of Dreams 29, pp. 14–20.
  • Wilson, Rich (2007). Lifting Shadows (First ed.). United Kingdom: Essential Works. ISBN 9781906615024.

External links

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dream Theater.
  • Official website
  • 2011 interview with James LaBrie on Prog Sphere

June 06, 2023
dream, theater, this, article, about, band, their, self, titled, album, album, kansas, theater, russell, kansas, american, progressive, metal, band, formed, 1985, under, name, majesty, john, petrucci, john, myung, mike, portnoy, natives, long, island, york, wh. This article is about the band For their self titled album see Dream Theater album For the Kansas theater see Dream Theater Russell Kansas Dream Theater is an American progressive metal band formed in 1985 under the name Majesty by John Petrucci John Myung and Mike Portnoy all natives of Long Island New York while they attended Berklee College of Music in Boston Massachusetts They subsequently dropped out of their studies to concentrate further on the band that would eventually become Dream Theater Their current lineup consists of Petrucci Myung vocalist James LaBrie keyboardist Jordan Rudess and drummer Mike Mangini Dream TheaterDream Theater in 2020 From left to right John Petrucci James LaBrie Mike Mangini Jordan Rudess and John Myung Background informationAlso known asMajesty 1985 1988 OriginBoston Massachusetts United StatesGenresProgressive metal progressive rockYears active1985 presentLabelsInside Out Roadrunner Warner Bros Atlantic Elektra East West Atco Mechanic YtseJamSpinoffsLiquid Tension Experiment Explorers Club OSI Platypus Sons of ApolloMembersJohn Myung John Petrucci James LaBrie Jordan Rudess Mike ManginiPast membersMike Portnoy Chris Collins Kevin Moore Charlie Dominici Derek SherinianWebsitewww wbr dreamtheater wbr netOver the course of various lineup changes Petrucci and Myung have been the only two constant members Portnoy remained with the band until 2010 when he was replaced by Mangini after deciding to leave to pursue other musical endeavors After a brief stint with Chris Collins followed by Charlie Dominici who was dismissed from Dream Theater not long after the release of their first album LaBrie was hired as the band s singer in 1991 Dream Theater s first keyboardist Kevin Moore left the band after three albums and was replaced by Derek Sherinian in 1995 after a period of touring The band released one album with Sherinian who was replaced by current keyboardist Jordan Rudess in 1999 To date Dream Theater has released fifteen studio albums The band s highest selling release is their second album Images and Words 1992 which reached No 61 on the Billboard 200 chart 1 The albums Awake 1994 and Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2002 also entered the charts at No 32 and No 46 respectively and each received critical acclaim Their fifth album Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory 1999 was ranked number 95 on the October 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine s list of the greatest 100 guitar albums of all time 2 It was also ranked as the 15th Greatest Concept Album in March 2003 by Classic Rock Magazine 3 As of 2018 Dream Theater has sold over 12 million records worldwide 4 5 and has received three Grammy Award nominations including one win in 2022 6 7 Along with Queensryche and Fates Warning the band has been referred to as one of the big three of the progressive metal genre responsible for its development and popularization 8 Contents 1 History 1 1 Formation 1985 1987 1 2 When Dream and Day Unite 1988 1990 1 3 Addition of James LaBrie and Images and Words 1991 1993 1 4 Awake and Kevin Moore s departure 1994 1995 1 5 A Change of Seasons Falling into Infinity 1995 1998 1 6 Derek Sherinian s departure addition of Jordan Rudess and Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory 1999 2000 1 7 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2001 2002 1 8 Train of Thought 2003 2004 1 9 Octavarium 2005 2006 1 10 Systematic Chaos and Greatest Hit And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs 2006 2008 1 11 Black Clouds amp Silver Linings 2008 2010 1 12 Mike Portnoy s departure and arrival of Mike Mangini 2010 2011 1 13 A Dramatic Turn of Events 2011 2012 1 14 Dream Theater 2013 2014 1 15 The Astonishing and Images and Words anniversary tour 2015 2017 1 16 Distance over Time and Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory anniversary tour 2017 2019 1 17 A View from the Top of the World and Lost Not Forgotten Archives 2020 2022 1 18 Upcoming sixteenth studio album 2022 present 2 Live performances 2 1 Shows and concerts 3 Cover songs 4 Logo and imagery 5 Musical style 6 Band members 6 1 Timeline 7 Discography 7 1 Studio albums 8 Bootleg culture 8 1 Demo series 8 2 Studio series 8 3 Live series 8 4 Cover series 9 Certifications 10 Awards and honors 10 1 Other recognition 11 References 11 1 Further reading 12 External linksHistory EditFormation 1985 1987 Edit Dream Theater was formed in Massachusetts in 1985 when guitarist John Petrucci bassist John Myung and drummer Mike Portnoy decided to form a band while attending the Berklee College of Music Petrucci and Myung were childhood friends from Kings Park New York and met Portnoy of Long Beach New York while at Berklee The trio started by covering Rush and Iron Maiden songs in the rehearsal rooms at Berklee Myung Petrucci and Portnoy joined on the name Majesty for their newly formed group According to The Score So Far documentary they were waiting in line for tickets to a Rush concert at the Berklee Performance Center while listening to the band on a boom box Portnoy commented that the ending of the song Bastille Day from the album Caress of Steel sounded majestic It was then decided that Majesty would be the band s name 9 The trio then set out to fill the remaining positions in the group Petrucci asked his high school bandmate Kevin Moore to play the keyboard After he accepted the position another friend from home Chris Collins was recruited as lead vocalist after band members heard him sing a cover of Queen of the Reich by Queensryche 10 During this time Portnoy Petrucci and Myung s hectic schedules forced them to abandon their studies to concentrate on their music as they did not feel they could learn more in college Moore also left his college SUNY Fredonia to concentrate on the band Another Won source source Another Won from The Majesty Demos Problems playing this file See media help The beginning months of 1986 were filled with various concert dates in and around the New York City area During this time the band recorded a collection of demos titled The Majesty Demos The initial run of 1 000 sold out within six months and dubbed copies of the cassette became popular within the progressive metal scene The Majesty Demos are still available in their original tape format today despite being released officially on CD through Mike Portnoy s YtseJam Records and on InsideOut in 2022 after YtseJam Records was shut down In November 1986 after a few months of writing and performing together Chris Collins was fired citation needed After a year of trying to find a replacement Charlie Dominici who was far older and more experienced than anyone else in the band successfully auditioned for the group 11 With the stability that Dominici s appointment brought to Majesty they began to increase the number of shows played in the New York City area gaining a considerable amount of exposure citation needed Shortly after hiring Dominici a Las Vegas group also named Majesty 12 threatened legal action for intellectual property infringement related to the use of their name so the band was forced to come up with a new one Various possibilities were proposed and tested among them Glasser Magus and M1 which were all rejected though the band did go as Glasser for about a week with poor reactions from fans Eventually Portnoy s father suggested the name Dream Theater the name of a small theater in Monterey California and the name stuck 13 When Dream and Day Unite 1988 1990 Edit With their new name and band stability Dream Theater concentrated on writing more material while playing more concerts in New York and in neighboring states This eventually attracted the attention of Mechanic Records a division of MCA Dream Theater signed their first record contract with Mechanic on June 23 1988 14 and set out to record their debut album The band recorded the album at Kajem Victory Studios in Gladwyne Pennsylvania Recording the basic tracks took about 10 days and the entire album was completed in about 3 weeks 15 When Dream and Day Unite was released in 1989 to far less fanfare than the band had anticipated Mechanic ended up breaking the majority of the financial promises they had made to Dream Theater prior to signing their contract so the band was restricted to playing around New York City The promotional tour for the album consisted of just five concerts all of which were relatively local Their first show was at Sundance in Bay Shore New York opening for the classic rock power trio Zebra 16 After the fourth show Charlie Dominici was let go because the band was starting to feel the limitations of his voice based upon the vocal style they wanted The band was looking for a singer with a style more like Bruce Dickinson or Geoff Tate and Dominici s stage presence was not what they wanted for a front man Shortly after however the band Marillion asked Dream Theater to open for them at a gig at the Ritz in New York so Dominici was given the opportunity to perform one last time 16 It would be another two years before Dream Theater had a replacement vocalist Addition of James LaBrie and Images and Words 1991 1993 Edit Pull Me Under source source Pull Me Under from Images and Words Problems playing this file See media help James LaBrie joined the band in January 1991 and has been their vocalist ever since Following Dominici s departure Dream Theater fought successfully to be released from their contract with Mechanic and set about auditioning singers and writing material for their next album In their search for a new singer they auditioned over 200 people among them former Fates Warning front man John Arch John ultimately decided that his personal commitments were more important and he opted not to join the band 17 On June 9 1990 at a gig at Sundance in Bay Shore New York Dream Theater introduced Steve Stone as their new singer after playing half the set as an instrumental band Stone had successfully recorded demos with Dream Theater but he was fired following a single ill fated live performance According to Mike Portnoy Stone moved around the stage in a rather odd manner seemingly doing a bad impression of Bruce Dickinson Additionally he shouted Scream for me Long Beach several times throughout the show Dickinson can be heard saying this on Iron Maiden s live album Live After Death although they were actually performing in Bay Shore 18 The audience was immediately turned off by the new singer It was five months before Dream Theater played another show this time all instrumental under the name YtseJam Until 1991 the band remained focused in an attempt to hire another singer and writing additional music 16 It was during this period that they wrote the majority of what would become Images and Words 1992 In January 1991 the band received a demo tape from Kevin James LaBrie of glam metal band Winter Rose 19 The band had received the tape just before they were about to commit to another singer The band was so impressed by his demo that he was flown from Canada to New York for an audition LaBrie jammed on three songs with the band and was immediately hired to fill the vocalist position Once recruited LaBrie decided to drop his first name to avoid confusion with the other Kevin in the band For the next few months the band returned to playing live shows still mostly around NYC while working on vocal parts for the music written before acquiring LaBrie Derek Shulman and Atco Records now East West a division of Elektra Records signed Dream Theater to a seven album contract based on a three song demo later made available as The Atco Demos through the Dream Theater fan club The first album to be recorded under their new record contract was Images and Words 1992 For promotion the label released a CD Single and video clip for the song Another Day but neither made significant commercial impact The song Pull Me Under however managed to garner a high level of radio airplay without any organized promotion from the band or their label In response ATCO produced a video clip for Pull Me Under which saw heavy rotation on MTV A third video clip was produced for Take the Time but it was not nearly as successful as Pull Me Under The success of Pull Me Under combined with relentless touring throughout the U S and Japan caused Images and Words to achieve gold record certification in the States and platinum status in Japan A tour of Europe followed in 1993 which included a show at London s famed Marquee Club The show was recorded and released as Live at the Marquee Dream Theater s first official live album Additionally a video compilation of their Japanese concerts mixed in with documentary style footage of the off stage portion of the tour was released as Images and Words Live in Tokyo Awake and Kevin Moore s departure 1994 1995 Edit A Mind Beside Itself II Voices source source Voices from Awake Problems playing this file See media help Eager to work on fresh material Dream Theater retreated to the studio in May 1994 Awake Dream Theater s third studio album was released on October 4 1994 amidst a storm of fan controversy Shortly before the album was mixed Moore had announced to the rest of the band that he would be quitting Dream Theater to concentrate on his own musical interests since he was no longer interested in touring or the style of music which Dream Theater performed 20 As a result the band had to scramble to find a replacement keyboardist before a tour could be considered Former Yngwie Malmsteen Dio keyboardist Jens Johansson who would go on to become a member of Stratovarius was among the biggest names to audition but the band members were eager to fill the position with keyboardist Jordan Rudess Portnoy and Petrucci had come across Rudess in Keyboard Magazine where he was recognized as best new talent in the readers poll The two invited him to play a trial gig with the band at the Concrete Foundations Forum in Burbank California 16 Although the show was a success and Rudess was asked to fill the keyboardist position permanently he opted to tour with The Dixie Dregs instead since it granted him more personal latitude Dream Theater hired fellow Berklee alumnus Derek Sherinian who had previously toured and recorded with Alice Cooper and KISS to fill in for the Waking Up the World Tour By the conclusion of the tour the band decided to take Sherinian on as Moore s full time replacement 9 A Change of Seasons Falling into Infinity 1995 1998 Edit A Change of Seasons source source Carpe Diem The Darkest of Winters bridge from A Change of Seasons Problems playing this file See media help Once again finding themselves with a new member the band did not immediately start working on new material Fans around the world united on the YtseJam Mailing List the most popular form of communication between Dream Theater fans at that point had begun to put pressure on the band to officially release the song A Change of Seasons This had been written in 1989 and was intended to be a part of Images and Words but at almost 17 minutes it was deemed too long for studio placement It had nevertheless been performed live by the band who continued to revise it in the years leading up to 1995 The petition was successful and the group entered BearTracks Studios in New York in May 1995 to rewrite and record the now 23 minute long song with Sherinian contributing significantly to the final product The band released A Change of Seasons as an EP along with a collection of cover songs from a live show recorded at Ronnie Scott s Jazz Club in London earlier that year After a brief run of small concerts and a short break the band released a special Christmas CD through their official fan club consisting of rare live tracks recorded during the band s early years They continued releasing a new CD each Christmas until 2005 21 Meanwhile there were several changes at East West and Dream Theater s main contact within the label was fired As a result the new team at the company were unaccustomed to the relationship Dream Theater had with former East West personnel and they pressured them to write an album that was more accessible In mid 1997 they entered the studio to write their next album In addition to pressuring the band to adopt a more mainstream sound East West recruited writer producer Desmond Child to work with Petrucci on polishing the lyrics to his song You or Me The whole band substantially reworked the song and it appeared on the album as You Not Me with a chorus that bore little resemblance to the original Child also had a noticeable impact on the album with a shift towards less complex and more radio friendly compositions The band wrote almost two CDs worth of material including a 20 minute long follow up to the Images and Words song Metropolis Part I The Miracle and the Sleeper The label however did not allow the release of a double album because it felt that a 140 minute record would not be well received by the general public James LaBrie also felt that the CD should be a single disc 22 The unused songs were later released in the YtseJam Records release The Falling into Infinity Demos 23 The material that made it onto the album proper was released as Falling into Infinity which received a mixed reception from fans who were more familiar with the band s earlier sound While the album was moderately progressive sounding tracks such as Hollow Years and You Not Me prompted some to believe it was the dawn of a new mainstream sounding Dream Theater Overall the album was both a critical and commercial disappointment Although Portnoy did not speak out publicly at the time he later revealed in the 2004 DVD commentary for 5 Years in a Livetime that he had been so discouraged during this period that he had considered disbanding Dream Theater altogether During the European leg of the Touring Into Infinity world tour two shows were recorded for a live album titled Once in a LIVEtime in France and The Netherlands The album was released at around the same time as the video 5 Years in a Livetime which covered the years from Kevin Moore s departure to the Falling into Infinity promotional tour Derek Sherinian s departure addition of Jordan Rudess and Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory 1999 2000 Edit In 1997 Magna Carta Records Mike Varney invited Portnoy to assemble a progressive supergroup to work on an album which would become the first in a long string of side projects for the members of Dream Theater 24 The lineup consisted of Portnoy on drums Petrucci on guitar Tony Levin on bass and keyboardist Jordan Rudess who had finished with the Dixie Dregs The band assumed the name Liquid Tension Experiment and would act as a medium through which Portnoy and Petrucci could once again court Rudess to join Dream Theater In 1999 he accepted an offer to become the third full time Dream Theater keyboardist replacing Sherinian 9 With yet another new member Dream Theater entered BearTracks Studio once again to write and record their next album As a result of an ultimatum from Portnoy the label gave the band complete creative control The band began by revisiting the follow up to Metropolis Part I which had been partially written during the Falling into Infinity sessions but which had not been completed or used on that album They decided to expand the 21 minute song into a complete concept album with a story revolving around themes such as reincarnation murder and betrayal To avoid stirring up the fan base a tight veil of secrecy enveloped the writing and recording process The only things fans were privy to prior to its release were a track list that had been leaked against the band s wishes and a release date In 1999 Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory was released to high critical acclaim being lauded as the band s masterpiece despite only reaching No 73 on the US album chart 1 The album was mixed by David Bottrill but only a few of his mixes made it on the final album The bulk was remixed by Kevin Shirley who had produced Falling into Infinity The rest of the mixes can be heard in the band s official bootleg The Making of Scenes from a Memory The subsequent Metropolis 2000 world tour was by far their largest to date and took over a year to complete The concerts reflected the theatrical aspect of the album with the first half of each show comprising the entire Scenes From a Memory album accompanied by a film showing dramatized portions of the story projected onto a video screen behind the stage For the last date of the North American leg at the Roseland Ballroom in New York City actors were hired to play characters in the story and a gospel choir was enlisted to perform in some sections of the performance The show was filmed and eventually released in early 2001 as the band s first DVD release Metropolis 2000 Scenes from New York which was certified Gold in the US on November 8 2002 25 Since several songs from the second half of the four hour show had to be cut from the DVD to save space the band also released the full show on the live CD Live Scenes from New York The original cover depicted one of Dream Theater s early logos the Images and Words era burning heart modeled on the Sacred Heart of Christ modified to show an apple as in Big Apple instead of the heart and the New York skyline including the twin towers of the World Trade Center in the flame above it In an unfortunate coincidence the album was released on the same date as the September 11 attacks The album was quickly recalled by the band and was re released with revised artwork later 26 although the few copies which were sold with the original artwork have since become rare collector s items Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2001 2002 Edit Overture source source Part one of the eight parts that constitute Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence Problems playing this file See media help Putting the whole ordeal behind them Dream Theater once again entered BearTracks Studios to record their sixth studio album Four years after they first petitioned East West to allow them to release a double album they finally got their chance with Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence The first disc consisted of five tracks of 7 13 minutes in length and the second disc was devoted entirely to the 42 minute title track which remains to date the longest song Dream Theater has written Many of the song s melodies and musical themes originated in an instrumental piece written by Rudess which would eventually become the song s Overture Those themes were then expanded by the rest of the band to form individual chapters in a complete story 9 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence was very well received by critics and the press It was the most publicized of Dream Theater s albums since Awake debuting on the Billboard charts at No 46 27 and the Billboard Internet charts at No 1 28 The subsequent world tour included a select few special album cover gigs see Cover songs section below in which they played Metallica s Master of Puppets and Iron Maiden s The Number of the Beast in their entirety Train of Thought 2003 2004 Edit In 2003 Dream Theater entered the studio to write and record another album Unlike Scenes from a Memory which had been written and recorded simultaneously in the studio the band took a different approach by setting aside three weeks for writing prior to recording In the middle of the recording sessions for the album a special tour with two other progressive metal bands Queensryche and Fates Warning was undertaken in North America Referred to in the band s promotional material as the Escape from the Studio American tour the tour featured Queensryche and Dream Theater as co headlining acts with Fates Warning performing supporting act duties As a finale for each concert there was an extended encore in which both Dream Theater and Queensryche performed together on stage simultaneously often playing cover songs At the completion of the tour Dream Theater returned to the studio to finish the recording of their seventh album Train of Thought In contrast to the extended songs of their previous album the band aimed to write a more song oriented album inspired in part by covering the Master of Puppets and Number of the Beast albums on their previous concert tour 29 Although the album was a critical success its more straightforward metal sound alienated many of the band s existing fans who had been attracted by the band s roots in progressive rock 9 During this time they also re released their first two live videos for the first time on DVD titled Images and Words Live in Tokyo 5 Years in a Livetime on June 29 2004 through Rhino Records This release was certified Platinum on March 22 2006 25 Another world tour followed named Train of Thought Tour A modest North American tour was completed by the two bands which Dream Theater supported Yes a band which had been a major influence on their own musical style After which Dream Theater continued to tour the world with their so called An Evening With Dream Theater shows The latter were captured in another live CD DVD release recorded at the famous Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo Japan on their Train of Thought Tour Live at Budokan was released on October 5 2004 and was certified Platinum in the US on January 26 2005 25 Octavarium 2005 2006 Edit Dream Theater after a concert in Paris during the first European leg of their tour 2005 From left to right Mike Portnoy John Petrucci James LaBrie John Myung and Jordan Rudess After their Train of Thought promotional tour Dream Theater entered the Hit Factory studios in NYC to record their eighth album They would in fact become the final group to use the famous studio which closed on April 1 2005 30 Octavarium was released on June 7 2005 and took the band s sound in yet another new direction Its eight songs included a continuation of Portnoy s Twelve step saga The Root of All Evil steps 6 7 in the 12 step plan as well as the title track a musically versatile 24 minute epic rivaling A Change of Seasons Octavarium received mixed reviews from fans and has been the subject of spirited debate Octavarium was the last album under their seven album deal with Elektra Records which had inherited the contract upon its absorption of EastWest Records Dream Theater started the Octavarium Tour extensively throughout 2005 and 2006 to celebrate their 20th Anniversary as a band including a headlining spot on Gigantour alongside Megadeth and put together by frontman Dave Mustaine also featuring Fear Factory Nevermore and Symphony X During a show on August 2 2005 in Dallas the band paid tribute to Pantera s late guitarist Dimebag Darrell by performing the song Cemetery Gates as an encore In addition was the unexpected appearance of fellow musicians Russell Allen Symphony X vocalist Burton C Bell Fear Factory vocalist and Dave Mustaine Megadeth vocalist guitarist who joined the band on stage to perform parts of the song Dream Theater later departed from Gigantour 2005 a few dates before it ended and continued on with their own series of concerts several of which were recorded and released for the band s fanclubs The 20th anniversary tour concluded with a show at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 1 2006 Though the show had minimal promotion it was sold out days after tickets were made available This show which was recorded for a CD DVD called Score released on August 29 2006 through Rhino Records featured songs from the band s entire history as well a second half accompanied by a full symphony orchestra the Octavarium Orchestra This release was the band s third Live DVD release to be certified Platinum in the US on October 11 2006 25 Systematic Chaos and Greatest Hit And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs 2006 2008 Edit Dream Theater playing live March 8 2008 For the first time in their career the band decided to take the summer off after their show at Radio City Music Hall In September 2006 Dream Theater entered Avatar Studios to record their follow up to Octavarium with legendary studio engineer Paul Northfield Dream Theater s ninth studio album Systematic Chaos was released on June 5 2007 The record marked their first with new label Roadrunner Records which in 2010 would become a wholly owned subsidiary of the band s previous label Atlantic Records Roadrunner implemented increased promotion for the album and Systematic Chaos duly reached number 19 on the Billboard 200 It also oversaw the release of a video for Constant Motion on July 14 the band s first music video since Hollow Years in 1997 The album was bookended by the two parts of In the Presence of Enemies written and conceived as a single piece but split into two halves for the purposes of the album The other six tracks included the most recent part of Portnoy s continuing AA Saga with the song Repentance In the same year the first version of Rich Wilson s Lifting Shadows an authorized history of the band s first twenty years was released 31 The 2007 08 Chaos in Motion Tour started off in Italy Dream Theater played in the Gods of Metal concert on June 3 2007 32 as well as various other European festivals including the Netherlands Fields of Rock Festival UK s Download Festival the French festival Hellfest Summer Open Air alongside Megadeth Korn Mastodon and Slayer The North American leg of the tour began on July 24 in San Diego California and wrapped up on August 26 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania They played with opening acts Redemption and Into Eternity The Chaos In Motion Tour continued for the rest of the year and into 2008 playing shows in Asia South America and for the first time Australia 33 On April 1 2008 a two disc compilation album titled Greatest Hit and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs was released by the band The title jokingly references the song Pull Me Under the band s only significant radio hit It also includes three song re mixes from their second album Images and Words five edited versions of previously released songs and a track from a single B side Unlike most greatest hits compilations Dream Theater was actively involved with the album coming up with the track listing that they felt best represented their musical careers After the release of Greatest Hit drummer Mike Portnoy organized a new tour called Progressive Nation 2008 Unlike previous Dream Theater tours performances were held in cities that they had not visited before in the past such as Vancouver British Columbia Canada or cities they had not played in for several years This tour also marked the first time since the release of Images and Words where the group performed in small venues and performance halls In September 2008 the band released a DVD set called Chaos in Motion 2007 2008 featuring songs recorded at several shows during the Chaos in Motion tour Black Clouds amp Silver Linings 2008 2010 Edit On October 7 2008 Dream Theater returned to Avatar Studios to begin work on their tenth album resuming their relationship with Paul Northfield to engineer and mix the record The album titled Black Clouds amp Silver Linings was released on June 23 2009 34 In addition to the standard CD the album was made available on vinyl LP as well as a 3 disc Special Edition CD that includes the full album a CD of instrumental mixes of the album and a CD of six cover songs from artists such as Queen and Rainbow On July 1 2009 the album debuted at No 6 on Billboard s Top 200 album chart with first week sales totalling 40 285 making their highest entry on the chart 35 The album featured The Shattered Fortress the last in Mike Portnoy s series of songs about his 12 step recovery from alcoholism as well as the song The Best of Times described by Portnoy as a real heavy personal subject about my dad who passed away during the making of the album He was battling cancer throughout its making 36 The band also embarked on a second Progressive Nation tour including the tour s first performances in Europe Opeth Unexpect and Bigelf supported Dream Theater in Europe while Zappa Plays Zappa Pain Of Salvation and Beardfish were slated to perform on the North American leg However Pain of Salvation and Beardfish were unable to tour with Dream Theater and Zappa Plays Zappa because of financial troubles within their respective record labels The two new bands that filled the vacated slots for the Progressive Nation 2009 tour in North America were Bigelf and Scale the Summit with Bigelf performing on both European and North American legs After the Progressive Nation Tour Dream Theater re entered the studio to write and record a brand new instrumental track for inclusion on the God of War III soundtrack EP God of War Blood amp Metal The track titled Raw Dog God of War reversed marked the first time that the band has written and recorded an exclusive track for an outside project 37 Raw Dog includes the first ever commercially recorded harpejji track performed by Jordan Rudess as well as Dream Theater s final recorded performance with Mike Portnoy on drums In December 2009 during their Black Clouds amp Silver Linings tour whilst visiting Australia Dream Theater appeared with one support act Pain of Salvation 38 In March 2010 they toured South America with Bigelf Afterwards during the summer of 2010 Dream Theater supported Iron Maiden on the US and Canadian legs of their summer tour which were the last shows DT played during 2010 39 Mike Portnoy s departure and arrival of Mike Mangini 2010 2011 Edit Mike Portnoy announced that he would be leaving Dream Theater on September 8 2010 On September 8 2010 Mike Portnoy announced that he would be leaving Dream Theater citing better relationships in other projects burnout and his desire for a break as reasons 40 Elaborating on the situation for MusicRadar John Petrucci revealed that originally Portnoy did not want to leave the band he only wanted to take a five year break 41 He eventually dropped this number to around one year 42 Only after the rest of the band rejected his proposal did Portnoy decide to quit After Portnoy left Dream Theater relationships between him and his former bandmates became strained In February 2011 Portnoy complained that no one from the band was returning his calls and e mails 43 However later Portnoy commented that both Petrucci and Rudess were the only members that stayed in touch with him 44 Tensions became especially high when Portnoy called James LaBrie disrespectful for comments LaBrie made during an interview 45 stating that Dream Theater were not sad at all that Portnoy was no longer a band member By July 2011 LaBrie had not remained in touch with Portnoy 46 Portnoy later stated that he would rejoin the band in a heartbeat stating They are the ones that have closed the door on it I ve only needed a break and I ve had that break So I m ready willing and able But I honestly don t think they ever will they ve closed their door on it and I think they re too headstrong in having to prove themselves without me So I wouldn t count on it But my door is always open 47 A little more than a month after Portnoy s departure Dream Theater began auditioning for a new drummer in New York City The drummers who auditioned were Mike Mangini Derek Roddy Thomas Lang Virgil Donati Marco Minnemann Aquiles Priester and Peter Wildoer 48 Fates Warning drummer Bobby Jarzombek was also invited to audition but had to turn down the offer due to scheduling conflicts 49 The candidates were notified whether they had been chosen on November 5 50 however the results of the audition were not made public until April 2011 via a three part YouTube documentary series called The Spirit Carries On 51 In the last episode of the series it was revealed that Mangini was the drummer selected Petrucci later explained that Portnoy approached them to rejoin after they had selected Mangini Mangini however by this time had left his job as a professor at Berklee and committed to Dream Theater full time so Portnoy s offer was rebuffed 52 A Dramatic Turn of Events 2011 2012 Edit Dream Theater entered Cove City Sound Studios to begin working on a new album on January 3 2011 53 54 Writing was completed on March 2 and done without Mangini 55 On April 14 LaBrie began tracking vocals and by June 28 the album s mixing and mastering by Andy Wallace were finished 56 57 58 Released worldwide on September 12 and in the United States on September 13 A Dramatic Turn of Events debuted at number one in some countries and attained the eighth position on the Billboard 200 59 the band s second ever top ten debut position on that chart after Black Clouds amp Silver Linings 60 Although the album received mixed reviews 61 it won numerous awards from music publications and its lead single On the Backs of Angels was nominated for Best Hard Rock Metal Performance at the 2012 Grammy Awards 6 representing the band s first ever Grammy nomination Dream Theater kicked off their tour in support of A Dramatic Turn of Events on July 4 2011 in Rome Italy 57 62 The second leg of the tour took place in North America where the band headlined with Trivium 63 After a short break to conclude 2011 the band returned to Europe with Periphery 64 to Asia with Andy McKee to North America with Crimson Projekct and then to South America for the final leg of the tour 65 On August 19 and 20 two shows were recorded at Luna Park in Buenos Aires Argentina for a live Blu ray release by Over the Edge Productions 66 67 68 After a six month delay Live at Luna Park was released on November 5 2013 by Eagle Rock Entertainment 69 The tour concluded on September 1 2012 in Brasilia Brazil On December 25 2013 at 06 00 00 EST as a holiday gift to the fans Dream Theater released a free electronic 2 CD set of live tracks that were not recorded for Live at Luna Park from their 2011 2012 tour in FLAC format via BitTorrent 70 The release date and time are an allusion to their 1994 song 6 00 the intro of which contains a repeated sample of the line Six o clock on a Christmas morning as spoken by Helena Carroll in The Dead 71 72 Dream Theater 2013 2014 Edit Writing for Dream Theater s twelfth studio album commenced on A Dramatic Tour of Events 73 During soundchecks the band would jam and record their ideas and John Petrucci would bring in material he wrote independently Following the conclusion of the tour the band took a break but continued writing They reconvened in early 2013 to enter the studio 74 In December 2012 Dream Theater re signed with Roadrunner Records 75 The band s self titled twelfth album was released on September 23 2013 as part of the new agreement with Roadrunner The album sold more than 34 000 copies in its first week and landed on the Billboard 200 chart at No 7 the band s third consecutive top 10 album In addition the album cracked the top 10 in 24 countries including Japan Germany Argentina The Netherlands Finland Italy Switzerland Canada Denmark Norway Austria Australia and United Kingdom 76 Dream Theater s seventh live album Live at Luna Park was released on November 5 2013 On July 8 2014 Dream Theater released The Studio Albums 1992 2011 a box set spanning all albums from Images and Words to A Dramatic Turn of Events 77 On September 30 2014 Dream Theater released their eighth live album and film Breaking the Fourth Wall which was recorded live from The Boston Opera House on March 25 2014 During this concert the band were joined by the Berklee World Strings and the Berklee Concert Choir directed by Eren Basbug for the second half of the set 78 The set list for the tour featured the entire second half of Awake in celebration of the album s 20th anniversary including the song Space Dye Vest which had never been performed live The set list closed with a performance of four songs from Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory in celebration of the album s 15th anniversary 79 The Along for the Ride Tour concluded on October 30 2014 The Astonishing and Images and Words anniversary tour 2015 2017 Edit On January 6 2014 John Petrucci said that Dream Theater were already planting seeds for album No 13 He commented There are some song ideas and little things like that nothing really official but the seeds just start to get planted One of the great things about this career is that you have the opportunity every time to go in and start again with a blank slate and think What can we do differently How can we make this better Where can we go from here Every album has a story and to constantly have a fresh opportunity to do it is really satisfying 80 The band headed into the studio in February 2015 to record its thirteenth album 81 82 The album titled The Astonishing was released on January 29 2016 It is a concept album set in a dystopian future society devoid of real music centering on a conflict between a group of rebels and an oppressive empire 83 Two singles The Gift of Music and Moment of Betrayal were released on December 3 2015 and January 22 2016 respectively Throughout 2016 Dream Theater went on a tour titled The Astonishing Live to support the album They played the album in its entirety with an intermission between the two acts only playing songs from earlier albums on occasions later in the tour Their performance was accompanied by a visual representation of the story on background screens The band also made it a point to play at indoor theater halls such as Radio City Music Hall In 2017 Dream Theater went on another tour titled Images Words amp Beyond to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Images and Words Each night they performed the album in its entirety as well as A Change of Seasons which was originally written during the Images and Words sessions and other selections from their catalogue Distance over Time and Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory anniversary tour 2017 2019 Edit Dream Theater performing at Hellfest in 2019 In a May 2017 interview with Rockbook frontman James LaBrie talked about the style of the band s fourteenth studio album It s really important for us that the new album will be our best effort It should be who we are at that particular moment But if along the way we feel that there is another album we should recognize once again then we ll do it 84 In December 2017 Dream Theater announced that they had signed a worldwide longterm deal with Sony Music via Sony s progressive music label imprint Inside Out for the release of the album 85 The album was written in June and July 2018 86 87 and features pieces written collectively and lyrics written by Petrucci Labrie Myung and for the first time ever Mangini 88 In anticipation of the album the band launched a treasure hunt in the form of an alternate reality game where participants would search for various clues across the internet The game ultimately led to a site revealing the title of the album to be Distance over Time The site also revealed the cover art for the album its scheduled release date in February 2019 as well as dates for a tour in North America celebrating the 20th anniversary of the band s fifth album Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory 89 On November 6 2018 a press release from Inside Out officially announced Distance over Time with a release date of February 22 2019 90 Upon release the album received widespread critical acclaim 91 A View from the Top of the World and Lost Not Forgotten Archives 2020 2022 Edit In April 2020 Metal Addicts reported that Dream Theater was expected to begin working on their fifteenth studio album in 2021 92 About the direction of the album guitarist John Petrucci stated in an August 2020 interview with Ultimate Guitar The eight string project with Ernie Ball Music Man is something we are working on and hoping to have developed as this year goes on I m hoping that on the next Dream Theater record I ll be able to explore that 93 This would later be confirmed in an interview with Ultimate Guitar in February 2021 94 Also in August 2020 Petrucci also told Spain s Metal Hammer that the band would begin working on their new album in the fall 95 Recording sessions started at DTHQ the band s own studio in October 2020 96 The band was confirmed on November 27 2020 to be writing the songs while LaBrie was writing his parts back home in Canada When asked in an interview Petrucci said that the writing sessions were off to a great start 97 Petrucci released his first solo album in fifteen years Terminal Velocity on August 28 2020 The album was recorded at DTHQ earlier the same year Its recording sessions marked the first time in ten years that Petrucci worked with his former Dream Theater bandmate Mike Portnoy who played drums on all tracks from the album 98 99 This collaboration led to speculation of a Dream Theater reunion with Portnoy which was denied by Petrucci who told Metal Hammer I understand where people are coming from with that One of the concerns I had a little bit not musically at all but about Mike is I didn t want people to get the wrong idea 100 On November 27 2020 Dream Theater released their ninth live album Distant Memories Live in London recorded at Hammersmith Apollo prior to the COVID 19 pandemic 101 On December 1 2020 the band released the single The Holiday Spirit Carries On a medley of holiday songs played in a progressive metal style exclusively through Bandcamp The title references the fan favorite song The Spirit Carries On from Scenes from a Memory The proceeds from sales of the single benefited the band s road crew 102 On January 30 2021 Dream Theater held a special streaming event titled Images Words amp Beyond Live in Japan an online broadcast of a concert from the band s 2017 tour which was originally recorded for Japanese television 103 On May 5 2021 Dream Theater announced a series of albums titled the Lost Not Forgotten Archives the first release of which is the second set of the Images Words amp Beyond Live in Japan concert The band added that the Lost Not Forgotten Archives will eventually include every YtseJam Records release on CD vinyl and digital formats along with previously unreleased archival material 104 Dream Theater performing live in 2023 Dream Theater teased the new album on July 26 2021 revealing that it would have seven songs with more details to be released on July 28 2021 105 On July 28 it was announced that the album was titled A View from the Top of the World and it was released on October 22 2021 The album was supported by four singles The Alien Invisible Monster Awaken the Master and Transcending Time and music videos were released for each of them 106 107 108 109 The band promoted the album with a concert tour of Europe from April 20 to June 1 2022 107 They had previously announced a tour of North America from late October to mid December 2021 on the same day as the album 110 but announced on September 27 that it had been rescheduled to early 2022 due to safety concerns related to the COVID pandemic 111 The rescheduled tour began on February 2 2022 in Mesa Arizona On April 3 2022 The Alien won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance giving Dream Theater their first Grammy 112 Upcoming sixteenth studio album 2022 present Edit When asked in April 2022 by VW Music about the future of Dream Theater keyboardist Jordan Rudess said After we get back from its last show of the European tour we have a bit of a break And after I finish my solo shows Dream Theater will continue on the road with some shows in Japan South America and more to be announced as we go When that settles down we ll be entering the studio again and doing a new album which will be awesome So yeah stuff like that is on the horizon 113 114 In October 2022 Petrucci stated that Dream Theater would begin recording their sixteenth studio album in late 2023 115 Two months later LaBrie said that he does not see the band going into the studio until the beginning of 24 adding I don t think it would make sense to be in there before then But don t quote me on that Some things always change 116 Live performances Edit Rudess and Petrucci dueling in Buenos Aires Argentina 2008 Throughout their career Dream Theater s live shows have gradually become bigger longer and more diverse Prior to Portnoy s departure Dream Theater rotated its set lists to ensure that fans who attended multiple shows in the same area would not see too many or any songs repeated Portnoy who constructed the set lists would take into account the set list from the last time the band was in a particular city for the benefit of fans who saw the band on successive tours 117 The band s full world tours since Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence have predominantly been Evening with tours in which the band performs for at least three hours without an opening act Until 2012 such tours did not contain an intermission but every tour since the Along for the Ride Tour in 2013 2014 until the Distance Over Time Tour had The show that was recorded for Live Scenes From New York was nearly four hours in length and resulted in Portnoy almost being hospitalized after acquiring severe food poisoning from the food he ate before the show 118 119 Twinkle Twinkle Little Star source source Twinkle Twinkle Little Star live at Nagoya Japan Problems playing this file See media help There is also a significant amount of humor casualness and improvisation attached to Dream Theater s concert For example the performance of A Change of Seasons on Live Scenes from New York features changes to a series of instrumental breaks with Myung playing a baseball organ melody Petrucci playing the opening theme to The Simpsons and Rudess playing the ragtime section of When the Water Breaks from Liquid Tension Experiment 2 the latter is also heard on the album Live at Budokan Several songs included on Once in a LIVETime include snippets of others pieces such as Lynyrd Skynyrd s Free Bird and Rimsky Korsakov s Flight of the Bumblebee Other quotations include Mary Had a Little Lamb during Endless Sacrifice on the Gigantour a calliope inspired break between verses of Under a Glass Moon a quote of Don t Cry for Me Argentina s main melody played by Petrucci while performing the intro solo of Through Her Eyes in Buenos Aires the Turkish March at a concert in Istanbul and the opening riff of Rush s A Passage to Bangkok at a show in Bangkok Thailand On the 20th Anniversary World Tour Rudess has even thrown in a short Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme in a break during Endless Sacrifice and during a concert in Israel he started a spontaneous Hava Nagila with the rest of the band later joining in During the band s 2017 tour a snippet of Metallica s Enter Sandman was played during Dream Theater s own song As I Am 120 Perhaps the best example of Dream Theater s unpredictable concert structure came during Derek Sherinian s time with the band At selected shows the band members all swapped instruments and performed an encore as the fictitious band dubbed Nightmare Cinema They usually performed a cover of Deep Purple s Perfect Strangers and on one occasion Ozzy Osbourne s Suicide Solution At some shows Sherinian Petrucci and Portnoy would take the stage together under the name Nicky Lemons and the Migraine Brothers Sherinian wearing a feather boa and novelty sunglasses would perform a pop punk song titled I Don t Like You with Petrucci and Portnoy backing During the Chaos in Motion tour in several concerts before Trial of Tears Portnoy and Petrucci would change positions Concert of the A Dramatic Tour of Events in 2012 LaBrie in the foreground Myung and Rudess in the background In the Score and Chaos in Motion DVDs an animation has accompanied certain parts of the songs showing the band playing along to the music as cartoon characters On the Score DVD during the song Octavarium the band is seen performing in an octagonal shaped maze As the animation continues Jordan Rudess spontaneously turns into Santa Claus and John Petrucci catches fire 121 In The Dark Eternal Night from the Chaos in Motion DVD the band battles against a monster by shooting fireballs from guitars throwing drum sticks and screaming 122 Shows and concerts Edit Dream Theater played and recorded a live performance at the Nippon Budokan Hall on April 26 2004 It was later released as Live at Budokan on October 5 2004 123 Dream Theater s largest audience as a headlining act was 20 000 in Santiago Chile on December 6 2005 124 The show was released on DVD through Portnoy s YtseJam Records In 2007 after their show in Salt Lake City on July 30 Governor Jon Huntsman Jr signed a proclamation officially marking July 30 2007 as Dream Theater Day in the state of Utah In 2008 Dream Theater started the Progressive Nation 2008 tour along with Opeth Between the Buried and Me and 3 The tour is the brainchild of Mike Portnoy who stated I ve been wanting to assemble a package tour like this for many years now With all of the festivals and package tours that go through America I ve been talking with our manager and agent for over 10 years now about doing something that focuses on the more progressive musician oriented side of hard rock and metal I decided it was time to stop talking the talk lace up and finally walk the walk 125 On February 13 2009 Dream Theater announced the official line up for their Progressive Nation 2009 tour The tour was originally set to feature bands including Swedish bands Beardfish and Pain of Salvation as well as Zappa plays Zappa On June 22 2009 Mike Portnoy announced that Pain of Salvation and Beardfish would not be touring the North American leg of the Progressive Nation 2009 tour because of record label complications In the same announcement Portnoy stated that the bands Scale the Summit and Bigelf would replace Pain of Salvation and Beardfish on the tour 126 This lineup change has put Bigelf on both the North American and European legs of the Progressive Nation 2009 tour The tour s North American leg ran throughout July and August 2009 On March 26 2009 it was announced that Dream Theater would take the Progressive Nation tour to Europe for the first time alongside Opeth Bigelf and Unexpect The tour ran throughout September and October 2009 127 In June July 2010 Dream Theater were the opening band for Iron Maiden during the first leg of their Final Frontier Tour which included Madison Square Garden as one of the many venues On December 7 2010 Dream Theater announced on their website that they would be headlining the High Voltage Festival alongside Judas Priest in 2011 In July 2011 they started A Dramatic Tour of Events to promote A Dramatic Turn of Events In January 2014 they started the Along for the Ride Tour to promote their self titled album On December 13 2016 Dream Theater confirmed 5 UK tour dates for their Images Words amp Beyond 25th Anniversary Tour starting in Birmingham on April 18 2017 128 On March 4 2022 Mike Portnoy attended his first Dream Theater show as an audience member at the Beacon Theatre in New York City took photos with the band and received a shoutout from James LaBrie during the show 129 Cover songs EditDream Theater have covered other artists work throughout their career They have performed cover songs live and in studio with many of those live performances being recorded for official release A Change of Seasons features Elton John Deep Purple Led Zeppelin Pink Floyd Kansas Queen Journey Dixie Dregs and Genesis live covers Through YtseJam Records the band have also released full album live cover performances of Metallica s Master of Puppets Iron Maiden s The Number of the Beast Pink Floyd s The Dark Side of the Moon and Deep Purple s Made in Japan 130 The special edition of Black Clouds amp Silver Linings includes a bonus disc with Rainbow Queen Dixie Dregs Zebra King Crimson and Iron Maiden covers Other notable artists covered by Dream Theater include Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne Pantera Rush the Who and Yes 131 132 Logo and imagery Edit Dream Theater wordmark and Majesty symbol Despite the band being forced to change their name Dream Theater adopted a custom logo known as the Majesty symbol and wordmark which has appeared on the vast majority of their promotional material and on the front cover of every Dream Theater studio album The Majesty symbol is derived from Mary Queen of Scots mark 133 134 which was re worked by Charlie Dominici for use on the album artwork for When Dream and Day Unite 135 In September 2010 a fan of Dream Theater discovered that all of the letters of DOMINICI fit together perfectly into the Majesty symbol 136 When Charlie discovered this he laughed and mentioned that it only took them 25 years to figure out the Dominici Code 137 This has earlier also been discovered as shown on the comment section of DTFAQ 135 and in the DTNorway Podcast Episode 2 from 2008 with Charlie Dominici 138 Musical style EditAllMusic s Stephen Thomas Erlewine described Dream Theater s music as a dense blend of progressive rock and post Halen metal The band is well noted for being one of the early progenitors of the progressive metal genre 139 and they are considered a member of the so called big three of the genre along with Queensryche and Fates Warning 8 The original members Mike Portnoy John Petrucci and John Myung have strong influences from progressive rock bands such as Rush Yes and Pink Floyd heavy metal bands such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest various speed metal bands and even the glam metal of the day 140 This synthesis created a unique metal that was not traditional of the day it had distorted guitars and fast riffing but the music focused more on technical proficiency and precise execution than on heavy metal riffs The band s music has focused on three main elements metal melody and progressive roots 141 In the liner notes for the 2008 Greatest Hit compilation Mike Portnoy cited artists such as Peter Gabriel U2 and Journey as inspirations for Dream Theater s softer songs 142 Dream Theater s music has also been described as art rock 143 144 Dream Theater s 2003 album Train of Thought showcased a heavier sound 145 This decision was inspired by the positive feedback received from their previous heavier songs on stage 146 1999 s Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory was praised for its display of old fashioned progressive rock 147 and was influenced by classic conceptual rock records such as the Beatles Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band Pink Floyd s The Wall and The Final Cut the Who s Tommy and Genesis s The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway 148 Dream Theater s music usually borrows elements from other musical styles including symphonic rock symphonic metal arena rock soft rock 149 and classical music 150 Band members EditCurrent members John Petrucci guitars 1985 present backing vocals 1989 1996 present 151 John Myung bass 1985 present James LaBrie lead vocals 1991 present Jordan Rudess keyboards 1999 present Mike Mangini drums 2010 present 152 Former members Mike Portnoy drums 1985 2010 backing vocals 1989 1996 2010 Kevin Moore keyboards 1986 1994 153 154 Chris Collins lead vocals 1986 153 Charlie Dominici lead vocals 1987 1989 Derek Sherinian keyboards 1995 1999 155 unofficial touring member beginning in October 1994 156 157 backing vocals 1997 Timeline Edit Notes Chris Collins was the shortest serving band member having only been an official member for a few months first joining them at the same time as Kevin Moore in the summer of 1986 but parting ways after they did some initial touring following recording their 6 track demo 153 In the wake of Charlie Dominici s departure from the band in October and November 1989 158 159 the band worked with several singers on a temporary basis before fully committing to James LaBrie they first worked with John Arch though he was not seriously considering joining the band then John Hendricks then Steve Stone who had a one off live appearance with the band 160 then finally Chris Cintron who they were ready to commit to and officially welcome into the band before James LaBrie s audition arrived 161 162 During the 1997 1998 world tour the band would switch their instruments around for brief Nightmare Cinema interludes in the concerts John Myung played the keyboard Derek Sherinian played the guitar John Petrucci played the drums and Mike Portnoy played the bass They would often cover Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple during these segments 163 In 2004 Charlie Dominici and Derek Sherinian joined the band as a one off on stage during the encore of the March 6th show as guests to celebrate the 15th anniversary of When Dream and Day Unite 164 Discography EditMain article Dream Theater discography Studio albums Edit When Dream and Day Unite 1989 Images and Words 1992 Awake 1994 Falling into Infinity 1997 Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory 1999 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence 2002 Train of Thought 2003 Octavarium 2005 Systematic Chaos 2007 Black Clouds amp Silver Linings 2009 A Dramatic Turn of Events 2011 Dream Theater 2013 The Astonishing 2016 Distance over Time 2019 A View from the Top of the World 2021 Bootleg culture EditDream Theater have released a series of official bootlegs demos and other rarities through YtseJam Records at the time headed by Portnoy 165 Starting in 2021 the band announced The Lost Not Forgotten Archives in collaboration with InsideOut which will reissue all the titles mentioned below along with adding in previously unreleased archival material 166 Demo series Edit The Majesty Demos 1985 86 CD remastered and reissued in 2022 When Dream and Day Unite Demos 1987 89 CD remastered and reissued in 2023 Images and Words Demos 1989 91 CD remastered and reissued in 2022 Awake Demos 1994 CD remastered and reissued in 2022 Falling into Infinity Demos 1996 97 CD remastered and reissued in 2022 Train of Thought Instrumental Demos 2003 CD remastered and reissued in 2021 Distance Over Time Demos 2018 CD newly released in 2023 167 Studio series Edit The Making of Falling into Infinity CD remastered and reissued in 2023 The Making of Scenes From a Memory CD Live series Edit New York City 3 4 93 CD remastered and reissued in 2022 Tokyo Japan 10 28 95 CD Old Bridge New Jersey 12 14 96 CD remastered and reissued in 2022 Los Angeles California 5 18 98 CD Bucharest Romania 7 4 02 DVD When Dream and Day Reunite 5 6 04 CD DVD remastered and reissued on CD in 2021 Santiago Chile 12 6 05 DVD Images and Words Live in Japan 2017 CD newly released in 2021 second half of the Budokan concert in 2017 A Dramatic Tour of Events Select Board Mixes CD newly released in physical formats in 2021 And Beyond Live In Japan 2017 CD newly released in 2022 first half of the Budokan concert in 2017 Live In Berlin 2019 CD newly released in 2022 festival show during the Distance Over Time Tour Live At Wacken 2015 CD newly released in 2022 festival show during their 30th Anniversary Tour Live At Madison Square Garden 2010 CD newly released in 2023 opening for Iron Maiden in 2010 Cover series Edit Master of Puppets CD remastered and reissued in 2021 The Number of the Beast CD remastered and reissued in 2022 The Dark Side of the Moon CD DVD Made in Japan CD remastered and reissued in 2022 Uncovered 2003 05 CD Certifications EditRIAA gold and platinum certifications 168 Images and Words Album Gold February 2 1995 Metropolis 2000 Live Scenes from New York Video Longform Gold November 8 2002 Live at Budokan Video Longform Platinum January 26 2005 Live in Tokyo 5 Years in a Livetime Video Longform Platinum March 22 2006 Score Video Longform Platinum October 11 2006Other platinum and gold certifications Awake Platinum Japan Awards and honors EditGrammy AwardsAt the 64th Annual Grammy Awards Dream Theater won the Grammy for Best Metal Performance for their song The Alien 169 Burrn magazineIn 2007 Jordan Rudess was awarded Best Keyboards Player of the Year In 2011 A Dramatic Turn of Events won Best Album and Best Front Cover while John Petrucci and Jordan Rudess won Best Guitarist and Best Keyboardist respectively 170 Guitar WorldThe album Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory was ranked No 95 on the magazine s list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time citation needed Total GuitarJohn Petrucci won Guitarist of the year award 2007 Ultimate Guitar ArchiveIn 2009 Dream Theater were placed on the Top 10 in Ultimate Guitar s The Greatest Metal Bands of the Decade 171 Classic Rock magazineDream Theater won The Spirit of Prog Award at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour 2009 in London 172 173 They were also nominated for the Album of the Year Award for their album Black Clouds amp Silver Linings in 2009 but lost to AC DC s Black Ice 174 Rolling StoneOn July 25 2011 Dream Theater were placed on the list The Best Prog Rock Bands of All Time chosen by the Rolling Stone Magazine s readers poll 175 MusicRadarThe MusicRadar readers poll placed Dream Theater amongst The 30 greatest live acts in the world today as of 2010 peaking at No 5 on the list 176 John Myung from August through September 2010 was voted the greatest bassist of all time In the same time frame Mike Portnoy was voted the second best drummer ever losing out to Joey Jordison In December 2010 James LaBrie was voted the 15th best frontman of all time with Axl Rose coming first and Freddie Mercury in second Jordan Rudess was voted the best keyboardist of all time in a poll conducted from June to July this year with John Petrucci coming second in a shred guitarist poll conducted in May this year losing out to Al Di Meola John Petrucci was listed as Best Prog Rock Guitarist in the World in 2020 by MusicRadar 41 177 Metal EdgeDerek Sherinian was voted Best Keyboardist in Metal Edge magazine s 1998 Readers Choice Awards 178 Metal StormThe webzine Metal Storm honored Dream Theater with an award in 2009 when Black Clouds amp Silver Linings was voted Best Progressive Metal Album 179 The Prog ReportOn July 13 2015 The Prog Report ranked Images and Words at number 1 on their Top Prog Albums of the Last 25 Years Four other Dream Theater albums made the list Scenes from a Memory placed at number 3 Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence at number 14 Awake at number 18 and Train of Thought at number 38 180 Other recognition Edit At Dream Theater s Salt Lake City show Governor Jon Huntsman Jr signed a proclamation making July 30 2007 Dream Theater Day 181 Dream Theater were featured twice in the Xbox 360 Game With Fame event They played Halo 3 in December 2007 182 and Call of Duty World at War in June 2009 183 In November 2010 Dream Theater was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame References Edit a b Billboard Chart history for Dream Theater can be seen at Billboard com Guitar World s Readers Choice Greatest 100 Guitar Albums Of All Time chud com Archived from the original on August 5 2012 Retrieved July 7 2012 Classic Rock Magazine Rock s 30 Greatest Concept Albums March 2003 rocklistmusic co uk Retrieved May 15 2012 Dream Theater iMusic JOHN PETRUCCI TC Electronic Archived from the original on June 30 2017 a b Dream Theater Megadeth Mastodon Among Grammy Awards Nominees Blabbermouth net November 30 2011 Archived from the original on December 3 2011 Retrieved December 1 2011 Dream Theater Earn Second Grammy Nomination Dream Theater The Astonishing Out 1 29 Official Site Official Blog Dreamtheater net December 7 2013 Archived from the original on February 6 2016 Retrieved January 30 2016 a b The 13 essential progressive metal albums you need to know Kerrang March 12 2021 Retrieved February 12 2022 a b c d e This was referenced in the documentary The Score so Far on the second disc of the Score DVD Portnoy Mike 2003 The Majesty Demos 1985 1986 CD Liner Notes New York YtseJam Records Savic Nikola June 16 2010 Charlie Dominici A Trilogy Concluded a Career to be Continued Prog sphere com Retrieved August 29 2018 The Dream Theater FAQ Graphic Version Gabbo net Retrieved January 2 2009 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Mike Portnoy Wikipedia Fact or Fiction YouTube April 1 2015 Retrieved January 30 2016 Portnoy Mike 2004 And Nathan Edmonds help produce When Dream and Day Unite Demos 1987 1989 CD Liner Notes New York YtseJam Records Dominici Charlie When Dream And Day Unite liner notes 2004 re release a b c d Mike Portnoy com The Official Website Mikeportnoy com Retrieved January 30 2016 John Arch Interview by Jeff Wagner 1995 Fateswarning com Retrieved February 9 2012 Mike Portnoy com The Official Website Mikeportnoy com Retrieved January 30 2016 Colin Larkin May 27 2011 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music Omnibus Press pp 2006 ISBN 978 0 85712 595 8 EastWest Records Press Release Nine Christmas CDs were released through Dream Theater s fan club before it was closed down in 2005 See DTIFC on Dream Theater net Archived January 2 2009 at the Wayback Machine LaBrie James Summer 97 Images amp Words No 14 pg 5 Falling into Infinity Demos Ytsejamrecords com Retrieved July 18 2011 Portnoy Mike 1998 Liquid Tension Experiment CD Liner Notes New York Magna Carta Records a b c d Gold amp Platinum Searchable Database August 09 2014 RIAA Retrieved August 9 2014 Mike Portnoy FAQ Mikeportnoy com Billboard Chart history for Dream Theater DreamTheater net Archived July 25 2011 at the Wayback Machine reported that Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence had reached No 1 on the Billboard Internet Charts Mike Portnoy 2007 In Constant Motion Instructional DVD Train of Thought album analysis Moldstad Frank New York s Hit Factory Gets a New Identity Digital Pro Sound Archived from the original on December 20 2016 Lifting Shadows The Authorised Story Of Dream Theater Dreamtheaterbook com Retrieved January 2 2009 Gods of Metal official website Godsofmetal it Archived from the original on July 19 2011 Retrieved July 18 2011 Opeth To Support Dream Theater In North America Blabbermouth net Roadrunnerrecords com September 27 2007 Archived from the original on April 10 2009 Retrieved January 30 2016 Dream Theater Black Clouds amp Silver Linings Mikeportnoy com Retrieved July 18 2011 Dream Theater debut s at 6 on Billboard Top 200 The Gauntlet Thegauntlet com Retrieved July 18 2011 Dream Theater s Mike Portnoy Pens Tribute To Late Father Metalhammer co uk May 1 2009 Archived from the original on June 29 2011 Retrieved July 18 2011 Portnoy Mike MP s Forecast for 2010 mikeportnoy com Bredius Mark June 14 2011 tour dates for Australia December 1 12 2009 Dreamtheater net Archived from the original on July 16 2011 Retrieved July 18 2011 Dream Theater to tour with Iron Maiden this summer 2010 Road Runner Records Archived from the original on March 12 2011 Retrieved July 18 2011 Portnoy Mike Mike Portnoy leaves Dream Theater Facebook Retrieved July 6 2012 a b Bosso Joe May 11 2011 Interview Dream Theater s John Petrucci Jordan Rudess on the band s future MusicRadar Retrieved December 3 2012 Mike Portnoy It Would Be A Tragedy If I Never Got To Be On Stage With Dream Theater Again Retrieved July 24 2012 Mike Portnoy Dream Theater Members Are Refusing To Answer My E Mails And Calls Feb 25 2011 Blabbermouth Retrieved July 8 2012 TNT Radio Rock April 23 2017 Mike Portnoy Shattered Fortress Be Prog My Friend 2017 TNTRadioRock com Retrieved January 9 2020 Harris Chris Mike Portnoy Fires Back At James LaBrie Gun Shy Assassin Archived from the original on March 13 2012 Retrieved July 8 2012 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Harris Chris Dream Theater s James LaBrie Talks Mike Portnoy Gun Shy Assassin Archived from the original on June 7 2012 Retrieved July 8 2012 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Hartmann Graham Drummer Mike Portnoy on Rejoining Dream Theater I Would Do It in a Heartbeat Loudwire Retrieved January 26 2014 Dream Theater The Spirit Carries On Drummer Search Web Series To Be Released On DVD Apr 28 2011 Blabbermouth Retrieved July 6 2012 Blabbermouth November 16 2013 BOBBY JARZOMBEK Why I Turned Down DREAM THEATER Drummer Audition Blabbermouth net Retrieved May 12 2019 Wildoer Peter Re An Exclusive Look into The Band s Search for a New Drummer Dream Theater Forums Retrieved July 6 2012 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Dream Theater The Spirit Carries On Episode 3 YouTube Retrieved July 6 2012 Dream Theater Explain Why Mike Portnoy Can t Rejoin Music News Ultimate guitar com Retrieved August 9 2014 Petrucci John First day in the studio and the dawn of a new era for DT Can t wait to get the music flowing Twitter Retrieved July 6 2012 Wenner Rick Dream Theater Cove City Studios Rick Wenner Official Website Archived from the original on July 24 2012 Retrieved July 6 2012 Petrucci John So psyched we finished writing the DT album last night On to tracking Twitter Retrieved July 6 2012 LaBrie James Hey Everyone Finished the first track yesterday It oozes with emotion Movin on to the next Raaaaaaaaaawk Twitter Retrieved July 6 2012 a b Petrucci John New DT album is all mixed and mastered as of today First show of the tour in Rome in less than a week Looking forward to seeing everyone Twitter Retrieved July 6 2012 Dream Theater Taps Andy Wallace For New Album Mix May 24 2011 Blabbermouth Archived from the original on August 23 2011 Retrieved July 6 2012 Dream Theater s A Dramatic Turn Of Events Lands In U S Top 10 Sep 21 2011 Blabbermouth Retrieved July 6 2012 Caulfield Keith Lady Antebellum Own the Billboard 200 With Second No 1 Album Billboard Retrieved December 17 2012 Critic Reviews for A Dramatic Turn of Events Metacritic com Retrieved July 7 2012 Dream Theater announce more summer tour dates Lick Library Retrieved July 6 2012 Dream Theater Announces North American Tour Dates Aug 1 2011 Blabbermouth Archived from the original on February 1 2013 Retrieved July 6 2012 Giberti Jamie September 8 2011 Dream Theater Announce UK Tour for February 2012 Periphery To Support Rock Sins Retrieved July 6 2012 Dream Theater And Crimson ProjeKct To Tour Together This Summer The PRP April 13 2012 Retrieved July 4 2012 Dream Theater Buenos Aires Concerts To Be Filmed For DVD Release July 5 2012 Blabbermouth Retrieved July 6 2012 A video update on the future of Ytsejam Records Bootlegs and a DVD Facebook Retrieved July 6 2012 James Labrie Of Dream Theater Interview 06 24 2012 preview YouTube Archived from the original on July 21 2013 Retrieved July 6 2012 Dream Theater Live at Luna Park DVD Press Release Dream Theater Official Blog Archived from the original on May 1 2014 Retrieved May 17 2014 Dream Theater Happy Holidays From Dream Theater Dream Theater Official Blog Archived from the original on May 2 2014 Retrieved May 17 2014 Beardsley Rai Weymolith Happy Holidays From Dream Theater 6 00 On A Christmas Morning DreamTheaterForums org Retrieved May 17 2014 The Dead 1987 IMDb IMDb Retrieved May 17 2014 Petrucci John Writing for the next DT album officially commenced while in Osaka the other day Jet lag seems to open up one s creative channels Facebook Archived from the original on February 26 2022 Retrieved July 10 2012 Grubbs Eric Dream Theater s John Petrucci On Obsessing Over Rush Playing Mary Had a Little Lamb and More Dallas Observer Retrieved July 10 2012 Dream Theater re signs with Roadrunner Records Dream Theater Archived from the original on December 7 2012 Retrieved December 4 2012 Dream Theater s New Album Cracks U S Top 10 Blabbermouth net October 2 2013 Retrieved January 30 2016 Dream Theater Unveils Career Spanning Box Set The Studio Albums 1992 2011 Blabbermouth May 16 2014 Retrieved May 25 2014 Bredius Mark January 13 2014 One of a kind show with Berklee College of Music Dream Theater Official Blog Dreamtheater net Archived from the original on August 5 2014 Retrieved August 9 2014 The Astonishing Dream Theater Archived from the original on January 29 2016 Retrieved January 30 2016 Graff Gary January 6 2014 Dream Theater Planting Seeds for Album No 13 Billboard Retrieved January 30 2016 James Labrie Dream Theater Will Launch Its Next World Tour In Early 2016 Blabbermouth net January 11 2015 Retrieved January 30 2016 Dream Theater s James LaBrie coming home to Midland Simcoe com January 7 2015 Retrieved January 30 2016 Track Description dreamtheater net Archived from the original on January 31 2016 Retrieved January 31 2016 Kennelty Greg May 31 2017 Dream Theater Wants To Put Out A Non Conceptual Album In 2018 Metal Injection Retrieved June 16 2017 Sony Music Signs Dream Theater to a Long Term Deal via its InsideOutMusic Imprint Dream Theater Dreamtheater net December 11 2017 Retrieved December 11 2017 First day of DT writing sessions Instagram June 11 2018 Archived from the original on December 23 2021 From John Petrucci Nothing says we finished writing the music to the new Dream Theater album better than burgers and beers Facebook July 11 2018 Archived from the original on February 26 2022 DT14 Bass Tracking Done Facebook com August 24 2018 DREAM THEATER New Album Distance Over Time To Arrive In February First Tour Dates Announced Blabbermouth November 2 2018 Retrieved November 3 2018 Inside Out Music Facebook com Archived from the original on February 26 2022 Distance Over Time by Dream Theater Metacritic com Retrieved May 12 2019 DREAM THEATER Reschedule Australian Tour To November metaladdicts com April 25 2020 Retrieved April 26 2020 John Petrucci Explains Why He Left Ibanez Announces Plan to Use 8 String Guitar on New Dream Theater Ultimate Guitar August 3 2020 Retrieved August 3 2020 Stolzer Gary Isaac February 26 2021 JOHN PETRUCCI Has Confirmed The Use of 8 String Guitar On The New DREAM THEATER Album GearGods Retrieved May 19 2021 DREAM THEATER To Begin Work On New Studio Album In The Fall Blabbermouth net August 7 2020 Retrieved August 7 2020 Dream Theater on New Live Album Onstage Mishaps Rehearsing in Meat Shops Revolver October 2 2020 Retrieved November 27 2020 DREAM THEATER Is Off To A Great Start With Writing Sessions For New Album Blabbermouth November 27 2020 Retrieved November 27 2020 Munro Scott June 19 2020 Dream Theater s John Petrucci announces new solo album Terminal Velocity Prog Retrieved June 20 2020 Bienstock Richard August 7 2020 Guitar World premiere Hear John Petrucci reunite with Mike Portnoy on Terminal Velocity Guitar World Retrieved August 30 2020 John Petrucci Addresses Speculation That Mike Portnoy Is Rejoining Dream Theater Stresses What Fans Need to Understand Ultimate Guitar August 10 2020 Retrieved August 30 2020 Dream Theater Perform Metropolis Pt 2 in Full on New Live Album Loudwire September 30 2020 DREAM THEATER Records Medley Of Holiday Classics The Holiday Spirit Carries On Blabbermouth December 1 2020 Retrieved December 13 2020 DREAM THEATER Announce Images Words amp Beyond Live in Japan 2017 Streaming Event Video Trailer Brave Words amp Bloody Knuckles Retrieved June 14 2021 DREAM THEATER Announces Lost Not Forgotten Archives YTSEJAM RECORDS Catalog To Be Reissued Blabbermouth net May 5 2020 Retrieved May 6 2021 DREAM THEATER Teases New Album Blabbermouth net July 26 2021 Retrieved July 26 2021 Brown Paul Browny August 13 2021 Dream Theater s The Alien Is A Fast Paced Prog Metal Fantasy Wall Of Sound Retrieved August 13 2021 a b Lewry Fraser September 22 2021 Dream Theater launch video for epic Invisible Monsters single Louder Sound Retrieved September 28 2021 See Dream Theater s Stunning Video for Awaken the Master Revolver October 25 2021 Retrieved October 25 2021 DREAM THEATER Releases Transcending Time Music Video Blabbermouth net January 26 2022 Retrieved January 26 2022 Lewry Fraser July 28 2021 Dream Theater announce new album A View From The Top Of The World Louder Sound Retrieved July 28 2021 DREAM THEATER Postpones North American Tour Due To COVID 19 Concerns Blabbermouth net September 27 2021 Retrieved September 27 2021 2022 GRAMMYs Awards Show Complete Winners amp Nominations List www grammy com An Interview with Jordan Rudess of Dream Theater vwmusicrocks com April 15 2022 Retrieved April 16 2022 Dream Theater Sixteenth Studio Album In The Works Metal Storm April 19 2022 Retrieved April 19 2022 DREAM THEATER To Begin Recording New Album In Late 2023 Blabbermouth net October 4 2022 Retrieved October 5 2022 JAMES LABRIE Doesn t Think DREAM THEATER Will Begin Recording Next Album Before Early 2024 Blabbermouth net December 19 2022 Retrieved December 20 2022 Earplugs Required Earplugs Required Retrieved January 30 2016 See the Metropolis 2000 Scenes From New York DVD Hansen Scott amp Portnoy Mike What s this I hear about Mike being really sick after the Roseland DVD show What happened Archived April 19 2015 at the Wayback Machine MP FAQ Archived April 19 2015 at the Wayback Machine Concert Review Dream Theater s Epic Near Jinxed India Debut October 9 2017 Octavarium animation Clevver com Archived from the original on March 17 2011 Retrieved July 18 2011 The Dark Eternal Night N A D S Animation By Mika Tyyska YouTube Archived from the original on May 26 2015 Dream Theater Live at Budokan Reviews Encyclopaedia Metallum The Metal Archives Retrieved January 30 2016 News Voices UK Archived from the original on February 5 2016 Retrieved January 30 2016 Progressive Nation 2008 Press Release dreamtheater net Dream Theater November 5 2007 Archived from the original on May 10 2008 Retrieved May 11 2008 Bredius Mark Progressive Nation 2009 North American Tour Lineup Change Dreamtheater net Archived from the original on July 16 2011 Retrieved July 18 2011 Bredius Mark June 14 2011 Progressive Nation Tour Dates Dreamtheater net Archived from the original on July 16 2011 Retrieved July 18 2011 Dream Theater Confirm UK Dates for 25th Anniversary Tour Tickets GetToTheFront Archived from the original on December 21 2016 Retrieved December 16 2016 Portnoy Attends DT Show March 5 2022 Retrieved March 29 2022 Covers Series YtseJam Records Retrieved July 7 2012 Covers Series Uncovered 2003 2005 YtseJam Records Retrieved July 7 2012 Dream Theater covers Rush s The Camera Eye at Toronto show Rush Is a Band Retrieved July 7 2012 The mark used by Mary Queen of Scots is available on DreamTheater net Archived July 25 2011 at the Wayback Machine An embroidery showing the Mary Queen of Scots symbol in use Retrieved July 18 2011 a b What is the symbol DT use Faq dtnorway com November 7 2003 Retrieved January 30 2016 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine What does Dream Theater Majesty and Dominici have in common YouTube September 13 2010 Retrieved September 28 2010 Someone finally figured out the Dominici Code DOMINICI com Forum September 28 2010 Retrieved September 28 2010 Echo s Hill Podcast DTNorway Retrieved July 18 2011 Progressive Metal AllMusic Retrieved December 12 2010 York Will Dream Theater Rhapsody Retrieved December 12 2010 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Portnoy Mike Dream Theater Interview part 1 TheCrookedStep com Retrieved December 12 2010 Greatest Hit And 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs booklet liner notes Pete Prown Harvey P Newquist Legends of Rock Guitar The Essential Reference of Rock s Greatest Guitarists Dream Theater carved a niche for themselves as an art rock band with few peers Britannica Educational Publishing Disco Punk New Wave Heavy Metal and More Music in the 1970s and 1980s Dream Theater also explored a number of stylistic features earlier associated with art rock Jurek Thom November 14 2003 Train of Thought Dream Theater Awards AllMusic Retrieved August 9 2014 As discussed by John Petrucci in the 20th Anniversary Documentary The Score So Far found on the Score DVD Stephen Thomas Erlewine October 26 1999 Metropolis Pt 2 Scenes from a Memory Dream Theater Awards AllMusic Retrieved August 9 2014 Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine Dream Theater Making of Scenes From A Memory YouTube August 25 2006 Retrieved August 9 2014 Lewis Catherine P Dream Theater album review The Washington Post Retrieved August 9 2014 John Petrucci Of Dream Theater Interview Ultimateclassicrock com October 26 2013 Retrieved August 9 2014 Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com FAQ How did the idea of Mike and John Petrucci singing backup come about MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on June 12 2018 Retrieved May 5 2018 Biography Mike Mangini s Official Website Mikemangini com April 29 2011 Retrieved March 2 2020 a b c Portnoy Mike 2003 The Majesty Demos Liner notes Dream Theater YtseJam Records pp 5 6 YTSEJAM001 Portnoy Mike 2006 The Awake Demos Liner notes Dream Theater YtseJam Records p 1 YTSEJAM010 Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com FAQ When was Derek made an official member of Dream Theater MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on November 11 2020 Retrieved May 5 2018 Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com Tourography 10 20 1994 Providence Rhode Island MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on May 6 2018 Retrieved May 5 2018 Dream Theater 20th Anniversary Documentary Rhino Entertainment Retrieved May 5 2018 via YouTube Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com Tourography 10 14 1989 Bay Shore Long Island MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on May 6 2018 Retrieved May 5 2018 Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com Tourography 11 14 1989 New York City MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on May 6 2018 Retrieved May 5 2018 Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com Tourography 07 09 1990 Bay Shore Long Island MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on November 7 2017 Retrieved May 5 2018 Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com FAQ Which vocalists worked with Dream Theater between the time that Charlie was in the band and James joined the band and in what order MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on November 11 2020 Retrieved May 5 2018 Dream Theater 20th Anniversary Documentary Rhino Entertainment Retrieved May 5 2018 via YouTube Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com FAQ What Is Nightmare Cinema MikePortnoy com Archived from the original on June 12 2018 Retrieved May 5 2018 Portnoy Mike MikePortnoy com Tourography 03 06 2004 Los Angeles CA USA MikePortnoy com The Official Website Archived from the original on May 6 2018 Retrieved May 5 2018 YtseJam Records The Official Dream Theater Bootlegs Ytsejamrecords com Retrieved January 2 2009 Lost Not Forgotten Archives Dream Theater Lostnotforgottenarchives dreamtheater net Retrieved July 16 2021 Lost Not Forgotten Archives Distance Over Time Demos 2018 Retrieved March 11 2023 listing of Dream Theater awards Riaa com Retrieved July 18 2011 The Alien Wins Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance YouTube aaron DREAM THEATER Win Big In Burrn Magazine s 2011 Awards Mitch Schneider Organization Msopr com Retrieved May 12 2019 Ultimate Guitar s Best Metal Bands of the Decade ultimate guitar com Archived from the original on July 17 2011 Kanal koristuvacha ArtisanNewsService YouTube Retrieved July 18 2011 Dream Theater won The Spirit of Prog Award at Classic Rock Roll of Honour 2009 Classicrockmagazine com Archived from the original on September 23 2010 Retrieved July 18 2011 Classic Rock Blog Archive Classic Rock Roll Of Honour 09 Nominations Classicrockmagazine com June 26 2009 Archived from the original on January 8 2010 Retrieved July 18 2011 Greene Andy Readers Poll The Best Prog Rock Bands of All Time Rolling Stone Archived from the original on August 5 2011 Retrieved July 25 2011 The 30 greatest live acts in the world today MusicRadar com June 16 2011 Archived from the original on September 21 2012 Retrieved July 18 2011 Prog Rock Best Guitarist in the World MusicRadar January 2020 Metal Edge August 1999 Metal Storm Awards 2009 Metal Storm Metalstorm net Retrieved May 12 2019 Top 50 Prog Albums 1990 2015 The Prog Report July 13 2015 Retrieved January 30 2016 Utah Governor Declares Dream Theater Day July 31 2007 Blabbermouth net Archived from the original on October 4 2010 Retrieved November 2 2010 Xbox com Game with Fame Game with Fame Dream Theater Recap Archived from the original on October 15 2008 Xbox com Events Play Call of Duty World at War with Dream Theater Archived from the original on June 19 2009 Further reading Edit Bredius Mark Dream Theater The official site Retrieved February April 2005 Dixon Brad et al Official Dream Theater FAQ Archived April 19 2010 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved February April 2005 moved c 2007 Hale Mark 1993 1731 Majesty Headbangers First edition second printing ed Ann Arbor Michigan Popular Culture Ink ISBN 1 56075 029 4 Hansen Scott 2003 James LaBrie As this man thinks Theater of Dreams 27 28 pp 26 30 Hansen Scott amp Portnoy Mike Dream Theater Tourography Retrieved February April 2005 King Brian 2003 JaM Progductions Interview with John Petrucci and Mike Portnoy Theater of Dreams 29 pp 14 20 Wilson Rich 2007 Lifting Shadows First ed United Kingdom Essential Works ISBN 9781906615024 External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dream Theater Official website 2011 interview with James LaBrie on Prog Sphere Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Dream Theater amp oldid 1157594599, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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